A Blooming Good Time

I love social media.  It brings people together in many different ways.

Today I was on Facebook and a neighbour had posted a picture of Blooming Tea. I had never heard of it before, but the pretty flowers in her glass teapot looked so lovely, I wrote under the picture, "Oooooh. I have to get some of those!"

About a minute later, just as I located them on E-bay, the doorbell rang, and there she was, holding a package full of these little dried up balls of tea, and a glass teapot.  She handed me one of these balls, and told me she didn't know which one it was, so I was to take a picture for her so she could see.  That's when I understood that she was actually giving me one.  Not only was she giving me one of her tea balls, but she had also brought over her glass teapot, so I could watch it bloom. I was absolutely thrilled and I told her I was in the process of trying to figure out which E-bay dealer to order from.  There were so many choices! 

I narrowed it down to those that didn't charge shipping and then looked for someone with a good satisfaction record. My neighbour had told me how much it had cost her, but admitted that someone else had done the actual ordering for her.  In the end I got a better price than she did with someone who had made over 50 sales and had a 99.9% satisfaction rating.  Now I just have to wait as the package will probably take a month to get here.  It's coming from China, after all, and even things that come from the United States take 3 weeks to arrive.

I had never seen one of these tea balls open before, and decided I needed company to help celebrate this great event. I called a long time friend who I had not seen for quite a while and asked if she was busy. She wasn't, so I told her I had something to share, and wondered if she would come over. She was here with 15 minutes and I put the kettle on.  While that was boiling, I put some blueberry squares on plates, for us to enjoy with the tea. The glass teapot, with the little round tea ball sat in the middle of the table. I asked her if she knew what it was. She didn't.  Then I started to pour the water into the pot, and pretty soon the tea ball started to unfold and reveal it's treasures.  We watched in amazement. 

How on earth do they do that.  The tea balls are apparently wrapped by hand, and I cannot imagine how it's done.  The results are stunning.  There was at least 3 different coloured flowers inside this particular ball.   I poured the tea, and it was surprisingly good.  The instructions told me I could add water 3 times, but not to drink the tea after it was 12 hours old.  It did say that the flowers could be kept in the water for 3 to 5 days, just for visual enjoyment though.  Since the teapot was borrowed, I found a clear glass vase, and transferred the flowers into it so I could wash and return the teapot. 

I had a lovely visit.  My friend really enjoyed the experience. She thought it was too bad her mother wasn't there to see that. I told her I'd have my own supply of these marvelous treasures in about a month, and she could come back and bring her mom and we'd do it again. 

Just from this one picture I saw on Facebook this morning, I got the gift of a tea ball, the loan of a teapot, a visit from an old friend, a great learning experience, a lovely cup of tea, a flower to enjoy for a few days, and I made my first ever purchase on E-Bay, using funds I had earned doing surveys.  That's quite a treat. I can hardly wait for my shipment to arrive. I intend to share each one with a special friend, and give at least one of them away, just as my lovely neighbour did. 

Without the social media of Facebook, I would not have had such a lovely day.