This tea is fascinating and very much worth trying. It’s a really marvelous experience to drink clear, sweet nectar scented with cherry blossoms.
The flowers arrive salt-pickled and must first be soaked in warm water before use. The unsoaked salted sakura blossoms smell like a sweet candy. It reminds me a little bit of the smell of salted plum candies from the Chinese grocery store. While the liquor produced from steeping the sakura blossom is clear and virtually colorless, it has a very distinctive sakura taste, like honey, sugared plum and melon. Steeped as recommended, the flowers bloom exuberantly in the hot water and reveal a very sweet and floral taste with a complexity of flavor.
I also used this to flavor my everyday genmaicha and it tasted delicious. It really adds layers of complexity and sweetness to the tea!
The steeped flower is gorgeous, check out my photos here: http://www.leafjoy.com/2011/01/tasting-sakura-cherry-blossoms-from-obubu-tea-includes-pics/
