Red Bloom

Pretty to watch it unfold in a glass mug…light without being too jasmine-y floral…was enjoying the whole aesthetic experience in my backyard with a book (Hood by Stephen Lawhead…quite good so far) … and then a bug flew in it and died. Sigh.

I received three of these in a trade though I’m afraid I forget from whom. They’re a little bit beat up so unfortunately the one I’m currently drinking lost most of its flower bits. Awe-inspiring I’m afraid this ain’t.

The tea itself is a pretty basic, rather bland black tea with some flowery jasmine notes – not something I’d write home about. However the age and condition of the tea ball could be a factor so I’m going to avoid rating this tea for now.

I’ve never tried a blooming tea before but having received a new glass teapot as a gift, I thought this would be a good way to show it off.

The description says it’s “awe-inspiring.” This brings to mind the scene in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation where Clark is making a big deal about the house lights, plugs them in…then nothing. The tight tea pod opens to unveil a small, pink clover blossom at the top of some scrawny black tea leaves.

There wasn’t much fragrance of note. The flavor wasn’t too bad. There was a slight cereal quality and it was very light. Overall, I wasn’t really impressed.

I like blooming teas, and Adagio’s were my first introduction to them. So I do have a special sort of nostalgia for them, even though I don’t like the packaging. (It seems like such a waste of material to have each bloom individually bagged and in a box. It’d be much more environmentally friendly to chuck them all in a tin or single bag, yes?)

That said, I’m not terribly enthusiastic about the Red Bloom. It’s a very generic sort of black tea (or maybe I just don’t have enough experience with unflavored black teas to differentiate between the many varieties) and although the amber liquid looked very pretty in my glass teapot (usually busted out only for pearls and blooming teas) and the unfurling of the flower is always fun to watch, it was unspectacular in flavor.

I usually can get two-three pots (I think my glass pot holds between 23-28 oz) from each flower before the flavor’s too weak to go on. It’s a great tea for showing off to tea newbies, but for the experienced connoisseur who prefers flavor over pretty tricks, skip the show and give ’em something yummier.

This was a light, pleasant tea that was fun to watch open up as it steeped. Good both hot and cold, I got plenty of flavor out of it even on a fourth steeping. The taste was of a slightly sweet black tea with a bold flowery flavor.

Good! A bit sweet, a bit flowery… but it could just be that I expected it to taste flowery. :D