You know what’s not fair? I woke up ill this morning, that’s what. Well, I say ill, it’s just the flu really. And by the flu I mean more of well, more of a cold really. A slight cold.
Oh all right then. I’ve got a bit of a sniffle, happy? But I still reserve the right to whine about it. I came into work and everything.
So now that I’m sniffling and snuffling my way around Clare Florist Towers (n.b. Clare Florist do not in fact have a tower. Yet.), the one thing I really want is a big steaming mug of tea. And a tower. But in the meantime the cup of tea will have to do.
And because I’ve been thinking about tea, and because we DEDICATED PROS here at CF are always thinking about flowers, this put me in mind of flower tea. It’s amazing stuff, you get it as an option in a lot of Japanese restaurants, particularly jasmine tea. A small flower sits huddled in a ball like a frightened octopus in the bottom of a glass teapot. And then, as you slowly pour the scalding hot water over the top, the jasmine flower opens and uncurls, just as though it was starting to bloom.
So I started to wonder – can you make this stuff at home? And because the internet is a wonderful thing, it only took a couple of minutes to find out that yes, you certainly can. The most complete article on the subject was this wonderful one from Art of Tea. Another great read is this page on Hubpages, which deals with making your very own flowering tea ball. Pretty cool!
For now, we’re just going to stick with a recipe from Art of Tea for making flowering tea using a ready-made tea ball, which you can find in Chinese supermarkets as well as speciality tea stockists. The steps are pretty simple:
· Step One: Place a blooming tea bulb into a clear glass tea pot
· Step Two: Heat the water, but remember the water should not be boiling. We say around 170 degrees when poured onto the flower bulb is best.
· Step Three: Pour the boiled water over the bulb in the glass tea pot
· Step Four: Watch it unravel from a bulb into a beautiful blooming flower
· Step Five: Steep the tea for at least 3 minutes, don’t be afraid to taste it to see if it has reached it’s desired strength
· Step Six: Pour into a cup and relax and enjoy
Doesn’t that sound lovely? The site recommends adding sugar to taste. But in my case, I think I might go instead for some lemon, some ginger and a healthy spoon of honey…
