I must be a sucker for jasmine tea, but, judging by other people’s reviews (both here and on YS’s website), I think we are on to something here. I like this even better than Mark T Wendell’s Flowery Jasmine that I raved about.
Funny thing is, I really wanted to dislike this tea. I had heard that the presence of jasmine blossoms in the dry leaf is usually an indicator of a lower-quality jasmine tea. Decided to give it a go anyways, because this was an opportunity to try a Yunnan-sourced green tea scented with jasmine, which I believe is a bit different than the typical sourcing of jasmine green teas. And if it is processed in the “bi luo chun” style, well that would be wonderful.
Looking at the dry leaves, there is indeed a good amount of jasmine blossoms present in the mix, but they don’t seem to weigh much comparatively. I’d be surprised if the blossoms accounted for even 50g in a 1 kg bag. So their presence would have a minimal effect as to diluting the tea leaves, which I believe is the typical reasoning for preferring the tea to be free of blossoms.
Brewing western style, I get great results brewing at 175° for 2 minutes, and a second steep at 3-4 minutes. If I want to go for three steeps, I might brew for 1 min, 3 min, and 5 min and it is spent.
The tea is perhaps not as “strong” as MTW’s Flowery Jasmine, in that it gives a slightly lighter color and more of the floral and fruity notes minus the earthier side. Also, a touch less of the tendency to grow bitter but definitely some bitter edge still is present. But it makes up for this lessened strength with the nuanced fruity apple/green grape sweet notes of the tea playing very nicely with the jasmine florals. Just a really lovely light and refreshing jasmine tea!
