A blooming tea is a dried flower that was never just a flower. An artisan wraps pan-fired green tea around edible blossoms, binds the bundle, and leaves it to open later, in water, in front of you. People also call it flowering tea. The drink and the display are the same object.<\/p>\n
The base in the Master T collection is pan-fired green tea from our family farm in Fu’an, Fujian. Pan-firing is a traditional way of drying the leaf in a hot wok so it keeps a chestnut-like freshness and does not taste grassy. Around that leaf we tie jasmine, lily, globe amaranth, pot marigold, or carnation, depending on the shape. Each finished bloom weighs 7\u201310 grams. You buy them one at a time.<\/p>\n
Hot water softens the tea leaves first. They loosen and drop toward the bottom of a glass. The flower, which was packed inside or bound on top, has room to stand. A good piece takes three to five minutes to show itself and can be poured over again three or four times. The liquor is a light green tea. The flower is there to scent it and to be looked at, not to turn the cup into syrup.<\/p>\n
This is an old Chinese craft that rarely traveled with a clear explanation. The bundle is small, the technique is manual, and the pleasure is half visual. That combination is awkward for a commodity tea aisle and natural for a single glass on a table.<\/p>\n
It is not a tisane made only of petals, and it is not a flavored tea sprayed with perfume. The aroma should match the flower you can see. It is also not a performance that requires tools. A glass jug, water under a boil, and one bloom are enough. The brewing notes<\/a> are short on purpose.<\/p>\n