Wild Flowers

Prepared this in my French press with 12oz of boiling water. Having it today with peanut butter fudge and crackers coated with a generous wash of garlic and red pepper (lots of red pepper!) Also have some kind of crumb cake squares covered in lemon icing. Wow. I have tried my best to avoid the holiday snacks but they keep finding me. I have no choice. It’s not my fault. Ok, I’m just weak but I did try to resist… briefly.

Tea report – For all I know, all the blooming teas in China could be made in the same factory. The craftsmanship in all of them is pretty high and frankly they taste way better than I expected. The Primula pods are slightly smaller than the Teavivre ones. What they lack in size this one made up for in jasmine flavor. This one is especially good. The bloom was not as amazing as some of the others but made a pretty display. There is globe amaranth in this but for once I don’t really taste it. Just a lovely mild jasmine tea. I thought all the sweets and spices in my snacks would wash this out but it actually stands up for itself pretty well. Bring on cup two and three, hold the goodies. I notice my experience with this tea was completely different than TeaEqualsBliss. Possibly my pod was fresher?

I bought a sampler pack of Primula’s blooming teas awhile back – they all taste the same, but they bloom in different configurations. And they’re not bad teas. Just loose-leaf, I wouldn’t buy them, but they’re nice to show off for guests, and I enjoy sitting in class with my double-walled glass travel mug blooming one of these. Okay, maybe I’m a tea snob… I prefer the term “enthusiast.”
It’s a very light jasmine taste, and it’s great that I’ve never had any trouble with oversteeping, since I leave the ball in the bottom of the cup while I drink and sometimes it steeps for upwards of 30 minutes. I probably will buy them again, just because they’re not especially expensive and they’re cool to show to company. The jasmine flavoring is wonderfully light too. So many companies scent it so strongly that you lose the flavor of the tea itself.

I have spent most the day hunched over my perler boards spriting out gifts for people, now that I am stretched out in bed, propped up on a pile of pillows I can certainly say I am a happier person. I plan on spending the rest of my evening watching Let’s Play videos, sipping tea, and nibbling on snacks before I inevitably fall asleep. This of course, has nothing to do with the tea I am reviewing today!

Wild Flowers Blooming Tea by Primula is a blooming tea made from Chinese Green tea, Jasmine and Globe Amaranth flowers. The aroma of this tea is all flowers, intensely heady jasmine flower aroma drifts out of this interesting little ball of green. There is also a mild hint of earthiness, but the green tea is mostly indistinguishable and took some serious sniffing before I noticed the barest hint of vegetal.

Steeping the tea is an experience, and lets face it, the real reason we are all here. Watching the ball of tea bloom into a spiky flowered ball (that will forever vaguely remind me of Cthulhu but I am a nut) is an extremely enjoyable experience. The aroma is entirely jasmine flowers, which is all fine and dandy but not really nuanced. It smells like one very specific flower, no tea or other notes, just jasmine. The liquid without the leaves is the same, just jasmine.

The taste is heady jasmine and a touch of sweetness and the barest touch of vegetal green. It is an unremarkable drink with a beautiful viewing experience. There is a reason that I pull this tea out at events where there are no tea drinkers, it provides a wonderful show and a pleasant warm drink to sip on. I wish the base green tea had a stronger flavor, I think it if were it could knock my socks off, but since it isn’t I will just continue using this tea mostly as a visual treat to impress guests with.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2013/12/primula-wild-flower-blooming-tea-tea.html

This didn’t have any smell and hardly any taste. I even over steeped and tried a 2nd steep. The bloom was pretty but not much else. Tasted like hot water and that’s that.