Jasmine Pearl (Buddha’s Tears)

Estate Name: Fanxi Tea Garden
Farming Methods: Natural farming techniques.
Production Methods: Plucking – Frying – Rolling – Drying – Softened and rolled into pearl shape – scented 4 times with jasmine flower

Other Notes: This Jasmine Pearl is made by the famous Fuding Dabai Cha tea cultivar of Fujian. The tea leaf is harvested in April. It is tightly rolled into the pearl shape by hand. The pearl is covered with silver pekoe. It is kept until September when the best quality Jasmine blossoms are ready. It is then scented 4 times by fresh jasmine flower blossoms. It has a rich jasmine fragrance and mellow taste.

To achieve the fascinating jasmine flavour, it consumes a huge quantity of jasmine buds. The jasmine buds are plucked in the daytime, and they are sent to the tea factory in the evening. The jasmine buds are mixed with the tea at night. During the night, the jasmine buds will open and release the fragrance. The tea absorbs it well. The next morning, the used flowers will be screened out. This is the process for the first scenting. Usually this scenting process will be repeated a few times to make the famous lingering jasmine flavour and aroma. The number of times the jasmine scenting process is done varies with different grades and quality of jasmine tea. Generally, five times creates quite an intensive scenting; seven times is more extreme. In rare cases, there have been as many as nine times. Some tea makers and tea connoisseurs argue, however, that too many times of scenting does not necessarily produce the best quality jasmine tea because each time the scenting process is done, it adds moisture to the tea. Exposing the dried tea leaf to excessive moisture too frequently is believed to affect the taste and quality of the tea. So the key is finding the balance between pursuing the most lingering jasmine flavour and, at the same time, carefully evaluating the effect on the dried tea leaf quality.

Dry Leaf
Colour: Silver brown
Shape/size: Elegant pearl shape

Brewed Tea
Colour: Green
Aroma: Strong lingering jasmine fragrance
Body Taste: Jasmine flavour with mellow sweet aftertaste

Suggested Brewing (adjust according to personal preferences)
Water Temperature: 90-95°C/194-203°F
Amount: 3g per 150ml teacup
Steeping Time: 2-3 minutes
# of Infusions: 2-3 infusions