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“As I have been drinking a lot of oolongs lately, I felt that something new was in order for my tastebuds. This flowering tea from Canton Tea Co caught my eye, and I decided to give it a try. I have...” Read full tasting note
Young green tea leaves are skilfully hand-tied around a bright, aromatic Globe Amaranth and Jasmine to form a cute little bud. Gently pour on hot (not boiling) water and the bud blossoms into a spectacular and colourful display of flowers and young tea leaves. The liquor is a sweet, light, golden infusion with the soft nutty notes of the green tea underlying the more fragrant, honeyed taste of the Globe Amaranth and Jasmine flowers.
Canton Tea Co is a London-based tea company trading in high grade, whole leaf Chinese tea. We have exclusive access to some of the best jasmine, white, green, oolong, black and authentic puerh teas available. In our first year, we scooped Six Golds at the 2009 Guild of Fine Food Great Taste Awards. Our Jasmine Pearls won the top three star gold award, endorsing it as the best available in the UK.
As I have been drinking a lot of oolongs lately, I felt that something new was in order for my tastebuds. This flowering tea from Canton Tea Co caught my eye, and I decided to give it a try. I have tried quite a few teas from Canton Tea Co, but never any of their green teas, much less a flowering tea ball. My past experience with flower tea balls has told me that the tea is often mediocre in quality, but my hope is that Canton Tea Co will live up to their high quality, even in this decorative piece.
The directions say to steep this ball of tea in a cup of water until the flower blooms. While these may seem like vague directions, they provide the greatest enjoyment to the drinker, who gets to see the beautiful opening of the tea ball and the flower that “blooms” from within. Following these directions, I happily watched as the ball slowly opened, revealing a red flower in the center with small white flower buds moving off to either side on non-visible threads. Purely for the sake of my continued enjoyment, I decanted the tea from the cup with the flower into another cup, and then poured cold water over the flowering ball so that it continued to float in bloom.
Extremely interested in the taste, I eagerly tried a sip of the decanted tea. It is very sweet and thick, owing to the amaranth and jasmine flowers. The undertones remind me a bit of grain (not in a bad way), and the information on this tea says that the green tea contains some nutty flavors. I was certainly not expecting this flavor from tea, but I am pleasantly surprised, and I quite enjoy it. Plus, the flowering tea ball still looks very pretty.
This tea was a fun diversion, and it would make a unique gift, providing visual and taste stimulation for the recipient. Well done, Canton Tea Co. On my personal enjoyment scale, I rate this tea an 83/100.
