Korean Plum Blossom Tea (Floral Jujube Honey Brew)

Quick answer

Total time: 12 min
Level: Easy
Servings: 2 servings
Ingredients: 6

About this dish

Maehwa-cha is a Korean floral tea brewed by gently steeping dried plum blossoms in water first simmered with pitted jujubes.

The jujubes lay down a soft, rounded sweetness in the base liquid, and honey stirred in below 80 degrees Celsius blends into the broth without dulling the flower's fragrance. The resulting tea is transparent, almost colorless, carrying a scent that is airy and faintly sweet rather than heavy or perfumed. A few pine nuts floated on the surface add a faint nutty warmth with each sip, giving the cup a more layered finish. Because plum blossoms turn bitter and astringent when boiled too long, the dried flowers are added only after the heat is off, steeped for no more than two minutes before the petals are lifted out. The resulting cup captures the fleeting quality of early spring in its aroma.

Ingredients

servings

IngredientAmountUnit

dried plum blossoms4 gg

water500 mlml

honey1½ tbsptbsp

jujube2 piecespieces

pine nuts1 tbsptbsp

lemon zest¼ tsptsp

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Instructions

Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.

6 steps

1

Step

Place 4g of dried plum blossoms in a fine mesh sieve and rinse them briefly under cold running water for ten seconds to remove any surface dust before shaking off the excess.
2

Control

Combine 500ml of water and two pitted, sliced jujubes in a pot over medium heat, then reduce to a simmer once boiling and continue cooking for five minutes to extract the flavor.
3

Control

Turn off the heat once the water reaches approximately 90C, then add the rinsed plum blossoms and cover the pot tightly with a lid to steep for exactly two minutes for aroma.
4

Prep

Strain the tea to remove the blossoms and jujube pieces, then stir in 1.5 tablespoons of honey into the warm amber liquid until it is completely dissolved and the mixture is smooth.
5

Finish

Divide the finished tea into individual serving cups and sprinkle a tiny pinch of 0.25 teaspoons of lemon zest over the surface to brighten the floral notes with a fresh citrus aroma.
6

Finish

Float one tablespoon of pine nuts on top of each cup and serve the plum blossom tea while warm, allowing the subtle floral flavors to develop as the beverage cools slightly.

Practical Cooking Checks

The cues that matter most while cooking.

Key technique: A short two-minute steep preserves the delicate floral fragrance of Maehwa-cha blossoms.
Finish cue: Float one tablespoon of pine nuts on top of each cup and serve the plum blossom tea while warm, allowing the subtle floral flavors to develop as the beverage cools slightly.
Avoid this: Because plum blossoms turn bitter and astringent when boiled too long, the dried flowers are added only after the heat is off, steeped for no more than two minutes before the petals are lifted out.