Flowering tea

I had this very neat tea at Moonbeam in Kensington market. The dry tea was in small, wrinkly, brown balls -- like little dried-leaf turds. But when one was placed in my glass of boiling water, it flowered quite beautifully:I wasn't expecting the bright flower in the center of the leaves!

The tea was a light green tea, a little sweet but very mild. It smelled earthy and nice. I liked it.

This post's theme word: stipule, "leaf-like outgrowth."