Tea Adventure: Jasmine Tea from The Boston Tea Company

Here is the latest “Tea Gang” adventure with:


Jasmine Tea from The Boston Tea Company [More info]This is a Flavored Tea [About straight teas vs flavored teas.]

My humans’ experience with jasmine teas in the past has been ― uh, well, ― to say the least, uneven. Florals in teas often tend to be overwhelming, especially to those humans with sensitive sniffers. We proceeded anyway, fearing the worst.

Jasmine tea supposedly came about because tea plants were growing in fields that also had jasmine growing in them. From that accidental beginning, tea growers began purposely processing the teas to get that unique and highly prized floral character. Jasmine teas are usually created by layering the tea leaves between jasmine petals. This tea is considered a scented tea, but since the floral is not just in the aroma but is also in the flavor, I am sticking to calling this a flavored tea. As you can see in this photo, the vendor didn’t skimp on the jasmine.

Different teas, usually green or white, are used to make jasmine teas. According to the vendor’s label, the tea used here is Chun Mee green tea (from the Anhui province of China), a very acceptable green tea with a pleasing planty flavor.

A great thing about samples I’ve received from Boston Tea Co. is the labeling front and back.

Front label:

Back label:

The jasmine aroma was a lot milder than anticipated, thank goodness. My humans didn’t have to go running away and opening all the windows. In fact, the floral was mild enough that the pleasant planty fragrance was clearly evident. At this point, several of my fellow Tea Gang members crowded around, eager to try their hand at steeping this tea, but, as their wise, yellow leader, I claimed that honor.

I steeped up those tea leaves and jasmine buds twice, the first for 2 minutes in water heated to just below boiling, and the second for 2½ minutes. Both had a delicate jasmine aroma (it made me a happy teapot) in that yellowy green liquid and a mild flavor of both green tea plantiness and jasmine floral both coming through. The flavors tended to get a bit stronger as the tea cooled.

Maybe next time, I’ll let one of the others do the steeping, but for now…

Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, any opinions concerning this tea and the company are always strictly objective.

© 2011 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved. No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.