We discover tea flowers

These strange looking objects were nestling in my Chinese-themed Kitchen Trotter box this month. I had absolutely no idea what they were - they reminded me of the owl pellets that Sophie had to dissect for a school project ! - so I turned to the enclosed guidebook. They're Tea Flowers.

Put them in a teapot (or in our case a glass bowl so we could see what was happening) and within minutes, they unfurl, just like real flowers. They look a bit like cauliflowers too !

Sophie had a taste of the tea and said it tasted like green tea but she wasn't keen. It was an interesting experiment though !

Looking around online, they are apparently dried tea leaves that are woven around edible flowers, so they burst open when you add hot water and infuse the tea, to look pretty and also add floral notes to the tea. I suggest you google "tea flowers" and look at the pictures - you'll be amazed, some are really pretty.