Great balls of tea
(Flower tea from China: Carlisle, England)
I took this photograph fresh this morning in Carlisle – this the very first time (aside from drawings) that I’ve ever put in a picture not taken in Asia. Ying’s mum sent this tea back to me with Ying at Christmas. I was there when she bought some of it in a shop just outside the Humble Administrator’s Garden in Suzhou. We pored over myriad teas; flower teas, black, green, herbal, fruit… there seemed infinite types I had never encountered before.
Before it is infused, the tea is a tight ball of dark dried leaves about the size of a two pence (or one yuan) coin. The flowers are presumably fresh when they are carefully stitched together with a fine thread and then rolled into a tiny tea fortress, which is dried out completely to be very tough like a little ping-pong ball. Both my mother and I were entranced when it came into contact with the hot water and began to open. As the tea ball unfurled slowly, it had the effect of a ‘flower arrangement’ being born. It was amazingly intricate, just like its larger cousins in a florists shop. However, the hot liquid surrounding this arrangement can be poured into cups and drunk, and a delicately refreshing cup it was too.
soooooooo pretty!
Youre such a fancypants these days… i remember our shared excitement about the invention of pyramid teabags! how youve grown… lol