Green Calyx Flower Tea (Lu Luo Hua Tea)

Why people make this tea

Green calyx flowers (lu luo hua) are an unusual dried flower available at Chinese herb shops. This plant grows only in the frigid high-altitude zones of the Tibetan Himalayas, with a growing season of just over one month. Because it is genuinely rare, it was once quite expensive; wider cultivation has since brought the price down. When brewed, the tea has a clean, pleasantly fragrant aroma. In Chinese food therapy, it is mildly cool in nature and has a long history of traditional use for people with high blood pressure, elevated blood lipids, high blood sugar and various vascular inflammations. It also has a traditional reputation for soothing a sore, swollen throat.