*NEW RECIPE*

A mini bouquet in a cup, our award-winning Jasmine Basket Chinese flowering green tea is the perfect gift for tea lovers. The highest grade of green tea leaves are bound together with fragrant edible jasmine and lily flowers into a dried bulb that, when steeped, unfurls into a miniature 'basket' of blooms.

With a lingering, floral aroma and sweet peach flavour, this Chinese tea tastes every bit as pretty as it looks. Light and refreshing, it has a pale golden colour that hints at an underlying sweetness offering a beguiling taste of peach, making it delicious all-day drinking.

Handcrafted in Fujian by skilled artisans, Jasmine Basket flowering tea is the perfect way to make a statement, whether it's a gift for someone special or as a centrepiece at your very own luxury tea ceremony.

How are flowering teas made?

Also known as blooming teas, flowering teas are made in a few regions of China – mainly Fujian, Yunnan and Anhui. While China has a centuries-old history of hand-tying teas for dramatic effect, the elaborate floral creations popular today first came onto the market in – perhaps unsurprisingly – the flashy days of the 1980s.

To make each bulb, premium green or white tea leaves are wrapped around one or two central flowers – commonly chrysanthemum, jasmine, lily, hibiscus, marigold, rosebuds or osmanthus. Artisans then carefully sew and bind the petals and leaves together with food-safe thread, tucking everything into a neat ball shape, before the teas are dried and finished, ready to be packed up and delivered as a delicately aromatic, flavourful tea.

What are the health benefits of flowering teas?

Our Flowering Tea Bulbs Collection is based on a luxury loose-leaf green tea which has a range of potential health benefits. These are largely due to green tea's high level of flavonoids called catechins, which studies have shown may be linked to good cardiovascular function, weight management and even cancer prevention. Because of their minimal processing, green teas are also higher in other antioxidants such as carotenoids and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) than other teas.

Alternatives to Jasmine Basket tea

If you love the heady scent of jasmine but want to keep things simple, try a caddy of our other speciality teas from Fujian: Jasmine Silver Needle, for a beautifully fragrant example of a classic white tea; or Jasmine Dragon Pearls, made from nothing but delicately rolled, early-harvest green tea leaves – and another premium tea that unfurls while being steeped. Alternatively, for a soothing, caffeine-free option, try our Whole Chamomile Blossoms, grown on the fertile Nile river delta, or our beautifully romantic Whole Rose Buds, made from carefully selected Iranian flowers.

Watching a flowering tea bloom is key to the joy of these aromatic infusions. Browse our Glassware section for a range of stunning individual infusers and tea pots, made from borosilicate glass. To find out more about the magic of Chinese flowering tea, see our Tea Journal.