So I recently got into drinking herbal tea...its been a  good 8 months now and a day does not go by where I do not have at least one cup of my many herbal teas. It has become a bit of a hobby now, I have collected tea from my trips abroad to small shops up and down the country. The last couple of months I have been hooked on 'Yin Zhen' or 'White Tea or Silver Needle Tea, the taste of this tea really is amazingly mellow and hugely relaxing. It comes from the Fujian province of China and is referred to as the 'Emperor of Teas', it is very expensive tea and you just have to try it to know why.

I picked up my first batch of white tea from a small shop in Chinatown in London, the gent at the shop handed me a bag with a handful of what looked to be small pointy leaves which I went home and brewed. It was a nice mellow taste and very smooth in comparison to Green Tea, I had been converted from then on...I was a white tea fan.

I have started buying my tea online and usually tend to try a new brand every time, but at the same time always keeping my trusted brand in plenty of supply. Just last week I came across an interesting looking tea, which was made from white Yin Zhin but had been bound into a ball with a flower embedded.  Naturally I was fascinated...so I watched the video on the website and tea ceremony was just like nothing I had ever seen or imagined.

A white tea ball is dropped into a special glass teapot (made from pyrex grade glass) full of hot water, the ball starts to open up as you can see the silver needles of the white tea separating, and as the ball sinks to the bottom of the teapot the flower within blooms in full, its an 8 min process. I was fascinated and immediately ordered a gift set with tea and teapot.

The gift set arrived this morning and I tried it out, as in the video the tea opened up and the flower bloom, the flavour I tried first was Jasmine. I tried the tea with my wife and was hugely impressed with the quality and the subtle hint of Jasmine in each sip.

The Abloom tea as it is called is great in taste and is definitely one for dinner parties, it will get everyone asking "What is that?" I am having friends over on Sunday and will definitely be serving this little beauty up.

I am not sure if am allowed to give a link to the website, but if you google Creano Tea it should come up. Check out the video on Youtube too.