Friday, November 27, 2009

Blooming Tea: A Contemplative Beverage

By Mark Miller

When it comes to drinking tea, there is a history of appreciating it in Asia, especially Japan and China, in way that just is not done in the West. However, if you are going to try blooming tea, you really need to take your time and sip it. It is a not a tea to just gulp down with breakfast.

Blooming tea does exactly what the name implies. It blooms. It does this because it is a ball of tea with dried flowers hand sewn inside it. When you pour on hot water, the flowers expand with the liquid, and break out of the ball. The flowers then bloom into gorgeous displays reminiscent of sea anemones.

But this tea is not just beautiful to the sight, it also tastes truly extraordinary. The flavor is one which is meant to be sipped and savored slowly. You can understand why tea and meditation seem to go hand and hand when you drink this beverage. The fragrance is also something special, being indescribably delicate.

There is no agreement as to how long blooming tea has been around in China, but it has been at the very least decades, if not hundreds of years. Each spring, only the finest young tea buds and leaves are chosen to be used in the making of blooming tea balls. The tea that is used may be of either the green or white variety.

Different flowers are used for blooming tea. Some of the varieties used are jasmine, osmanthus, lilies, hibiscus and chrysanthemum. The flowers used, as with the tealeaves, are picked when young. This is because the taste and fragrance will be more delicate.

It is truly an art that goes into creating blooming tea. It starts with the selection of the best leaves and flowers. But it is the combination of those elements by an artist in sewing the blooming tea balls that leads to the object of beauty in your teacup at home.

When brewing blooming tea, you should always use a glass container, either a cup or a pot. You want to be able to see the flower unfold from the tea ball. Pour your boiling water over the tea ball and, for five minutes or so, let it steep. You can reuse the tea ball according to your taste. When you are done, you can put the blossomed ball into a glass with cold water so that it can be displayed.

Once only a drink of the elite in China, blooming tea has been gradually becoming more and more popular across the world. A quick search on the Internet will yield many sites selling this drink. Do be careful, and make sure that what you buy is truly authentic blooming tea.

This tea will definitely cost more per cup than your average tea. But blooming tea is anything but average, and you will know that as soon as you try it. For a caffeine high when you get up in the morning, this is not the tea to use. But for a delicate beverage that will instantly make you feel at peace at the same time as invoking your senses, blooming tea is well worth a try.

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