My new friend Jason C. (president of the Penn State Tea Institute) recently returned from another one of his Asian tea treks. While he was in Korea I emailed him about my desire for some "primo Korean green tea." Jason didn't find any worthy specimens so instead I was so generously treated to a small can of dried lotus root tea!
The lotus is a beautiful and useful edible plant. It carries deep symbolic meanings for Buddhists. I've eaten lotus root before and found it to be quite delicious but for some reason I'd never thought about infusing it as a herbal tea. As it turns out lotus root tea is a very popular beverage the world over. The folks at Eden Foods state that lotus root tea is a macrobiotic staple and "long valued for its contribution to respiratory health."
I steeped about 8 slices of lotus root in ~8 ounces of boiling hot water for 5 minutes. The resulting cup had a pleasing amber color. The aroma was roasty, earthy and savory and it reminded me somewhat of french fries. The flavor in the mouth was a lovely surprise. It had a sweet, nutty, oolong-like flavor that I found slightly floral and very satisfying. I'm excited to have discovered this exotic infusion.
The lotus is a beautiful and useful edible plant. It carries deep symbolic meanings for Buddhists. I've eaten lotus root before and found it to be quite delicious but for some reason I'd never thought about infusing it as a herbal tea. As it turns out lotus root tea is a very popular beverage the world over. The folks at Eden Foods state that lotus root tea is a macrobiotic staple and "long valued for its contribution to respiratory health."
I steeped about 8 slices of lotus root in ~8 ounces of boiling hot water for 5 minutes. The resulting cup had a pleasing amber color. The aroma was roasty, earthy and savory and it reminded me somewhat of french fries. The flavor in the mouth was a lovely surprise. It had a sweet, nutty, oolong-like flavor that I found slightly floral and very satisfying. I'm excited to have discovered this exotic infusion.
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