Everytime I drink Chrysanthemum tea, it brings back memories of the 3 months that I lived in Hong Kong.
Instead of being able to buy canned soda in machines there (it is available, but not overly abundant like here in the US), you could buy sweetened lemon black tea or chrysanthemum tea in a box (like the juice boxes with the attached mini straw you can get here that’s marketed for kids).
I can’t remember drinking loose leaf chrysanthemum tea, at least, not in a home. I’m sure I drank it in dim sum restaurants. Because of that, when I drank this today, I simply thought, ‘Yep, this is chrysanthemum’ — nothing surprising.
However, it is still really good, really unique. Flowery, honey, very sweet. A pleasing yellow liquor. It’s nice to have this in lieu of the ever present, ever popular chamomile, as it seems very similar in type, but wholly other in taste.
I recommend the tea, but I do have one minor qualm — while I like the tin it came in, the lid is clear (which, is cool in because you can see the loose leaf through it), and therefore lets a lot more light in, but more problematic is that the lid doesn’t snap shut. If it were to turn over, I’m afraid it could come off. Not that I fear the tin turning over, but it simply means it isn’t a strongly sealing lid.
I don’t know if it would be prohibitively expensive for Tea Valley to get tins that had lids that snap tight and keep out all air, but that would definitely feel higher quality and help the tea to last longer.
Other than that, it had the the kinds of flavors were what I expected, but actually, they tasted better!
