What it is
Chrysanthemum tea (菊花茶) contains no tea leaves. It is an infusion of dried chrysanthemum flowers, usually Chrysanthemum morifolium or C. indicum. It brews to a clear, pale yellow with a soft floral smell. Besides the freshly brewed drink, it is sold as whole dried flowers, in tea bags and in cans or cartons.
Where it came from
Chrysanthemums were grown in China as a medicinal herb from very early times, and drinking the flowers as tea caught on in the Song dynasty. Chinese herbal medicine treats them as cooling. The herbal text Bencao Biandu (本草便讀) credits them with clearing heat and helping the eyes. White flowers are favoured for the eyes, yellow ones for colds with fever.
Taiwan's own crop is younger. Hangzhou-type chrysanthemum (杭菊) came from mainland China in the mid-20th century. One account dates its arrival to around 1961, while a farm ministry report on the Tongluo (銅鑼) growers in Miaoli speaks of more than 70 years. Taiwan's tea research station later improved it into a local variety. Tongluo's fields once covered two or three hundred hectares but had shrunk to about four by 1996. Growers responded by testing every field for pesticide residue before harvest. Locally grown flowers are sold as a drink, while imported ones are sold as herbal medicine, which faces looser testing.
How it is made
Dried flowers are steeped for a few minutes in water just off the boil, around 90 to 95°C. Rock sugar or cane sugar is often added. The same flowers can take a second or third infusion, each a little weaker. In Tongluo the buds form after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the bloom peaks in November and the harvest lasts about 25 days. Picked flowers must be dried within two days or they turn black. Four kilograms of fresh flowers give only about 600 grams dried.
How to eat it
It is drunk on its own or with a meal, hot or cold. Sweetness varies from shop to shop, so ask for it lightly sweetened if you want the floral taste to come through.
Around Taiwan
- Kaohsiung
- Hsiang Ming Tea Shop (香茗茶行) in Yancheng has traded since 1946, mainly in tea leaves. Its drinks made its name: milk tea, roselle tea and a lightly sweetened chrysanthemum tea, with the cold ones made ahead and kept in the fridge.
- Central
- Tongluo (銅鑼) in Miaoli is one of Taiwan's two main chrysanthemum areas and grows mostly white flowers. The fields bloom around November and draw crowds of visitors. Local flowers also go into noodles, jelly, beer and red bean pancakes.
- East
- Taitung, east of the Central Mountain Range, is Taiwan's other main growing area. It grows mainly a golden variety rather than Tongluo's white flowers.
