What are Jasmine Tea Leaves
Tea is divided into multiple categories: green tea, black tea, white tea, oolong tea, yellow tea, dark tea, flower tea, medicinal tea, fruit-flavored tea, and compressed tea. Jasmine tea is one type of flower tea.
Flower tea is divided into two major categories: traditional flower tea and herbal flower tea.
Traditional Flower Tea: Tea made by mixing tea leaves with the flowers of a plant, including jasmine tea, rose tea, magnolia tea, and osmanthus tea.
Herbal Tea: Using only the flowers, leaves, and fruits of plants as raw materials, including “chrysanthemum tea, roselle tea, honeysuckle tea, dandelion tea, rose tea, and so on”.
Jasmine Tea Specialties
According to the traditional classification of Chinese tea, tea is divided into six categories, namely “green tea, black tea, white tea, oolong tea, yellow tea, black tea”, jasmine tea is not among them, strictly speaking, jasmine tea belongs to the reprocessed tea, that is, based on the traditional tea based on the tea for secondary processing, in the tea into the scented flowers for celling (a method of tea production ), so that the tea adsorption of floral flavor.
Adding jasmine flowers to tea leaves creates jasmine tea; adding osmanthus flowers creates osmanthus tea.
The production of jasmine tea is about “tea chasing flowers.” When the jasmine flowers are ripe, the tea leaves are transported to the plantation where the tea is made. Because jasmine flowers can not be stored, they must be used immediately, while the tea can be stored.
Heng County is the main production area for jasmine flowers. Each year, a large volume of tea leaves is shipped to Heng County, where they are processed into jasmine tea. The county produces 60% of the world's jasmine. And 70% of China's total jasmine production. The development of the jasmine tea industry has elevated Heng County from a county to a city.
Fujian, Sichuan, and Yunnan are also the main production areas of jasmine.
The production process of jasmine tea
Jasmine tea is a very complex tea to make. The general process involves stacking tea leaves with fresh jasmine flowers to allow the tea to absorb the aroma of the jasmine flowers.
Jasmine tea is usually made with green tea (occasionally black or white). Why choose green tea as an ingredient? Because green tea has a looser structure, it is easier for the tea leaves to absorb the aroma.
Step 1: Picking Jasmine Blossoms
Jasmine blossoms are typically harvested from June to August each year. The selected blossoms are premium two-petaled jasmine flowers (a variety with two layers of petals, distinct from single-petaled or multi-petaled varieties). This variety is prized for its rich fragrance, high yield, and suitability for jasmine tea production.
- Selecting Buds: Only use buds that are about to open, not fully closed or fully open flowers.
- Timing: Picking must occur at the hottest part of the day, usually around noon, when the essential oil concentration in the buds is highest.
- Freshness: Picked jasmine blossoms must be used on the same day they are harvested; they cannot be stored overnight.
- Quality Control: Remove all incomplete or rotten blossoms, retaining only fresh, intact buds.
- Cleanliness: The jasmine blossoms must remain clean and free from any impurities.
Step 2: Scenting (Mixing Tea Leaves and Jasmine Blossoms)
The scenting process is repeated approximately 3 to 9 times. The more scenting cycles, the higher the quality of the jasmine tea.
1: Freshly picked jasmine flowers are stacked together to allow the temperature to rise and let the flowers fully open. The ambient temperature should be maintained at 36-38 °C, the flowers need to be turned over at the same time during the production process. This step is very time-consuming and requires patience.
2: Remove the stems and impurities from the jasmine flowers with a sieve to select purer flowers.
3: Dry the tea leaves again so that they become thoroughly dry.
4: The tea and jasmine are mixed (a layer of jasmine, a layer of tea, stacked in multiple layers). You need to control the temperature at (35-40℃) and humidity at (60%-80%).
After about 5-10 hours or so, the aroma of jasmine will attach itself to the tea leaves, at which point the jasmine will turn a light yellow color.
If the temperature exceeds 45 °C, the tea pile must be spread out to allow prompt ventilation, a process known as "Tonghua Shater" (literally "flower-ventilation for heat dissipation").
The process of tea leaves absorbing the fragrance of jasmine blossoms is called "scenting" (窨制). This process is typically repeated multiple times; the more scenting cycles, the stronger the tea aroma, the higher the tea quality, and the higher the price.
To increase the aroma of the tea, some jasmine tea varieties are properly flavored with white orchids (a very strongly scented flower).
5: Strain the jasmine flowers through a sieve, leaving only the remaining tea leaves. Some jasmine tea will leave a small amount of jasmine flowers, which makes the tea better to drink and more ornamental.
6: Dry the jasmine flowers after curing to fix the aroma of the tea.
7: After a final scented treatment using a small amount of jasmine blossoms, the jasmine tea is encapsulated, completing the production process.
How to Choose Jasmine Tea
The quality of jasmine tea on the market varies, with prices ranging from tens of dollars to thousands of dollars. How should we choose?
Don’t choose jasmine tea that is too cheap. If the price of jasmine tea is less than $60 /catty, its quality may not be guaranteed.
Try to choose a big brand of jasmine tea, or buy it from a tea farmer you trust.
Quality Jasmine Tea: Tea leaves are intact, no foreign objects or fragments, and gaily-colored and shiny.
Inferior Jasmine Tea: The tea is dark black or very brightly colored. These teas may be stale (old) or have not gone through an adequate scenting cycle, resulting in poor absorption of aroma.
If the tea has a rich, intense aroma and you can detect the distinct jasmine fragrance, it indicates high-quality tea. If the tea emits a harsh or chemical smell, it may be a flavored tea (artificially scented). You can rub the tea leaves between your fingers. If your fingers turn discolored or feel sticky, it likely means artificial flavoring has been added.
Put jasmine tea into cold water. If you can smell the fragrance immediately, this proves that the essence has been added. If the fragrance gradually comes out over time and becomes more and more fragrant, this indicates that the tea is of high quality.
The tea soup of high-quality jasmine tea is bright yellow in color and highly transparent, while the tea soup of inferior jasmine tea is turbid and opaque.
Good quality jasmine tea will still have fragrance after being brewed more than three times, while poor quality jasmine tea will have no flavor after being brewed twice (the fragrance of the flower essence has been released during the first brewing).
Jasmine Tea Recommendations
Here are a few common Chinese jasmine tea brands whose quality can be guaranteed.
- Wuyutai Jasmine Tea（吴裕泰）: a veteran tea from Beijing, made with traditional craftsmanship and a strong aroma.
- Chunlun Jasmine Tea（春伦）: a jasmine tea generated by Fuzhou Tea Factory, belonging to the classic jasmine tea.
- Bitan floating snow jasmine tea（碧潭飘雪）: a jasmine tea from Emei Mountain, Sichuan Province, with a strong floral flavor.
- Zhang Yiyuan Jasmine Tea（张一元）: a Beijing jasmine tea with a mellow flavor and affordable price, suitable for daily consumption.
Price of Jasmine Tea
The price of jasmine tea is usually more than $60 per catty; if it is lower than this price, the quality cannot be guaranteed. Note: Jasmine tea that costs tens of dollars a catty must be tea with added flavorings.
We'll talk more about storing and brewing jasmine tea in a future post.