What is Jasmine green tea?

By Caleb Fanshawe

What is Jasmine Pearls tea?

The Chinese practice of scenting tea with jasmine flowers dates back over 800 years, and over the centuries jasmine tea has become a firm favourite in any well-rounded tea collection. It’s easy to see why: the smooth taste and intense floral flavours make this a truly unique cup, with all of the benefits of drinking green tea. Each ball of Good & Proper Tea’s Jasmine Pearls is hand-rolled, and slowly unfurls whilst brewing to produce a deliciously fragrant drink.

Though jasmine tea can be created with other types of tea, green tea is the most common base. Our jasmine tea is made from green tea which has been hand-rolled into small balls, which gives it its distinctive name of Jasmine Pearls.

How are Jasmine Pearls made?

Jasmine Pearls are made during a beautiful process. Delicate springtime green leaves from the tea bush are carefully plucked, before being rolled by hand into their characteristic ‘pearl’ shape. Picked in the early mornings, the tightly closed silky-white jasmine flowers, are kept cool until dusk,before being scattered over the pearls. As the jasmine petals unfurl, the green tea absorbs the sweet, floral fragrance.

This process is repeated up to seven times, using fresh blossoms each time until the tea is perfumed with just the right amount of heady jasmine scent. Finally, the tea is fired to stop the oxidation process and lock in all its flavour. For information on how other green teas are processed, read ‘Everything you need to know about green tea’ here.

Where are Good & Proper Tea's Jasmine Pearls from?

Our Jasmine Pearls hail from the Fujian Province in south-eastern China, a part of the country famed for jasmine tea production and, historically, for innovation in tea more generally: the ways of producing both white and oolong teas were developed here. The mild climate, sloping hills and abundant rainfall makes the Fujian Province the ideal location for growing both jasmine plants and tea bushes, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that it’s here where the two are combined to create a beautiful tea.

We took our time finding a jasmine tea we really love, and after many, many tastings found our irresistibly aromatic Jasmine Pearls, which became number 28 in our collection. While we usually focus on single-origin teas whose unique flavours stand out on their own, the history behind jasmine tea and the love and care that goes into producing it makes it a good and proper addition to our range: a scented tea to call our own.

How best to enjoy Jasmine green tea?

As with all true teas produced from the tea bush, jasmine tea does contain caffeine, but also the compound L-theanine, which slows the release of caffeine into the body for a gentle boost with no ‘crash’. Jasmine Pearls’ delicious floral flavour and silky-smooth mouthfeel makes it a tea to enjoy all through the morning and into the afternoon.

We recommend brewing it with a water temperature of around 80˚C to coax out its natural sweetness. Thanks to the expertly-rolled little balls of tea, you can simply count out how many you need to brew with: we recommend 15-20 per 200ml of water. A glass teapot is the vessel of choice to watch the pearls gently unfurl and be sure to enjoy the stunning fragrance of jasmine flowers as the tea brews.