Butterfly Jasmine

This one really does quite well in a tea tumbler. ^^ Stays strong and fresh. Ahh, I am running out of this one. Need moreee!

I made a big pot of this for company yesterday while we played Smallworld and watched the World Cup. It’s was a really nice comforting jasmine. Not overly floral at all. It definitely comes in a close second to the Harney & Sons Dragon Pearl Jasmine on my list.

I got this tea for my very first Frequent Steeper reward since it’s too cost-prohibitive for me to actually buy, but I love jasmine green tea. So there ya go. $19.50 worth of tea for free.

My thoughts: this is OK. I certainly wasn’t overwhelmed with orgasmic jasmine green tea goodness like I thought I would be. It’s certainly not BAD, better than the jasmine green I have in tea bags in a box on my desk, but I should sure hope that’s the case. It was fun watching this tea unfurl during steeping the first time, but I don’t quite think that justifies the price. I’d rather they just toss the dried leaves in the bag and charge $5 less for 50g for it.

The tea itself tastes OK. Not knock-your-socks-off, not terrible. Had a bit of bitterness to the first steep, but that’s my fault for over-steeping not the fault of the tea. The aroma of the steeped tea is just as flowery and yummy as the dried tea leaves; the flavour falls a bit short though. I actually liked the flavour of the second steeping much more than the first. Had more of the jasmine, flowery taste and less of the “green tea” taste. Exactly what I was expecting with the first steep (granted, I actually remembered to take the steeping basket out of my cup in the proper amount of time the second time…). I’ll have to pay closer attention next time for the first steep to see if I can get them tasting the same.

I guess I should come full-disclosure here and say that I’m still trying to find a jasmine green tea that comes anywhere close to as good as the one I bought when I was in Japan. I found this little tea vendor in a hole-in-the-wall shop right outside a temple, walked in and said “good tea”. The lady handed me a 50g bag of rolled-up green stuff, wrote out how much it cost, and I paid. It ended up being about $25/50g, but I figured I might only even stumble into this shop once in my life and so why the hell not. Glad I did…best tea I’ve ever had in my life. I marked down on a map where the shop was (constant stream of people in and out, so hopefully they’re still in business if I ever manage to make it back) should I ever get the opportunity to re-purchase. Still have the bag and everything, too. But since “good tea” managed to work last time, I might try that trick again…

Verdict: I would get this again as a free 50g tea with the Frequent Steeper program, but I wouldn’t ever pay the premium for it. Not as good as I expected, but certainly not bad. If paying this much for tea isn’t something you’re concerned about, I would recommend it.

Well, first it is pretty fun to watch the “butterflies” unravel in the hot water. This tea is a delicate jasmine tea for sure. I can’t really taste the base at all and the jasmine is very subtle. Of the jasmine teas I have on hand, I much prefer Verdant’s White Yunnan Jasmine. Of course, I prefer white to green tea in any case and I like how both the jasmine is stronger and the base shines through with that one.

As an aside, here is a fun fact about Lepidoptera (the order to which butterflies and moths belong): When caterpillars enter the cocoon or chrysalis, their entire body is broken down into a kind of caterpillar soup which then reforms into the body of the moth or butterfly. However, the butterfly or moth retains memories that it made as a caterpillar (older than three weeks). How incredible is that?

So I read an article on the health benefits of green tea and since I’m easily influenced, made a whole pot of this, then drank it in about 15 minutes because I can’t pour this down my throat fast enough. Am now considering a re-steep. I usually don’t resteep, ‘cause I like variety…Meh, we’ll see

This tea felt divine against my sore throat while at work today. I made 16 oz of it to get me through the day, but greedily chugged it and it was gone before lunch. It really is a lovely jasmine, but I do lament the insane pricetag. Angel from teavivre is very kindly sending me a few ssamples of their jasmine teas, so perhaps I’ll find a gem there. But this tea is so perfectly balanced, and by that I mean that I get mostly smooth jasmine with the barest whisper of a base, that could just as likely be a white as a green. To be fair, I haven’t tried many other jasmine teas, but it might be tough now since I feel a standard of sorts has been established.

Tasting note #300!
Dude. This is one of the teas that I’ve been eyeing for so long since I love jasmine so much and this one is just dang GORGEOUS!
I was going to wait till the end of the month when I visit DAVIDs, but MissB decided to throw this in the mystery pack I bought from her and I squealed when I saw it!
The leaves dry are just bursting with flavour. Not like overwhelming, but just great and mellow and beautiful and delicate and they’re rolled up in the shape of butterflies which makes it even better and ahhh it’s the best tea ever okay.
The Jasmine just comes out beautifully as it steeps and the leaves unravel and they’re huge and gorgeous and oh my gosh this tea is just the best tea in the entire world.
I’ve got about 10g left and I’m going to make this last as long as I can. I’ll just inhale it and then tell myself that I shouldn’t have some because there are other teas in my cupboard that needs some love.

This may be one of my favourite jasmine teas out there. Just because it’s rolled up so nicely, it’s like… ahhh I love this tea so much.
Thank you TONS MissB!!

Oooo….. OOOO!!!!!

I decided to treat myself today to a cup of this, since it’s my birthday and all. And I deserve it, because it seems that maybe DH has forgotten too.

Wow…. WOW! I LOVE IT!!! OMG….

It has a lovely sweetness to it! And I can taste the jasmine! Fills up my mouth! Oooo so good…. soo, so goooood. Heavenly! Aaaah, no bitter aftertaste either, nor any astringency. Mmmmmmmmm, can’t rave enough about it! :O

Edit:

4th steep, and still pretty tasty! Wow…. initial sweetness is still faintly there, and tastes more like a light jasmine flavoured green tea. Loving it!

I enjoy a good variety in my cupboard. Unfortunately, this means I cannot buying too much of any one type at once would be a terrible idea, both for my pocket and shelf life, so I usually stock up in bags of 10-25 grams – which isn’t so bad, considering each cup only uses up ~2g. (Oh, the schadenfreude of watching the salesperson measure 10g of everything on my list for me!)

Nonetheless, the time will come when I decide to walk in-store and buy a piping hot cup of tea. There was an outdoor Christmas lights event on Saturday in Halifax, so after a bit of shopping I wandered into a Davids to find something to keep me warm for the show. Finally, I walked out with a cup of Butterfly Jasmine in hand.

Hand-rolled/wrapped leaves have always been enticing to me but are understandably expensive. By the gram, Butterfly Jasmine is easily one of the three most expensive tea Davids has to offer (the other two being Gyokuros). I’m normally a little cautious about jasmine teas because, like vanilla extract (albeit to a less dramatic extent), I find they usually smell better than they taste. The lady behind the counter told me not to steep it too long, and she was right. The tea was perfect.

It’s decided: I’m going to stock up on some jasmine greens from now on.

Loved this one.