A little birdie that goes told me I should try this one so I thought I’d brew it up. The jasmine smell is lovely but I’ve become a bit cautious (and pretty darn picky) with jasmine flavored things, so we shall see.
This sampler has 4g of tea, so I’m making a big cup. The packaging states that this is green tea but that it should be brewed in water ‘just below the boiling point’, which I am taking as 195° (and water that has been freshly boiled ‘but allowed to cool slightly’ I’m taking as 175°). But since it is green tea, I want to do it at 175°. But I’m not. We’ll see how it goes. And in fact, the leaves don’t look super green. More dark olive maybe. And once the leaves are wet, I think they’d definitely be classed as olive.
On one hand, that’s good right? Not a super-green leaf so it should be happier at a higher temp, yes? But at the same time… olive? I would be lying if I weren’t starting to get just a little concerned. After all, GM has to strike out sometime, yes?
Hmmmmm…. I’m a bit torn. It definitely isn’t a strike out, but I don’t know if I love it. It’s different than what I was expecting and from what I’ve had before but I can’t quite figure out why. There’s an additional flavor there that I don’t normally get with jasmine teas.
AH! I’m a dork! I just figured out what that end taste/aftertaste is! TEA! There’s the blip at the end, right before I swallow, that is almost all green tea and then it reappears in the aftertaste when I inhale (after an exhale of jasmine). It makes this one of the more deeply flavored jasmines that I’ve had. Samovar’s had a good depth to it but a more cookie depth. This one has more of a salty, almost astringent Chinese green depth which, as it flows back into the jasmine, gives a bit of a tang for me. Of course, along with being hard to please with my jasmines, I’m hard to please with my Chinese greens.
So, is it good? Well, it’s not fake tasting or heavily done so sure. It’s good. Is it in the same class as there coconut pouchong, sugar caramel oolong or rose? Nope. It’s a good jasmine that I don’t hate and it has a brilliant scent to it which is so delightful that I could probably smell my cup for days. But I like Samovar’s jasmine pearl better for a jasmine tea with depth and I like Adagio’s jasmine silver needle best for a soft, fluffy, light jasmine. I think both of those are better done than this one, at least for my own personal tastes.
That being said, I might enjoy this more if I had done it at 175°.
ETA: Resteep at 175° for 4mins. Still good but not in love. This one reminds me a lot of Adagio’s Jasmine #12. That’s a good thing.
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Preparing the entire sample, gutsy:)
I think that GM’s plain tea are good, not amazing. It doesn’t help that you’ve been drinking their blends lately =P. See this is why I wanted to drink all their plain tea before moving onto the blends.
@Cofftea, Well, it was either do the whole sample or have a tiny cup. Give me a big cup!
@Ricky, I don’t think I’d call this a plain tea though. Well, or a blend either. I have been drinking flavored stuff from them so far – 3 for 3. I do need to branch out and have some unflavored stuff, though!
@Auggy, I agree- but since you were leary about this one I thought you might go w/ a smaller cup so you could do 2 sets of steeping parameters.
Very true! But ultimately I’m a more ‘damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead’ kinda gal.
Sorry, my definition of plain is when the only ingredient is a single type of tea leaf. Jasmine Pearl, Gunpowder, Sencha, though I’d call English Breakfast (plain). I guess plain meaning standard types.
I also interchange the term blended tea with flavored tea, because it’s a blend of different ingredients.
Ahh, this reminds me of anthropology ;)
The evolution and deconstruction of words and meanings! Hehe! Sometimes I include jasmine (and milk) flavored teas in with the ‘normal’ teas but I’m not consistent. I should work on that. Be decisive.
I know, there needs to be an official Steepster Wiki. Then again Rose Tea could technically be considered normal. I noticed it was being offered on the menu at two places I visited today. Oh the dilemma!
Wheee! Well, it didn’t win any prizes, but it was still halfway decent! This one SMELLS SO GOOD. And it was my first jasmine, so I have nothing to compare it to. But it didn’t taste like old-lady-perfume, which is good!
I let my water cool for a good three minutes before I steeped this one, which probably put the temperature probably around 180, so maybe that’s why I liked it a bit better? I didn’t get a salty green taste… I got more of the traditional green sweetness. Interesting, though! Still, above average and YAY SAMPLES.
I think there are 3 categories:
plain tea
flavored tea
blended tea
Wikipedia lying to me =O. That’s absurd! They have an article on blending / flavored tea and it’s TOGETHER!
But what about a blended Earl Grey? Would that be flavored? Or blended? Or will my head just explode???
And I’m with you Ricky – blended is not flavored! Well, unless it is blended AND flavored. But I refuse to think about that.
AHHH! I feel a headache coming.
Here’s how I see it:
plain: one type of tea, no additives.
blended: different types of tea, no flavors (i.e. Irish Breakfast is Ceylon and Assam blacks)
flavored: additional add-ons to either a plain or blended base (like a coconut pouchong)
What’s Tippy Earl Grey =D
Ingredients: Black Tea, Oil of Bergamot…
Is it plain? Or is it flavored? I mean they do all lavender into it.
I’m gonna go with teaplz on the classifications (and try to get jasmine and silk oolongs in my mental “flavored” category – because they are). And so EG would be flavored. Yes?
So I think now I’m going to get a blended (?) herbal tea. Multiple herbals, no flavoring. Is blend, yes?
I agree that jasmine is a flavor, BUT if Jasmine is a flavored tea. Then what is it’s base tea? Green tea, but what type? Just like Gunpowder is a green tea. And what is Jasmine Pearl? I’m so confused!
Foxtrot from Adagio would be a blend. It’s made up for multiple base tea (chamomile, peppermint, rooibos).
The tea base on a jasmine could be anything. I’ve had green, white and oolong teas scented or flavored with jasmine. And I think GM has a black jasmine tea? Which I really want to try.
Wait, but would there be a difference between a jasmine that’s been scented/flavored with jasmine flowers and then the flowers removed and a tea that has jasmine petals blended in?
Earl Grey could technically be BOTH a flavored and a blended if there is bergamot AND multiple types of tea in there. But I’m pretty sure it’s normally just flavored.
Green is the base of jasmine tea, but just like we don’t know what exactly the base is. Pearl just refers to the shape that it’s rolled into, I think.
I’m pretty sure that Harney & Sons classifies all their teas like this.
Yes, yes. Jasmine is a flavor, but you can’t call green tea, green tea. I mean Sencha, Dragonwell, Gunpowder are all considered Jasmine. I guess my question is what is the green tea base that GM is using as it’s labeled “green tea leaves”. I mean Ceylon is a base (right?), it’s black tea leaves, but the base is Ceylon.
Ahh the confusion!
Jasmine scented would be flavored? Physical Jasmine petals = blended?
But wait, would that mean Adagio’s flavor teas are really blended teas? Uhoh.
No. Taking teaplz’s definition of “blended: different types of tea, no flavors.” Therefore, Jasmine is a blend! Not a flavor! Oh wait, okay I’m totally confused. Can we just go back to interchanging the two words like our trusty source wikipedia?
Ehh, ignore the confusion in the first part of my previous comment. I was typing it up before your explanation of Jasmine / Green base showed up.
teaplz. The voice of reason in a mind-hurty world.
Well, I wasn’t thinking so far into it as to include stand-alone herbals, but I think that if an herbal is blended with a tea, then it’s a flavored instead of a blend. A blend still creates a standard tea taste. Like Irish Breakfast or English Breakfast. Those are blends. But when you add any other additional components on top of the tea plant itself, I’d say that it’s flavored.
http://www.harney.com/Black-Teas/departments/2/ Look at the way Harney organizes its blacks. This is how I see plain, blended, and flavored.
Okay, you linked to that specifically so I’d be even MORE tempted to get some H&S samplers, right? Because that is what you accomplished.
Preparing the entire sample, gutsy:)
I think that GM’s plain tea are good, not amazing. It doesn’t help that you’ve been drinking their blends lately =P. See this is why I wanted to drink all their plain tea before moving onto the blends.
@Cofftea, Well, it was either do the whole sample or have a tiny cup. Give me a big cup!
@Ricky, I don’t think I’d call this a plain tea though. Well, or a blend either. I have been drinking flavored stuff from them so far – 3 for 3. I do need to branch out and have some unflavored stuff, though!
@Auggy, I agree- but since you were leary about this one I thought you might go w/ a smaller cup so you could do 2 sets of steeping parameters.
Very true! But ultimately I’m a more ‘damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead’ kinda gal.
Sorry, my definition of plain is when the only ingredient is a single type of tea leaf. Jasmine Pearl, Gunpowder, Sencha, though I’d call English Breakfast (plain). I guess plain meaning standard types.
I also interchange the term blended tea with flavored tea, because it’s a blend of different ingredients.
Ahh, this reminds me of anthropology ;)
The evolution and deconstruction of words and meanings! Hehe! Sometimes I include jasmine (and milk) flavored teas in with the ‘normal’ teas but I’m not consistent. I should work on that. Be decisive.
I know, there needs to be an official Steepster Wiki. Then again Rose Tea could technically be considered normal. I noticed it was being offered on the menu at two places I visited today. Oh the dilemma!
Wheee! Well, it didn’t win any prizes, but it was still halfway decent! This one SMELLS SO GOOD. And it was my first jasmine, so I have nothing to compare it to. But it didn’t taste like old-lady-perfume, which is good!
I let my water cool for a good three minutes before I steeped this one, which probably put the temperature probably around 180, so maybe that’s why I liked it a bit better? I didn’t get a salty green taste… I got more of the traditional green sweetness. Interesting, though! Still, above average and YAY SAMPLES.
I think there are 3 categories:
plain tea
flavored tea
blended tea
Wikipedia lying to me =O. That’s absurd! They have an article on blending / flavored tea and it’s TOGETHER!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_blending_and_additives
But what about a blended Earl Grey? Would that be flavored? Or blended? Or will my head just explode???
And I’m with you Ricky – blended is not flavored! Well, unless it is blended AND flavored. But I refuse to think about that.
AHHH! I feel a headache coming.
Here’s how I see it:
plain: one type of tea, no additives.
blended: different types of tea, no flavors (i.e. Irish Breakfast is Ceylon and Assam blacks)
flavored: additional add-ons to either a plain or blended base (like a coconut pouchong)
What’s Tippy Earl Grey =D
Ingredients: Black Tea, Oil of Bergamot…
Is it plain? Or is it flavored? I mean they do all lavender into it.
I’m gonna go with teaplz on the classifications (and try to get jasmine and silk oolongs in my mental “flavored” category – because they are). And so EG would be flavored. Yes?
So I think now I’m going to get a blended (?) herbal tea. Multiple herbals, no flavoring. Is blend, yes?
I agree that jasmine is a flavor, BUT if Jasmine is a flavored tea. Then what is it’s base tea? Green tea, but what type? Just like Gunpowder is a green tea. And what is Jasmine Pearl? I’m so confused!
Foxtrot from Adagio would be a blend. It’s made up for multiple base tea (chamomile, peppermint, rooibos).
The tea base on a jasmine could be anything. I’ve had green, white and oolong teas scented or flavored with jasmine. And I think GM has a black jasmine tea? Which I really want to try.
Wait, but would there be a difference between a jasmine that’s been scented/flavored with jasmine flowers and then the flowers removed and a tea that has jasmine petals blended in?
Earl Grey could technically be BOTH a flavored and a blended if there is bergamot AND multiple types of tea in there. But I’m pretty sure it’s normally just flavored.
Green is the base of jasmine tea, but just like we don’t know what exactly the base is. Pearl just refers to the shape that it’s rolled into, I think.
I’m pretty sure that Harney & Sons classifies all their teas like this.
Yes, yes. Jasmine is a flavor, but you can’t call green tea, green tea. I mean Sencha, Dragonwell, Gunpowder are all considered Jasmine. I guess my question is what is the green tea base that GM is using as it’s labeled “green tea leaves”. I mean Ceylon is a base (right?), it’s black tea leaves, but the base is Ceylon.
Ahh the confusion!
Jasmine scented would be flavored? Physical Jasmine petals = blended?
But wait, would that mean Adagio’s flavor teas are really blended teas? Uhoh.
No. Taking teaplz’s definition of “blended: different types of tea, no flavors.” Therefore, Jasmine is a blend! Not a flavor! Oh wait, okay I’m totally confused. Can we just go back to interchanging the two words like our trusty source wikipedia?
Ehh, ignore the confusion in the first part of my previous comment. I was typing it up before your explanation of Jasmine / Green base showed up.
teaplz. The voice of reason in a mind-hurty world.
Well, I wasn’t thinking so far into it as to include stand-alone herbals, but I think that if an herbal is blended with a tea, then it’s a flavored instead of a blend. A blend still creates a standard tea taste. Like Irish Breakfast or English Breakfast. Those are blends. But when you add any other additional components on top of the tea plant itself, I’d say that it’s flavored.
http://www.harney.com/Black-Teas/departments/2/ Look at the way Harney organizes its blacks. This is how I see plain, blended, and flavored.
Okay, you linked to that specifically so I’d be even MORE tempted to get some H&S samplers, right? Because that is what you accomplished.