Buy Nothing Summer Stash-down Time!
The only other flowering tea I have had was Numi from a gift set that I bought on sale for the glass pot it came with :D Those were pretty unimpressive and downright tasteless.
This I received as a sample awhile back in my Mandala order. I am on a mission this summer to try and reduce the amount of stash in my cupboard to make way for new and awesome things to try in the fall. So it is time for finally try this tea!
There were 7 cones in the little zip bag, but no instructions. I googled up a review from Oolong Owl that mentioned 2 cones in 6oz of water. My little pot is like 14 or 16 oz, so I went with 3. 2 would have been plenty.
Plain, the tea is a pretty basic black tea. It steeps pretty dark, so the “flowers” are not that viewable – spiky balls dimly viewed in the murky light of this stormy day. It reminds me of lakeweed, and I looked for magical merfolk, but nothing seems to be swimming around.
Sweetened, the tea livens up a bit, and is pretty good. After a small plain cup, and a small sweetened one, I made a latte with the last of the first pot. It’s acceptable, but not something that makes me sit up and take notice.
I’m brewing a second pot now to see if the leaves have anything left in them. I should have heated the water again though. I suspect the kettle cooled too much.
It’s not a bad tea or anything, but not something that would impress me to order it as a loose tea. And I like my little luxuries, but the idea of someone working to form tea leaves into a tiny flower by sewing them by hand seems like a ludicrous activity, the ultimate in ridiculous decadence. I’m not sure that makes sense when I’m drinking things that get hand picked but it just seems like it crosses some line in my mind.
So I’ll use these, and they are kind of fun, but I am not going to seek out flowering teas.
