True Love Flower Tea

The most beautiful flowering tea I have seen to date. Silver needle green tea cradling a white bouquet with twin white spires rising up topped with red globes. The flowers look like they were just picked. The picture does not do it justice.

Poured boiling water through a strainer so as not to damage the pod. It began expanding immediately. Not a single leaf or petal came loose in the pot. Poured into cup through the strainer. Clarity is excellent. Color is from pale amber to deep golden depending on steep time. The jasmine flavor is way in the background. One of the other two flowers – the globe amaranth I think – dominates and it is not a flavor I particularly like. Letting this steep longer and letting the cup cool brings out the jasmine a little more.

Visually this rates a 100.

Check out our video-tasting here: http://blip.tv/the-tea-show/teavivre-flower-tea-6159996

Let the festivities continue. There seems to be a pattern. Teavivre seems to be the tea of choice for the evening. Other flowering teas that I have sampled have been jasmine flavored. So this is a new experience for me. The green tea is not a very strong scent. The liquor is a little darker yellow. Slightly nutty not bitter. However it took a second steep for the flower to really open up. It’s a decent green and a good one to share with friends over for New Years Eve. I kinda like having a flowering tea that’s not all jasmine. However the flower itself blooming is not as dynamic and just seemed to not want to open up.

Since my guest enjoyed the flowering tea last week, I decided to serve a flowering tea again this week. I have been craving really good green tea lately, probably because of my Teavivre samples that have been so delicious. This one was beautiful and very good. We steeped it only twice because I used a slighter larger pot this time. I had three cups! Thank you, Angel and Teavivre!
I am looking forward to putting together my first Teavivre order!

Fair truth: tasting this kind of terrified me. If you’ve followed my notes regularly, you will know that I simply cannot abide anything floral in my tea. So, a fully flowering tea? This can’t be good, can it?

We don’t have, no shock I suspect, the proper pot for brewing this, but I took the center column out of a clear, round Bodum and we used that. Unfortunately, no matter how slowly I poured, the pod did get battered around a fair bit, and some of the outer leaves came loose. And, it floated for a good while, which complicated things a bit.

But it did fully expand in due time, and was very pretty.

And oddly enough, the tea itself is not particularly floral ! Just a lightly roasted white tea, very subtle. Maybe a whiff of sweetness near the finish. If this was just a loose white tea, I wouldn’t be all that impressed, I don’t think. But then, who’s going to use their finest leaves to make these things?

I like flowering teas, but I’ve never found them to be the tastiest of teas. There was a point about five years ago where I stocked up on blooming tea because they were so portable – you pop a bloom in a tumbler, add hot water, drink and add more hot water, and you have flavored tea/water for most of the day. I took it with me on bike rides and to 5k walk/run events because it was easier to drink than plain water. That’s not to mention that it’s entertaining to see each bloom pop open. But it isn’t the first thing I reach for when I’m craving “real” to, so-to-speak.

This was another generous sample provided by Teavivre and it’s certainly the highest quality blooming tea I’ve tried. I put mine in a glass tumbler with 10 oz of water, decanted into a regular mug, and found that to be fine for extracting flavor. It did get slightly bitter, but not undrinkably so. It maintained its green sweetness, and of course there’s the floral that shows up more in the aftertaste than in the initial sip.

I would have no problem using this as a centerpiece at an occasion – a small 2-cup glass teapot on the table at a wedding reception or bridal shower for something delicate to go with delicate sweets…the possibilities are intriguing…

I took a close up pic and posted on my blog review: http://bit.ly/whMPIh I’d definitely purchase more of this True Love variety for a future occasion.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 ball
Water: 12 ounces, boiling
Steep Time: a little over 2 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: vegetal, fruity
Steeped Tea Smell: jasmine, vegetal
Flavor: green tea, jasmine
Body: Light
Aftertaste: none
Liquor: translucent honey yellow-brown

Like most flowering teas I feel the flavor is sacrificed for the beauty. It’s an OK cup of tea but nothing exceptional. On the other hand you can tell it was made with high quality tea as it is drinkable and pretty as opposed to many flowering teas which are for looks only.

Blog: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2011/11/teavivre-loose-leaf-green-tea-true-love.html

Let me begin this note by saying the True Love Flower Tea by Teavivre is the most entertaining tea that I have experienced thus far. It was a lot of fun to watch the little tea bundle slowly molt into the pretty flowers and greenery!

I hadn’t brewed a flower tea before so I may not have used the proper procedure. I nuked (microwaved) water until it boiled and then I dropped the little bundle into the water. This method made the process very cool to observe. The nest-like ball immediately started to sizzle, open, and bloom, as it gradually sank to the bottom of the pot. I then let it steep for three minutes before I strained the tea into my cup.

If you have been following my tasting notes, you already know that I do not, as a rule, enjoy flowery tasting teas. However, this tea is a great exception to my standard thoughts about floral teas.

The Love Flower Tea has a soft, nice, semi-sweet, nutty flavor. The flowery attributes blend harmoniously with the taste but do not take control. I also didn’t feel like my mouth was full of perfume as I had with other flower power teas I tried in the past. I didn’t detect any bitterness. The flavor lingered pleasantly on my palate after each sip. The brewed color is a light orange/yellow.

This product changed my (tea) life in that I will now be open to trying other flowery teas in the future. True Love Flower Tea is an enjoyable tea, not just due to the delightful flavor, but also because of the great floor show!

This tea is beautiful!! I have had a sample of this from the ever generous Teavivre for quite some time; I have been waiting to brew it up until I had a friend over who would appreciate it! We used boiling water and steeped for a little over 2 minutes. We like how it tasted; very light with floral nuances. Everyone who saw it thought it was pretty neat! We steeped it twice; it was nummy both times.

This is my first flowering tea in my teapot and I was just in Aww… I called my husband over and sent photos to everyone! This tea is soo light and fresh i just LOVE IT!!! it reminds me of being a Child drinking chines tea :) Just Wonderful!!!

The rare desert spring rain is making the garden more beautiful than usual, this week. My visiting cousin and I were sitting outside in the garden, with this tea. This was her first time seeing flowering tea, which made me even happier to share.

The tea ball blooms very quickly, and is sturdy enough to withstand a few pours from within a glass tea pot, plus being transferred to a cold water vase for display. It’s beautiful; I especially like how bright the amaranth flowers are. They emerge like a growing light from the tight ball, a striking deep pink against pale white and green. The parts of this tea ball are angled nicely too. The twin blooms either curve slightly towards each other, or stand straight and tall.

The tea itself is best within the first 2-3 minutes or so, a pleasant, light jasmine-floral flavor on a thin texture. After that, it’s too rough and astringent, contrasting how beautiful the bloomed tea ball is. I find it’s best to serve just part of the initial brew for good drinking, then to leave the rest of the water for display preparation. Let the bloom steep for another 10-15 minutes or so before transferring to a display vase with fresh water; this helps the new water stay clearer for longer.

Thanks TeaVivre for the sample; thankfully Canada Post only hoarded this box for a month before letting me know they had it…

This flowering tea is slightly less flavourful than the Two Dragons and a Pearl tea. It is not as nutty; it is a bit sweeter and more floral, but I found the flavour didn’t last as many steeps. Definitely a lighter flavour over all. Still enjoyable and pretty to look at. I had three love flowers on mine, as opposed to two in the picture.

Water: I boiled 12oz water

Leaves: one big tea ball

Steep: 3 minutes

Aroma: light floral

Color: almost clear when brewing but dark yellow in mug

Taste: Although very beautiful to watch is it blooms,I couldn’t help but to take a picture. Overall I found this tea to be tasteless.