Tea Treats

Someone just returned from a business trip from Shanghai and brought me back a little something. A while back, I was listening to a podcast about learning Mandarin and Chinese cultural highlights. The author of this podcast is from Beijing and in one of the episodes about holidays and favorite things, she mentioned this special tea that signifies holidays for her. She described it, and the feelings that it brings to her, so well that I was prompted to ask if it could be found. I made the request, and lo, he found it and brought it home.

Eight Treasures Tea comes in a shiny plastic bag filled with smaller pouches all with the same logo/design on them. The little bags are filled with camomille flowers, goji berries, dried longan fruit, raisins, tea leaves, and rock candy ( in generous amounts, to be added or subtracted as per the desire of the drinker). Now I realize that there are only 6 items in the previous list, but I don't have the package in front of me.


Quite curious about the the taste of this tea, I made a cup on Saturday. I was generous with the rock candy ( but still had a couple of pieces left over- mmmm reminds me of bus trips to Penticton, a stop at the candy store and the purchase of rock candy by the weight). I let it steep, and this is what it looked like after about 10 minutes. I love the look, and want to keep the "bits" in the cup, but must develop a way to strain the material while I drink. The picking of tea leaves out of my mouth was not the most fun. The verdict is I love to look at it and I love to drink it too.