Jasmine Pearls

How to Prepare it

Use around 3-5g (about 1 tsp) of tea leaves per 200ml (8 oz) water, with more or less tea leaves depending on how strong you like your tea. Rest boiling water for about 1 minute to get a temperature around 80 C. Steep in water for 1-2 minutes. 

Appearance: Twisted balls of furry white and dark green strips that unfurl into long, full leaves. Pale yellow liquor. 

Taste: Strong sweet jasmine fragrance. Light and floral taste.

Health benefits

Green tea is said to be the healthiest out of the teas and is said to reduce stress. Due to its high level of antioxidants, it can help reduce wrinkling and improve skin quality, as well as help with weight loss. Growing evidence shows that green tea can help prevent and reduce the impact of various cancers and aging diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Traditional Chinese medicine claims that green tea helps to lower inflammation and help with urination. Green tea has less caffeine than black tea, but is known to boost energy and alertness just as much as black tea does.

Information

Our jasmine tea is from Fujian, the traditional Chinese location for scenting tea with jasmine. These small white flowers are picked in mid to late summer during the hottest time of the day, when jasmine essential oils are most concentrated in tightly wrapped flower buds. Immediately after the jasmine buds are picked, they start to open up and release their fragrance, so the farmers have to rush to harvest their unique fragrance and taste. They do this by carefully controlling the jasmine’s blooming depending on temperature, humidity, and time of day. The jasmine flowers are first piled onto and mixed with green tea for about 4-5 hours. They are then ventilated and rested for another 4-5 hours until the petals turn slightly yellow. Finally, the tea is separated from the jasmine. This happens for a total of six times. This unique and time-intensive process creates the iconic jasmine effect where the tea has completely absorbed the smell and taste of jasmine, yet there is no jasmine to be seen except maybe a few curled yellow petals in the tea mix.