Monday, January 21, 2008
Posted by 醉茶生 at 08:30 AM | Comments (4) | Permalink
Categories: Tea Green Jasmine

The most famous floral scented tea is probably jasmine tea.  The Chinese name for jasmine tea is xiāng piàn 香片 “slivers of perfume”.  Tea leaves are placed beneath a silk screen over which is spread a layer of fresh jasmine flowers.  The tea leaves are left to absorb the floral perfume and the flowers are then discarded; cheaper teas may be made using up to three changes of flowers, but the more expensive teas may require up to nine changes of jasmine flowers.  The tea used to make jasmine tea may be white, green, wulong or black.  The dark, smokey fragrance of most black teas means that they make poor partners with the light floral fragrance of jasmine; jasmine black tea is therefore often made from poor quality leaves with little intrinsic fragrance, or tea leaves with unpleasant odours that the manufacturer hopes to mask.  Better quality jasmine teas are more usually made from green or white tea leaves whose own delicate fragrance will complement that of the jasmine.  Poor quality jasmine tea often have whole jasmine flowers mixed in with the leaves in order to deceive the ignorant: this in fact a fault and ought not to be mistaken for a sign that the tea is “genuine”.  Jasmine tea should never have whole jasmine flowers in it, because the flowers make the brew bitter.

Bìtán piāoxuě 碧潭飄雪 “Snowflakes floating on a jade-green pool” is one of the most visually stunning jasmine teas available, and is best served in a clear glass bowl.  It is made with Bìluóchūn 碧螺春 “Jade spirals of spring” as a base and upon infusion with hot water, white jasmine petals float to the surface of the delicately sweet pale-green liquor.  In common with the green tea from which it is derived (see previous entry on green tea), Bitan piaoxue is extremely sensitive to water temperature, thus making it very difficult to brew correctly: water that is too cool will fail to release the fragrances of the tea, but water that is too hot produces a liquid with the flavour of used engine oil.  In common with all green teas, Bitan piaoxue also has a short shelf life of less than six months.

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