For a green tea lover I have to say I don’t often reach for the jasmine teas – I’m more often than not disappointed with what I find: too much jasmine wiping out the tea (ok, so I know its called jasmine tea for a reason). But one thing I do love is a cool jug of iced jasmine tea, and as summer is on the way I started my hunt for a go-to jasmine. On this particular afternoon on the porch though I felt like a warm glass so the review is for hot tea.
Nose: Heady jasmine notes. More rich and deep than delicate and complex. Real nougat sweetness runs through and almost dominates the nose. Handles a second steeping well with more of the same sweet dewey jasmine.
Palate: A full bodied, hearty jasmine tea. A strong green backing rounded out with a sweet jasmine that is well in balanced but lacks a little delicateness. Floral notes (duh!) with pine needles and a bit of damp ‘forrest floor’ mustiness. Has a real green tea ‘sting in the tail’ but with only a very slight astringency. This is definitely a jasmine tea for people who like to know they are drinking a green tea – no ‘flower water’ going on here. A second steeping at a slightly lower temp produced a lighter and in my opinion more appealing palate that let the jasmine shine through a bit more. This is the sort of Jamsime tea that would stand up well to food (shanghai dumplings, thanks).
Overall: I prefer my jasmine teas light, delicate and complex rather than deep and rich so to be honest this isn’t my sort of jasmine tea. That being said, I also find a lot of jasmine teas are too heavy on the jasmine for my taste and often lack balance, whereas this tea shows a good deal of restraint on the jasmine, or at least backs it up with plenty of green tea punch. Organic status always wins a few points with me, but despite this, I probably won’t be buying this again.
Price: AUD$13/100g
