As I was sitting down to write about blooming teas –also called flowering teas, display teas, or blooming art teas– it occurred to me that this was another discovery made with my sister Coco. Like she did with Penzeys Spices, it was she who noticed the bags of tea with pictures of flowers on them in Franklin Tea, a specialty tea shop.
She asked the owner what the picture represented, as the flowers were very exotic looking but the only writing on the bags was in Chinese except for the “title,” in this case “Jasmine Fairy Maiden.”
“Oh that’s my prize product. You steep it in this,” the owner said, pointing to a clear glass teapot, “and it blooms into this.” She pointed at the flower picture.
“Blooms?” my sister asked.
The owner nodded and explained that the “pods” inside the bags were specially hand-wrapped green tea designed to bloom and reveal not only something enchanting to the eye, but something fragrant and flavorful for the palate. And you didn’t have to buy the $35 teapot to bloom them in. Any clear glass container would suffice.
I eyed the little bag suspiciously because for 2 small pods the price tag was big: $3.95. (Which my mind broke down to $2 per cup of blooming tea. My frugal nature didn’t think the novelty was worth the price.)
But it was as if the owner read my mind.
“You can reuse them. In fact, green teas are meant to be steeped more than once. They won’t bloom again after the first time, but they will deliver the same taste and antioxidant benefits for several additional servings.”
Hmmm…well, that made it a little more palatable.
Coco decided they were too neat to pass up and bought some as gifts. I held off then, but a month later when I was back in the area I went in and bought three bags myself, two for friends and one for me.
Like my sister, I, too, bought the Jasmine Fairy Maiden –along with Seven Sons Congratulating. I sent the Jasmine Fairy Maiden to my friends but experimented with the Seven Sons Congratulating myself.
I poured hot water over it and watched it bloom as it steeped. Fascinating! I told a neighbor, who exclaimed, “Where did you find them? I saw that in the movie Marie Antoinette but thought it was Hollywood high jinks and they weren’t being true to the time period as surely no such thing could have existed back then.”
Actually, as we both later learned, blooming teas have been around for centuries, so it was historically accurate as portrayed in the movie.
If you have a tea shoppe in your area, drop in and see if they carry any. If not, here’s some online retailers who do:
They are definitely fun, different, and conversation starters!
Also find a great selection of teas in the Families.com Deals section.
Courtney Mroch is a regular contributor to the Pets Blog. Read more of her blogs here.
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