みなさん こんにちわ!
This is Sarah, and for the month of November I would like to write about a very special flower: the tea flower!
Camellia sinensis is an evergreen plant that, besides its delicious leaves, also produces flowers and seeds.
The flowers are around 3 cm, they have white petals and yellow anther and filaments.
The flowers are generally not used to produce tea; hence they are undesired on the plant because they compete with the leaves for nutrients. In other words, to have a delicious tea, we want to concentrate all of the nutrients (and their taste) in the new shooting leaves (particularly in spring!).
However, at Obubu we love to experiment with tea, therefore this month we have tried to dry and infuse these flowers.
First our interns have hand-picked the flowers from our tea field adjacent the office. This tea field is made of zairai plants (plants propagated by seeds) and it traditionally belongs to the shrine behind the office, which has over 1200 years of history.
After hand-picking, we have withered the flowers indoor for one day. The aroma of the withered flowers is sweet and delightful.
Then, we have dried them at lower temperature using an old-style dryer.
Finally, back in the office, we are now blending them with different teas, tasting and sharing our tasting notes. We are searching for the perfect blend that balances the sweet and delicate aroma of the flowers and the delicious taste of the tea.
And, maybe, you will soon hear again about these flowers!
November is coming to an end and it’s time for me to look around searching for other flowers to bring to this blog. Until then, have a brew-tea-ful time!