Rare Tea Company’s Flowering Silver Tip White Tea | Tea Review

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I’ve always loved the idea of flowering teas, but I’ve been wary of them since I’ve had a few that were over brewed in the past. However, this white tea was too pretty to pass up!

Description: “A truly wonderful combination of beauty and flavour. Meticulously hand-tied, the tips will gently unfurl during infusion to reveal vibrant marigold flowers”

Instructions: One flower ball per 150 ml of water | 90°C (194°) | Infuse for 1-2 minutes, tasting regularly | Four infusions | 62p per cup based on 1gram of tea per 150ml of water and 4 infusions

Review: I had been eyeing the Rare Tea Company for some time as I saw a few of my tea friends purchase tea from them. When I looked into the company more, I found that I aligned with the focus of putting “… quality over price [to] suppor[t] skilled men and woman in marginalised rural communities[.]” So, I decided to purchase a few teas and this is one of them!

The tea ball arrived in a small square pouch. The flowering tea was a tightly hand-tied oblong shape. It had a faint sweet floral marigold smell. The steeping recommendations on the website ranged from 1 to 3 minutes.

While I normally err on the side of caution and go with the lower steeping time for white teas, the flowering tea did not fully unfurl until after the 3 minute mark. Since it was in line with the recommendations, I stopped steeping at around 3 minutes. Since I’ve had very bitter flowering teas in the past, I didn’t want to let the tea over brew.

The liquor was a pale yellow colour with a delicate floral, hay, and marigold smell. Three marigold flowers floated on top of a crown of white silver needle buds nestled at the bottom of the cup. Since the liquor was infused for three minutes, the tea had a strong punch of floral marigold and a sweet fruity taste with a gentle hay undertone and a syrupy texture. When cooled, the tea had a more vibrant marigold taste, but some dryness on the tongue.

Since the tea was so pretty, I had to take a picture of it! However, it was a bit tricky due to the steam and concern for over brewing. After the first infusion, I added room temperature water to the tea. I sadly didn’t realize at the time the website said the tea could be infused up to 4 times and I only had one tea ball!

That being said, after the liquor was gone, it was interesting to see the construction of the flowering tea and piece together how it was made. The wet leaves had a floral smell from the marigold and hay from the silver needles.

Since I didn’t have the heart to pour out the tea, I left it by a window for the day because it was too pretty. Overall, I am glad I tried another flowering tea, and I assume the teas I tried in the past were overly bitter due to the slow unfurling process. Despite the longer brew, the tea had a lovely taste and gave me a positive flowering tea experience. I am excited to try more flowering teas in the future (3.5/5 rating)!

The question of the post: Have you had a flowering tea before?

Edit: Nicole from Tea for me Please sweetly featured my post in her weekly round up! Make sure to check out all the other posts from the week such as a range of new tea reviews and books to look out for!