Valentine's Tea: Bouquets to Drink

By JULIETTE ROSSANT It's February on the East Coast, with surges of Arctic weather blowing through, and I am thinking of chicken soup and Vitamin C-laden orange juice to get me through the thumping tail end of winter. What do I want for Valentine's Day as a gift? Not chocolates (well, not too many). As for a flowers, I prefer mine warm -- in a lovely pot of tea. Bouquets to drink? Of course! Many teas are really flowers -- chamomile being one of the best known -- but the most beautiful tea I have come across in my travels around the world came at me right here in America, in one word: "Numi." Now, Numi is not new and has been written up from coast to coast, from The New York Times to The San Francisco Chronicle, from Good Housekeeping to Restaurants & Institutions. Now, after half a decade of operations, Numi has something truly exotic. Picture for yourself a lovely bamboo box, tied with reeds, which opens to reveal enchanting organic marbles of flavor: hand sewn Leaves of Art™. Packaged in the shapes of cones and balls and sown with fine cotton thread by artisans in China, these tiny packages unfurl in hot water to blossom again as richly aromatic bouquets of flowers. Kids have their Magic Rocks: this is a very mature, artistic version, if you will. Of course, you should have a glass teapot to witness the marine blossoming (which Numi also makes available). The tea is sublime; the aromas soothing and relaxing. Banished were sniffles, so that I might actually taste caviar and chocolates to come. I tried the Flower Jewel that opened like a sea anemone and tasted like its perfune of Jasmine in white tea and amaranth flower. Then I tried Lavender Dream, a white tea with hibiscus (reputedly good for the heart) that turns a lovely pale red as it brews. It is rich and fruity, and one flower was enough for four cups of tea. Rather than a bouquet of flowers for Valentine's, I recommend you give the Flowering Tea Gift Set (listed at $34.95, which comes with a two-chambered glass teapot, available online, in specialty shops, and many Whole Foods markets. Or visit Numi online at www.numitea.com. Cheers! Previous articles: Valentine's Knives: Cut to the Heart