Blooming tea

Blooming tea — also called flowering tea, display tea or artisan tea — is a presentation-driven category rather than a single leaf: a small bundle of tea leaves is hand-sewn around one or more dried flowers and dried into a tight ball or cone that "blooms" open into a flower-like display when steeped in hot water. The wrapping leaves are almost always true tea from Camellia sinensis, usually a green or white tea (occasionally black), so a blooming tea does contain caffeine, unlike a pure flower tisane. The flowers tied inside — most often jasmine, marigold, globe amaranth, lily, hibiscus, chrysanthemum, osmanthus or rose — supply scent and the visual "bloom" as the threaded bundle slowly unfurls. Served in a clear glass pot or tall heatproof glass so the opening can be watched, it yields a pale, light-bodied, softly floral liquor and is prized above all as a piece of theatre: a drink you watch unfold as much as taste.