Blooming tea or flowering tea is made of premium green tea leaves and edible flowers. Therefore making blooming tea is as simple as brewing hot tea.
However, as blooming 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.
Below I will share with you the most comprehensive blooming tea brewing instructions as recommended by the blooming tea industry leaders.
Contents
Items You Need To Brew Blooming Tea:
- A blooming tea ball
- A clear, heat Resistance glassware to brew blooming tea (eg: 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)
- 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 blooming 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 blooming process from a tall wine glass. Lastly, the curved bottom of wine glasses can help position the blooming tea ball to the centre when it sinks.
2. Pour in boiling water at minimal 95°C or 203°F for the first brew
That’s how you can extract the maximum flavour out of the tea bundle, which typically consist of green tea leaves.
Your blooming tea may not bloom in full if you do not brew with boiling hot water.
It’s alright to pour boiling water directly to the blooming tea ball. If you’re using a glass cup, pour hot water until you reach the cup handle. Otherwise, if you’re using 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 blooming tea flower has unravelled 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 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 overcook your 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 flavour after multiple steep, you can reuse the blooming tea as a display 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 on 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+.
