Flowering tea is a treat for the eyes, nose, and palate. Consisting of tea leaves woven around a dried blossom, flowering tea is brewed in a glass teapot so everyone can enjoy watching the tea "bloom." Skilled artisans create the tea bundles, weaving and tying them into a ball. Other names for flowering tea include blooming tea, blossoming tea, display tea, and tea balls.
All true teas come from the Camellia sinensis plant. Growers create different teas, such as green, black, and oolong, by varying the drying and processing methods. Herbal teas are tisanes (herbs, spices, and other plant material), not true teas. Flowering tea is a mixture of tea and tisanes.
In ancient times, people used tea as a herbal medicine long before drinking it for pleasure. They added flowers to boost the medicinal value and sensory delights of the tea. Some blossoms commonly used in flowering tea are jasmine, calendula, globe amaranth, marigold, and lily.
Nutrition Information
Most teas contain no calories unless you add milk, cream, honey, or sugar. Most flowering teas are made of green tea. One cup of green tea contains:
- Calories: 2.4
- Protein: 0 grams
- Fat: 0.5 grams
- Carbohydrates: 0 grams
- Fiber: 0 grams
- Sugar: 0 grams
The benefits of drinking tea come mainly from its antioxidant content, not from vitamins and minerals. Green tea contains some of these nutrients, mostly in trace amounts:
Different types of tea contain varying levels of caffeine. Herbal tea contains no caffeine. An eight-ounce cup of black tea contains 47 milligrams and the same amount of green tea contains 28 milligrams.
Potential Health Benefits of Flowering Tea
Flowers have been used in traditional and non-traditional medicines. For example, the calendula can treat more than a dozen different ailments. However, the normal concentration of flower elements in tea is too weak to make an effective medicine. Most of the health benefits of flowering tea come from the tea leaves.
Drinking flowering tea has been shown to have these possible health benefits:
Psychological Benefit
Making and drinking flowering tea is a ritual that can have psychological benefits. Rituals can calm emotions, improve performance, and create social connections. In one study, holding a hot drink influenced the way people regarded others. Those holding a hot drink perceived other people as warmer-natured than those holding an iced drink did.
Heart Disease Risk
Tea leaves are rich in antioxidants, especially catechins. One catechin, called epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG, may reduce the risk of heart disease. It also has positive effects on metabolic health and may help prevent type 2 diabetes, which often accompanies heart disease.
Scientists believe that the antioxidants in tea may prevent cell damage that sometimes becomes cancer. These antioxidants could also kill abnormal cells. But most of the studies on tea and cancer have focused on animals or cells in the lab. Scientists say that human studies are harder to manage and have given inconsistent results.
Anti-Cancer Effects
One form of cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), has responded to treatment with green tea extract. In the lab, after treating cancer cells with the extract, researchers did a human study with positive results. They hope the extract will allow those with CLL to delay chemotherapy. Since researchers used extract, and not brewed tea, it's uncertain what the benefit of brewed tea would be.
The catechins, mild acids, and other plant-based substances found in green tea can positively affect oral health, especially for older adults. Green tea can decrease cavities, reduce chances of periodontitis, and even combat bad breath.
Potential Risks of Flowering Tea
While flowering teas are safe for most people, they do have a few possible health risks:
Anemia
Studies show that tea can interfere with the absorption of iron from foods. If you are at risk of iron deficiency, you should avoid drinking tea with meals and, if possible, increase your intake of iron from animal sources.
The caffeine in tea can cause insomnia or jitters. To avoid these symptoms, consume tea early in the day or look for caffeine-free varieties. Although tea has less caffeine than coffee, multiple cups can still cause problems. Green tea has less caffeine than black. If you are okay with caffeine but don't want too much, try green tea varieties.
Tea leaves are rich in oxalates, which are plant compounds that bind with calcium to form the most common type of kidney stone. If you are trying to reduce your risk of kidney stones, you should avoid oxalates.
Liver Damage
Supplements made of green tea, such as weight-loss products, may damage the liver, researchers have found. But there is no evidence that drinking flowering tea or other green tea products will affect the liver. Still, if you have liver damage, you should talk to your doctor before having green tea in any form.
