Usually, a man presents a bouquet to show his love for his girlfriend. But Mr Liu, 28, who works at a Beijing-based joint venture, chose instead to add a bright red rose, pure white iris and golden chrysanthemum flowers to green tea as a gift to his girlfriend on their first date.

"Making flower tea requires careful choices of flowers and tea to make the drink perfect," said Liu, who surprised and pleased his date with his thoughtfulness.

Liu said drinking flower tea refreshes people emotionally.

And his love for edible flowers is a part of a growing trend in Beijing.

Drinking flower tea has become the new fashion among Beijingers, especially young people.

They usually drink the tea during get-togethers or at birthday parties hosted by friends. Previously, beer, spirits, soft drinks and fruit juice were drunk on such occasions.

However, Annie, a woman in her 20s, often buys dried edible flowers from the supermarket to make tea.

She said she first came across the flower tea drink at a friend's birthday party and has been drinking it ever since.

"It's so beautiful and tasty and (drinking flower tea) makes you feel so different and gives you energy," Annie said.

Sun Xiumei sells 25 kinds of dry edible flowers, such as nasturtium, honeysuckle, lily, chrysanthemum, roses and globe amaranth, at Sogo supermarket.

She said prices for the dried flowers range from 50 yuan to 140 yuan (US$6 to US$17) per 500 grams, depending on their quality, origins, health and nutritional value.

Many of the flowers are produced on high, pollution-free mountains across China.

Despite the high prices, consumers, mostly females aged between 20 and 40 and males aged between 20 and 30, have flocked to her flower stand at Sogo, Sun said.

Records of edible flowers date back more than 2,000 years in China. Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet of the Chu Kingdom in the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC), first mentioned edible chrysanthemum in one of his poems.

The nutritional and health benefits of edible flowers are their main selling points, said Zhang Dongsheng, deputy secretary-general of the China Food Science and Technology Society.

Zhang said some flowers were rich in protein, fat, starch, amino acids, Vitamin A, B, C and E and other minerals needed by the body.

According to traditional Chinese medicine theory, chrysanthemum can kill staphylococcus, roses help improve looks, orchids treat internal fever and detoxify the body, peonies fight viruses, and lilies help remove phlegm.

Even teahouses in Beijing have begun to offer flower tea drinks because of the high profits and fashionable consumers they attract.

Daqushe, a teahouse on Yuetan Nan Road in Beijing's Xicheng District, offers a special flower tea drink, a mixture of lotus and high-quality green tea produced in Central China's Hubei Province. It is said to help make the skin look more youthful.

Han Xiaogang, the teahouse manager, said a glass of the tea sells for 58 yuan (US$7). His teahouse makes a profit of over 10,000 yuan (US$1,209) a month.

Apart from drinking flower tea, the Chinese people also have a long history of cooking porridge with edible flowers to improve their health.

The Song (960-1279), Ming (1638-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties recorded how to cook porridge with more than 30 kinds of edible flowers such as lotus, chrysanthemum, peony, orchids and magnolia.

The tradition has been revived and is expected to continue in the future, experts said.

Xinhua

(China Daily 09/30/2003 page3)