Jasmine Green Tea
Jasmine green tea is a scented tea made from green tea (tea base) and jasmine blossoms.
1. Tea Base: China Green Tea that is bake-dried, it is an unfermented tea with more nutrients remain. Unlike gunpowder* or sencha*, bake-dried green tea is mild in taste and has better absorption. Prime quality tea base is spring tea plucked in March, April and May of the year. Tea plucked in spring is higher in amino acids level, and has a mellow and sweet flavor.
*gunpowder: a China green tea which is strong and has a distinctive smoky tone.
*sencha: a steam processed green tea, with a fresh grassy taste, a clear liquor, and is popular in Japan.
2. Flowers: Jasmine blossoms that are half opened. Jasmine flowers are available from May to October. Southern provinces could expcet early blossoms in April. July and August are peak seasons and produce the best quality. The flowers are better plucked in late afternoon, as the making of jasmine tea requires a relatively cool environment so that the blossoms would open and release scents slowly to ensure most of the volatile essential oils are being absorbed by the tea instead of releasing to air.
3. Basic Process:
a. airing and sorting jasmine blossoms.
b. mixing tea base with fresh jasmine blossoms evenly at a proper ratio and keeping for hours.
c. controlling temperature of the mixed tea by ventilating in times of needs
d. sieving out jasmine flowers after the tea fully absorbed the scents.
e. baking the tea to reduce excessive moisture.
f. repeating step2-6 by mixing fresh jasmine blossoms with the above processed tea (the more rounds of jasmines added, the better the flavor of the tea)
g. mixing small amount of top grade jasmine blossoms to the above processed tea and keeping for hours
h. sorting and packing the jasmine green tea.
Jasmine green tea is a nice beverage for the spring season. (Traditionally, Chinese matching teas with seasons for thier respective healthy effects, e.g. green for summer, oolong for autumn and black for winter).
