Blooming teas or flowering teas are made of premium green tea leaves and edible flowers. Therefore making blooming tea is as simple as brewing hot tea.
However, as flowering tea is highly valued for its spectacular visual presentation, care needs to be taken to make sure that your tea ball blooms beautifully. There are some small details that you absolutely cannot miss out on.
Below I will share with you the most comprehensive blooming tea brewing instructions as recommended by the tea masters.
Contents
Items You Need To Brew Blooming Tea:
- A blooming tea ball
- A clear, heat resistance glassware (eg: Glass Teapot, Tea Cups, or Wine Glasses)
- A kettle to boil hot water
- 500ml of water (enough to submerge tea ball in 4 inches of water). You can use filtered tap water or spring water.
- Additional cup for ease of drinking
How To Make or Brew Blooming Tea
1. Place blooming tea ball in the teaware before pouring hot water.
Do not flip the steps or you might find yourself getting worried about whether it’s going to bloom properly.
You can purchase teawares specially designed for flowering tea or you can just use any clear glassware that has high-temperature resistance.
Your glassware should have a minimum of 10cm or 4 inches of inner height and 7cm or 2.5 inches of inner diameter (width). This is important because some blooming tea may reach up to 3 inches of height when in full bloom. Your blooming tea may not look as visually pleasing when there’s not enough room to expand.
Personally, I prefer to use wine glasses to brew blooming tea because it makes the drink look more classy. It is also more convenient to observe the tea ball bloom process from a tall wine glass. Lastly, the curved bottom of wine glasses can help position the flowering tea ball to the center when it sinks.
2. Pour in boiling water at a minimal 95°C or 203°F for the first brew
That’s how you can extract the maximum flavor out of the tea bundles, which typically consists of green tea or white tea leaves.
Your blooming tea may not bloom in full if it is not steeped in hot water (boiling water temperature).
It’s alright to pour boiling water directly into the flowering tea ball. If you’re using a glass cup, pour boiling water until the cup handle. Otherwise, if you’re using a glass kettle or teapot, gently pour in hot water until it has filled two-thirds of the spout.
3. Enjoy your blossoming tea from a straight angle.
In other words, please enjoy the show at eye level.
4. Tea is ready when blooming tea is fully bloomed.
The best time to drink blooming tea is after 5 to 7 minutes of steeping, when the flowering tea balls have unraveled into full bloom.
5. Re-steep tea for another 2 to 3 times
It’s advisable to pour all the brewed tea into another container before drinking it so that you won’t over steep your cup of tea. Depending on the tea, some tea may turn bitter if it’s over-steeped. Besides that, it’s also easier to enjoy your drink without having tea leaves or flower petals floating around.
When you want to re-steep your blooming tea for a 2nd or 3rd brew, do not pour hot water directly onto the flower.
Instead, pour hot water along the rim or inner glass wall to avoid damaging the delicate flowers. Try not to crush the dried flowers!
Kindly take note that each re-steep should not exceed 2 minutes. You can adjust the time accordingly based on your own personal preference. Feel free to steep it longer for a stronger taste.
However, I do not recommend keeping your blooming tea overnight to re-steep it on another day.
How To Reuse Flowering Tea
Once your blooming tea has run out of flavor after multiple steep, you can reuse the blooming tea as a display tea for up to 1 week
You just need to replace the water daily to keep it looking fresh.
It is highly recommended that you keep your blooming tea in the fridge if you plan to re-steep the blooming tea the next day. Your tea may not be safe for consumption otherwise.
Seal your blooming tea in a tight container for freshness
You can skip this step if your blooming tea is individually packed. Simply place it in a dry and cooling area to avoid direct sunlight.
Lastly, avoid packing blooming tea too tightly together so that you won’t end up accidentally squeezing them.
Source
- Brewing Method, Linong Tea, 16 May 2019
- Make Blooming Tea, WikiHow, 16 May 2019
- Tea barista’s suggestions, Tea+.
