Lotus Green Tea

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Tea Knowledge

Understanding lotus green tea

What is Lotus Green Tea?

Lotus green tea is one of famous flavor tea types in Vietnam. It also has a lot of benefits for health, especially about sleeping.

The producer makes Bao Loc Lotus tea from Shan Tran Ninh green tea which has large, soft, and spongy tea leaves. These tea trees belong to Camellia Sinensis var. Assamica. We grow tea at height of 700 – 800m above sea level, with temperature from 17 – 25°C. This traditional tea has yellow color after brewing, delightfully aromatic, and moderate bitter taste. And we mix tea with lotus flower and 6 types of herb.

Classification of Lotus Green Tea

There are two types of Lotus tea. The first lotus tea, we mix Shan Tran Ninh green tea with lotus flowers and herbs such as cinnamon, illicium verum, foeniculum vulgare, cullen corylifolium, styphnolobium japonicum and aglaia duperreana. The second one is mixed between Top bud green tea and rice of lotus flower from West Lake in Ha Noi, which is also called Vietnamese traditional lotus tea.

The important point is the tea maker select the best lotus flower and high quality green tea like snow tea, ancient tea or top bud green tea to make Tay Ho lotus tea. In the past, they used ancient tea to mix which they called “Man Hao tea”. This tea belongs toShan tea in high mountain with the perfect tea buds. And the processing is quite complex. After picking tea leaves, they steamed it until getting out the bitter taste. Then, they dried it again and put the dried banana leaves inside the clay vase under the dried tea leaves. They fermented it for 3 – 5 years. This step helps the flavor of lotus flower is easy to get into tea leaves longer and deeply when mixing together.

Nowadays, most of people who like lotus tea changed the taste. They prefer to enjoy the little bitter taste inside with the rich flavor lotus flower. Because of that, the tea maker use Thai Nguyen green tea inspite of Shan tea to mix. They just dry tea leaves and mix rice of lotus flower inside without fermenting for long time.

Benefit of Lotus Green Tea

• Blocking the absorption of fats and thus helping lower cholesterol and trigs
• Lowering blood sugar levels thus helping those suffering from diabetes.
• Helping heal fatty liver disease.
• Lotus tea is great for detoxing the blood and thus helping to lower your risk of disease.
• Relaxing, soothing, sedative, and helping with anxiety… and bringing about a peaceful feeling.

How to make a good cup of lotus tea?

There are some techniques to make a good lotus tea cup:

• Firstly: preheat the teaset by boiling water, then pouring the amount of tea leaves into the teapot. You can control your taste by the quantity of tea leaves.
• Next: Wake up the tea leaves: pour the hot water into teapot with temperature is 85℃ (185℉) for 5 seconds.
• Finally: steeping tea: pour the hot water into teapot with temperature is 85℃ (185℉) for 20 – 25 seconds. Then pour out of tea water into each tea cup and enjoy. Remember that open the lid of teapot while waiting for the next infusion.

Lotus green tea can brew in 5 infusions

3 main factors that affect tea brewing

There are three factors that affect tea brewing: water temperature, amount of tea, and steeping time. Lotus tea is particularly sensitive to these three factors. Adjusting or decreasing each factor will have a very different effect on the brewed water.

• Temperature : higher temperature tea will be fragrant, but bitter. Lower water temperature tea will be sweeter, but not as fragrant. Too cold water, tea will taste watery.
• Amount of tea : the more tea, the stronger the taste, but also more bitter and wastes tea :)
• Steeping time : steeping tea for too long will easily cause a harsh taste, steeping too quickly will make the tea taste bland.

Vietnamese Tea Recommendations: Temperature: 85°C, tea quantity: 8g/200ml, steeping time: 20 seconds .

Discover a balance between the three elements in your own way.

Video tutorial on how to make delicious lotus tea from Tra Viet