How to brew a blooming tea

Brewing a blooming tea is closer to making a careful cup of green tea than to following a ritual. The only extra demand is patience, because the flower is doing something you can see.

Water

Use fresh water and heat it to 85–95°C. The practical method is to boil the kettle and wait one or two minutes. Water that is still violently boiling cooks the flower and makes pan-fired green tea bitter. Water that has sat too long never opens the tie.

Vessel

A clear glass pot or a tall glass of about 200–300 ml is the right scale for one 7–10 gram bloom. Warm it first with a splash of hot water, then discard that water. Put in a single whole piece. Do not cut it. Pour down the side of the glass.

Time

Three minutes is enough to taste. Five minutes is the usual first steep. Watch the leaves drop and the flower lift. If you cover the glass, the aroma stays in the liquor. If you leave it open, you see more and smell a little less. Both are correct.

Pour off the liquor if you are sharing, or drink from the glass and leave the bloom where it is. Refill with the same temperature of water. Add about a minute for each later steep. Most of these teas are worth three or four infusions. Stop when the cup tastes thin. The second steep is often the best looking.

After

Keep unopened blooms in a sealed tin, in a cupboard, away from the kettle’s steam and away from spices. They do not improve in the refrigerator. Humidity is the thing that flattens them.

The same steps are written as a short list on the ritual page. When you are ready to choose a flower, the shop has the full set.