Chinese Flower

This tea is pretty as potpourri! So many colors mixed in. Dark green chun mei leaves, yellowy lemon peel, and blue, pink, and cream-colored flower petals. The blue flowers appear to be cornflower, the pink might be rose, and I think the pale petals are chrysanthemum. Harney & Son’s website doesn’t go into specifics.

It’s delightfully fragrant as soon as I open the tin. A sweet, Meyer lemon-like aroma is mostly what I’m getting. As it steeps, the water changes to a light tannish yellow. The scent is a little more pungent after the chun mei brews, but it’s not off-putting. It reminds me of lemon verbena. The flavor is surprisingly smooth and citrusy. It’s not tart in any way as I kind of expected. The lemon mutes the green tea aspects of this completely. No ocean or grass flavors whatsoever. Also, I don’t really taste the flowers, either. I know cornflower doesn’t really have a flavor and chrysanthemum is usually very mild… but I at least expected to be able to taste the rose. Alas, this is basically an exceptionally pretty lemon green tea.

I’m not saying it’s bad in anyway. In fact, it tastes lovely. I was just sort of expecting more.

This was an unimpressive tea. Although the idea is great and the official description very promising the resultant tea does not live up to the hype. The tea base is a relatively boring green tea and would not get a good rating on its own. The addition of flowers is beneficial but the orange zest somehow overpowers. Something in the tea is very bitter, likely the orange or green tea base, and the orange masks the smell of the flowers. The bitterness is preserved after swallowing. One can clearly taste plants, flowers, and orange with evocative notes of cinnamon, and bitter spices. The direct small of the tea without imbibing is not particularly great, none of the flowers come through. I think that the tea could be improved by lessening the orange and improving the quality of the green tea that is used. Although the idea of the blend is great, it is overall a disappointing product.

The lemon in this tea is strong, but with the flowers and earthy green it tastes like perfume! (in the best way possible)

I’m usually not a big floral tea person, so this was a big surprise when I tried it the first time.

You have a nice base of green flavor topped by the strong citrus and flower flavor too. The citrus is the predominate flavor with perhaps slight vanilla undertones as you swallow. I was pleasantly surprised that the floral / fruity flavor is very subtle and it is not very acidic, despite the overall citrus scent and flavor.

Good on its own, better with milk and honey.

I find this tea to have a strong lemon taste. Lovely to look at but not my favorite green tea.

Excellent green tea. One of my favorites

Chinese Flower was one of the first blends by H&S I tried after I fell in love with their “Bangkok” tea. It’s a bright citrusy green tea with strong floral flavours. This one is pleasant at almost any time.

Delicious! An experience for all the senses. It’s visually attractive, it smells like no tea I’ve ever smelled, and it tastes incredible. with a bit of honey to sweeten it up, this is practically perfection.

Another ashmanra gift… (You can’t imagine how lovely the package she put together was.)

Chinese Flower is not only a delicious green, but it’s absolutely lovely to look at as well. The tea is interspersed with flower petals of yellow, blue, white and pink. It’s beautiful! The scent matches the visual aesthetics as well. It’s a crisp scent, like freshly picked flowers from a garden infused with citrus.

I steeped very lightly and quickly with this one, not wanting to have a veggie/floral combination. The scent is predominately citrus now, but the floral aspect is still somewhat present. The taste is really nice. Yes, very lemony, but it’s a sweet tasting lemon flavor. The floral scent isn’t really in the flavor so much. The green is perfect with this one as there is no bitterness in my cup. It’s slightly grassy tasting, making a fresh pairing with the citrus.

Thank you, ashmanra, again!