Chrysanthemum tea - your experiences?
This thread has me wanting to order some chrysanthemum tea. The stuff I have has lost it’s flavor.
Haven’t tried anything from Rosali tea yet. I was thinking of ordering some from Berylleb King Tea on EBay. They have excellent tea at excellent prices.
Cool, have you tried them already? What was it like?
I’m pretty partial to Rosali, but then again, I’m pretty stubborn and tend to stick with things I like for the long haul :)
They are very good. They actually sell three types, chrysanthemum, embryo chrysanthemum, and snow chrysanthemum. I like the regular chrysanthemum best. It tastes better than the embryo chrysanthemum and is milder than the snow chrysanthemum.
I believe Embryo Chrysanthemum to be Chrysanthemum buds that have not opened yet. Snow Chrysanthemum is a different plant. I don’t know anything about where they are grown.
That’s still helpful, as I know next to nothing :) I’d like to grow some in my backyard!
I work at Harney and Sons, and we just got a Chrysanthemum tea in. I don’t really care for it personally. It has a nice sweet aroma when it’s dry, but the steeped flowers have a strange smell that I can’t quite distinguish. And the flavor has a very weird lingering effect that is personally unappealing. But at the same time its hard to explain. I’m sorry if this was totally not helpful at all lol
No worries – it’s really hard to try to identify what it really tastes like, I had trouble with it too (though my experience was ultimately pleasant.)
They serve a heavily sweetened pre-made iced chrysanthemum “tea” where I live, in Bangkok, but I had a really good version of the real thing once on a trip in Beijing. It didn’t seem much like the same thing, or even based on the same flower. I’m pretty sure I’ve had other versions before but nothing like that tea. I think it was just fresher and of decent quality, but sometimes environment and eating foods with something can affect an impression. It’s not so easy to describe, like chamomile, but softer, sweeter, and more floral (although both are flowers, in one sense both completely floral), so not really all that much like chamomile.
How interesting. In your experience, how have different foods affected the taste of tea that you had?
I’ve had it multiple ways, and I’ve enjoyed it most ways. You can have it hot and it’s supposed to be a ‘cooling’ drink, when it’s hot I prefer it a little sweet, but it makes for a very refreshing drink when iced. I much prefer it to chamomile for a bedtime tisane.
There’s a bit of a taste difference in if the buds are fully open or still a bit closed when they are picked and dried. The closed buds yield a bit of a more floral fresh taste to me, while the more open buds are a little more pollen-y sweet. You can also find this at some Asian supermarkets in the tea section, but they also have ‘honey chysanthemum tea’ crystals, which is like dried instant tea (think instant coffee), which tastes different, but has a following of its own.
I like it after a big meal or after a weekend of excess. To me, it’s very cooling. I have only had it straight, not in a blend and find it lightly and subtly floral with mild and pleasant bitterness. It’s heavenly sweetened with honey crystals.
Hmm…like acupuncture cooling? In that case I’m best off avoiding it, since I need to always focus on “warming” :)
Funny you should ask that. When I was living in L.A., my acupuncturist introduced me to chrysanthemum tea. He was treating me for dampness in my joints, so this is not a cooling tea in the TCM sense. I find it cooling after the heat that accompanies over eating or imbibing too much alcohol. If you need food and drink that has warming qi, you will be okay drinking this.
i love snow chrysanthemum with ripe puerh! :D never tried it on it’s own… :(
the tea’s steepster page: http://steepster.com/teas/yunnan-sourcing/49568-2013-yunnan-sourcing-xue-ju-shu-pu-ripe-puerh-and-snow-chrysantehmum-tea-brick
my review: http://steepster.com/Kirkoneill1988/posts/331308
the official page for the tea: http://yunnansourcing.com/en/2013-yunnan-sourcing-teas/2400-2013-yunnan-sourcing-xue-ju-shu-pu-ripe-pu-erh-and-snow-chrysanthemum-tea-brick.html
It is for sure a unique tasting floral- I have had it a lot in China, and back in Canada. It is incredibly popular in China for women’s health, and usually women’s health blends will include chrysanthemum (and LOTS of sugar!!!!)
It is famous in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and is known to “clear the liver, cleanse the eyes, relieve eye pain” as well as help with circulation.
There are a few famous types, but the one I have had most in China is very pale in color, white and long(ish) petals. Usually you just steep maybe 2-3 flowers in your cup, just let them chill in your cup, no need to “steep and remove”.
The flavor is kind of floral – meets savory. Hard to pin-point!
When I was using chrysanthemum tea for joint issues, my acupuncturist told me to drink the tea and then eat the flowers that were left in the cup. I balked at this, but eventually found out they were not bad, just not a pleasant texture. I still drink this from time to time, but I compost the flowers now.
WILD! I guess there is no reason for the flowers to be inedible, since we drink from them… but I have never heard of that! I couldn’t imagine eating it. They get to soft and mushy as they steep! I guess anything is worth a try for joint health, right!?
Christie, eating the chrysanthemums after making them into tea was like eating wet toilet paper. They did not have much of a taste at all. I grow nasturtiums and put the leaves and the blossoms in soup and salad, but they are fresh and peppery/savory. But yes, I will admit to doing some odd things for the sake of health. :-p
I have had chrysanthemum tea often while growing up in China, and on visits back. It’s popular for health reasons as Christie said, and is especially so in summer as a cooling drink. Many restaurants also serve it as a tea option. It’s such a common drink for me that I’d be hard-pressed to write a tasting note for it—what does chrysanthemum really taste like? I’d have to answer chrysanthemum!
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