Tea enriched with the fragrance of jasmine flowers has been a favorite
since the Southern Song dynasty. Jasmine (Jasminium sambac), a
native of the Persian Gulf area, was brought to southern China
sometime before the third century A.D., according to a Chinese
botanist of that time.
Because the sweet-smelling jasmine blooms open only at night, that
is when processing must go on. The flowers, plucked in the morning
when they are freshest, are kept in a cool place until nightfall.
Then, just as they are about to open and release their fragrance,
they are piled in a given ratio nest to previously heaped piles of
heat-dried green tea leaves. The loose, dry leaves absorb the
fragrance.
After several hours, when the piles of tea start to heat up, the
leaves are spread out and re-piled for another round of scenting.
Ordinary grades of tea are scented two or three times, special
grades up to seven times. The kilogram ratio of jasmine to tea is
50:42.5 for first grade tea. For special grades, the same amount of
tea takes 75 to 100 kilograms of blossoms. Then the tea leaves are
refired to remove the moisture of the blossoms so that they do not
mold.
In some places this scenting is done in wooden chest, with layers
of flowers alternating with those of leaves. Much of the labor of
piling the leaves has now been taken over by mixing machines and
electric driers, so that tea of more uniform quality and a more
accessible price can be produced.
Sometimes jasmine flowers can be found in the tea when it is
sold, but this is not an indicator of higher quality. In fact, it
may mean a lower quality because the flowers are carefully removed
from the better teas. The quality of jasmine tea is determined by
the quality of green tea and the effectiveness of scenting.
The jasmine flavor of the beverage is so pronounced that Chinese
custom deems it a good tea to serve with strong-tasting foods. Some
recommend it for counteracting fish and mutton odors. Oolong tea can
also be scented with jasmine, and the result is a tea with a strong
aftertaste.
Li Shizhen wrote in his 1578 pharmacopoecia that
jasmine has both soothing and warming properties. Jasmine tea,
presumably containing some buds, is held to relieve diarrhea. This
tea is very popular in north China, but some southerners say it does
not soothe the throat or quench thirst as well as regular green tea
or oolong.
The Fuzhou area in Fujian province is the most famous
producer of Jasmine tea. The jasmine shrub grows particularly well
along the Min River, where fields of it fill the evening air with
fragrance. Jasmine tea is also produced at Suzhou and Nanjing in
Jiangsu province, Hangzhou and Jinhua in Zhejiang province, and in
Sichuan, Jiangsi, Anhui, and Hubei provinces. One brand famous in
China and abroad is Jinhua Moli Maofeng (Jinhua Jasmine Hairpoint)
made in Zhejiang province by scenting leaves of fine Maofeng tea.
Jasmine Oolong is created by scenting oolong tea.
