Tea Tuesday: Yi Dian Hong

I'm not really a coffee person. I prefer tea, and I know a lot of fellow writers love tea, too. But have you ever wanted to break out of the Early Grey or English Breakfast norm and try something new? Well, let me help you find some cool new teas! If you need a little hot and flavorful boost to help you reach your writing goal or you're just a lover of tea or you'd like to try some tea but aren't fond of the stereotypical types, these Tea Tuesday posts are for you.

This weeks tea is ... 

*drum roll*

Yi Dian Hong

How I found it: While walking through downtown on the Fourth of July, I stumbled upon a spice shop and flipped because I didn't know we had one. Then I ran inside and perused through their many assortments of teas and found a blooming tea. I thought to myself, This is the one. I immediately purchased it. 

The Tea: The most attractive part of this tea is how it is brewed. It starts as a ball of tea the size of a cherry then you pour boiling water over it and it blossoms into a "floral bouquet" as you can see in the picture above. It's fun to watch the tea "sprout" as it fans out into a pretty floating flour cluster. Basically that is the best part of these tea, for visual enjoyment. The actual tea tastes like a standard green tea. Maybe slightly higher quality than what you would find in Walmart. 

"Flower bloom and grow. Let your power shine." I was thinking this
while watching the tea bloom. Don't judge!

Serving Recommendations: I brewed this tea for the full ten minutes listed on the package so I could see the flower in its fullest bloom though the flower gets to its max at about five minutes. I had this with sugar both hot and iced. I preferred it iced. It goes well with my habit of eating ramen at lunch. 

How much is it and where can you get it? I got this in a package of two for $3.50 at the Marietta Spice Mill though I'm sure it can be found in other places online. It isn't insanely rare. Each ball will brew one quart of tea so you're getting a half gallon of tea for $3.50. That's pretty good. 

So how good is it? I'm indecisive about this one. The taste is average but the cool factor is five. I'll give it three stars for taste, but keep the fun part in mind.

Have you tried this tea? What did you think of it? Have you ever tried a blooming tea?

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)

Click here for last week's tea!