ABOUT BLOSSOMS
Blossoming tea goes by many common names outside of China. Blooming teas, flowering teas, art-teas, hand-tied teas etc. All of these names are used to describe what is referred to in china as 'GongYi Hua Cha'; literally 'Art Flower Tea'. The concept that such teas have suddenly jumped into existence is very incorrect as this tea-making art form has existed in many of the fine tea-rooms in China for a very long time. A specific date of blossoming tea's beginning is not known but we can be certain that it is at least several decades ago, and possibly several hundred years during the Ming dynasty. Irrespective of when these tea blossoms have first appeared in the non-Chinese marketplace, many forms of green teas have already been circulating globally with similar hand-made and hand-tied elements. But at Blossoming Leaf we like to distinguish between those which blossom and develop into some form of display and those which are hand-tied for other purposes. Usually these other teas were still traditionally hand-tied for aesthetics, and some were simply tied for better storage and shipping across China!
Production of the blossoming teas begins always in the early spring in Fujian province. This is the same Fujian province that is famous for amazing amounts of green tea and especially oolong tea production. The tea buds are picked young and early before they open usually in mid-march to the beginning of April. This allows each picked bud to contain both the unopened bud and the small tea leaf, both glistening green and covered with white downy hairs. 
The leaves are then sorted, only the finest whole leaves and buds making the grade, while the rest get moved to further processing for low grade export teas and the tea dust and smaller particles reserved for tea bag production. The tea leaves which pass are again sorted for purpose, some immediately going to the blossom artists and most go to another part of the farm to be scented with certain flowers like jasmine, osmanthus and chrysanthemum by having the tea leaves and flower stacked onto multiple layers for several days or more. Finally after this the leaves are moved to be hand-tied into tea blossoms.
The flowers used in the tea blossoms are also picked young and fresh so the flavours are delicate and strong and the shape unbroken and undamaged. The leaves and flowers are tied together by skilled tea artists according set guidelines in order to achieve a uniform flower and tea arrangement for each blossom and especially to keep consistency.
