Jasmine Pearl

Origin: Fujian, China

Flavor Profile: Perfectly fragrant fresh Jasmine bud, soft floral aromas of California Clematis, a light hint of cocoa powder, and fleeting notes of a baked green quality that is almost reminiscent of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.

Tea Story: Jasmine is a great natural remedy for stress.

When things get really hectic here in the tea lounge, we love to steep up a pot of Organic Jasmine pearl at the end of the shift. Watching the leaves slowly open, smelling the sweet aroma of jasmine flowers, and sipping this sweet brew, all tension drifts away. Jasmine is known to have very relaxing therapeutic effects, and, when blended with tea of this quality, you get an amazingly complex green tea.

Jasmine scenting green tea is a process that dates back nearly 1000 years in China. The family artisans we work with gently scent our organic green tea pearls by hand with organic jasmine flowers.

The process is extremely time consuming, labor intensive, and fascinating. While this tea is considered a green tea, the tea leaf used is actually a white tea varietal from Fujian, China. That’s why, when you inspect the dry pearls, you will see that they have a silvery- white quality from the thousands of tiny white leaf hairs.

The unique processing of this tea begins at the end of April and early May, when the tea is harvested in Fujian. The leaf and bud group are picked together and pan fired like a green tea. The processed tea is then stored until late May when the jasmine begins to bud. Then the tea is scented multiple times, each time using only fresh jasmine buds, so that no overly sweet smell of decaying flower touches the leaves.

The tea leaves absorb the jasmine fragrance, but the tea is not overwhelmed by the scent. It is an exquisite balance.After scenting, all the jasmine buds are removed and the tea is steamed to make it pliable again. Then the tea is hand rolled into it’s famed pearl shape.

Samovar’s Jasmine Pearl is certified organic is of the highest quality. Beware of the impostors out there. They are overly sweet and overly aromatic, and the open tea leaves are not uniform.

This is an ideal tea to brew in any of our glass pots where you can watch the leaves unwind.

Samovarian Poetry: So succulent and aromatic. Tea pearls blended with baby jasmine flowers.

Food Pairing: Serve with any light, sweet fair like tea cakes, pound cake with brown sugar and nuts, or buttery cookies. Pair with cuisine that has flavors that won’t compete with the heavenly bouquet of the Jasmine Pearl.