I got these weird looking “flowering tea” bulby thingies at the Eat.Art stand at Taste of Cape Town…   I popped them into my bag and totally forgot about them.

Then the other day I was doing a much needed handbag clean (how the hell does your handbag get into such a state in just days!?! haha) and there at the bottom of my bag I found them again.

This is what they look like:

And then the back:

Once you’ve taken it out of the wrapping, the bulb looks like this close up:

It’s slightly creepy huh? Like a big spider is going to jump out right at ya…

I read up about it and basically it’s made by binding tea leaves and flowers together into this bulb and then it is set to dry.   Each bulb therefore consists of dried tea leaves wrapped around a dried flower and they are mostly sourced from China.

So how do you go about drinking it then?  Well it’s pretty simple.  You just put the bulb in your tea cup, then add boiling water and sit back to watch the show  (don’t run to the toilet or something – this magic unfolds within seconds):

Of course I chose to do the Princess flower first… cause I’m a princess dammit…

And then Ta da!!! The final result:

So damn pretty!!!

I wasn’t sure whether you then just sip around the flower or you take it out, but taste wise, it wasn’t for me.  I’m a 2 sugars and lots of milk girl when it comes to tea, with Earl Grey being my favourite.  But boy this is one hell of a party trick!   I’m keeping the other two to impress guests with for sure.

xxx