‘Tea bombs’ are beautiful when you drop them in hot water

Bath bombs are fizzy and fun in the tub, and hot cocoa bombs are rich and tasty in a mug. Now the next “bomb” trend is the “tea bomb.”

Similar to hot chocolate bombs, tea bombs are made by filling an edible shell with ingredients for a warm drink, which emerge as hot liquid is poured on and dissolves the outer shell.

Most of the tea bombs trending now are made with isomalt or sugar exteriors and filled with either loose leaf tea or a teabag. (Isomalt is a sugar substitute with a low effect on blood glucose levels so it’s diabetic-friendly too.)

The trend seems to have taken off with TikTok user @mysuperhero_helmethair’s Dec. 26, 2020, post showing how she makes egg-shaped hot tea bombs. Here’s the video.

Tea bomb-makers have added glitter, gold and silver leaf, dried edible flowers and fruit and lots of other fanciful touches to their tea spheres. It seems as if they come in every tea flavor and infusion you could imagine as well!

Not all tea bombs are round though, like these heart-shaped ones from The Baking Nirvana.

Bakers and other confection makers are getting in on the trend. Courtney’s Cupcake Co. started making their tea bombs at the request of a client, as you can see from their Facebook post below.

But as Twitter user @eeb31 demonstrates below, making hot sugar domes isn’t the easiest thing to do.

So the learning curve on tea bombs might be a little higher than just melting, pouring and cooling chocolate in molds is with hot cocoa bombs. If you do try your hand at these, be especially careful of working with hot sugar or other melted candy and wear protective gloves. But if you’re up for the challenge, these tea bombs can make tea time quite eye-catching.

And if you want to get the jump on what could be the summer “bomb” trend, take a look at The Station Bakery’s “juice bombs” made with KoolAid.

These beverages are da bomb (sorry, had to do it). Will you try one?