Floral Magic

I had seen those balls of woven tea leaves many times but never tried one.  Today I did.

It was a Jasmine Peach Buddha Ball from The Tea Centre.  The shop assistant had regaled me with tales of the ball opening to a beautiful flower in the heat of the water and I was quite excited.

I filled my glass teapot with hot filtered water and let it cool a little.  The ball was made of green tea leaves with a pink section on the top.  As green teas should be brewed using water about 70 degress celcius, I let the pot sit for a little to cool.

I then popped in my ball and sat back to watch the show.  First the little pink section perked up and became spiky.  It became clear that this was in fact a little pick flower blooming atop the ball, brought to life by the water.  Gorgeous!

Then the ball began to expand and each little tea leaf swelled and detach from the underside of the ball.  The tiny hairs on each tea leaf looked very soft and downy under the water.  So it looked rather like a tarantula with a pink floral hair piece than a giant tea flower but it was rather beautiful anyway and quite fun to watch unfurl.

The tea itself became slightly peach-coloured.  It smelled very soft and delicate.  The flavour had only the most subtle hint of peach.  If you didn't know it was supposed to taste of peach this may have been lost altogether.  Otherwise it was a lovely, very smooth, green tea.  More subtle than a straight green tea with a delicate and refined taste.

While I can't say it tasted more amazing than a beautiful green tea with a hint of peach, the ritual of brewing it and the visual beauty of the flower and the tea leaves coming to life made the overall experience very enjoyable and more than just the usual cuppa.