Monday, March 4, 2013

What is Blooming tea?

A wonderful question!

Yes, we've gone through it time and time again, tea happens to be an old invention. In fact you need to go back about 1000 years in China to discover where tea originated from. But today, we are going to talk about Blooming tea or sometimes referred to as flowering tea; Blooming tea flowers are actually a more modern invention.

Blooming tea is a 20th century invention from China, and is purely handcrafted with whole leaves and freshly dried flowers. It is also referred to as Blossom tea, because like a real flower, once dropped in hot water it literally blossoms! Blooming tea flowers creates an entirely different experience to drinking tea.

Creative History

Have you ever heard of a tea master?

The two words look like an unlikely pair. There are two men from China, who are considered tea masters; and both played a role in the Blooming tea invention.

One man is from An Hui, and he grew up on a tea farm. Both his father and grandfather farmed before him.  When he was younger, he watched as his mother made sun-dried vegetables. When making sun-dried vegetables, it is Chinese tradition to use a special local leaf to bundle up them up. Once complete they are then stored for winter.

To make a long story short, the young man decided to apply the same technique to dried tea leaves, by bundling up the leaves together to create a really cool artful shape. After years of testing, he eventually created a special tea category, called Blooming tea.  The process involves handcrafting, leaf by leaf, to final sewing. This then artful form of tea unfolds in hot water blossoming into what seems a beautiful flower – even though there is no flower attached. The young man shared his technique with all local tea farmers sometime in the mid-80s.

The second tea master actually saved his family's tea farm with the idea. Back in the 90s, a family in southern China was on the brink of losing their entire livelihood. One day a family member, who also happened to be a sales rep, began questioning what he noticed in tea houses. It is Chinese tradition that men drink loose-leaf tea , because they believe they are much stronger. However women love flowers such as rose bud or Jasmine. In China when men and women both go to tea houses they order two separate pots, one with whole leaves and the other herbal. He thought to combine the two together; therefore Blooming tea was born. Needless to say his creation saved the farm.

Why Buy Blooming Tea?

This is an easy answer; its aroma is enticing, it combines art with pleasure, it’s a romantic vision, and highly entertaining! If you want to try something incredibly unique, we highly recommend flowering tea.

For detailed information on chai, check out http://www.californiateahouse.com/blog/tea-pearls/77-chai.html now!!

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