Jasmine Pearls

Golden Moon sample No. 21 of 31, chosen at random.

I had a hard day. I just sold my childhood home, which I’d been holding on to since my mom died in the mid-90s, mostly for sentimental reasons. I thought I was ready for this step. Sure beats being a landlord from multiple states away (so my thinking went). Or having it sit empty and having to deal with upkeep from multiple states away (so my thinking went). And it’s in an area that, very fortunately, held its value during the recession and even appreciated some, so no downside there. And the transaction was relatively painless because the lady who was renting it bought it, and so I didn’t have to put it on the market.

But when I had to sit down with the notary and sign the deed, I started to feel really sad. So many memories tied up in that house. We moved into it when I was 5. I’m trying to make myself look at the bright side. At least the buyer wants to live in it and update it, not tear it down and build a McMansion on the little lot. So if I ever find myself in the neighborhood with my kids, I’ll still be able to show them the house mommy grew up in.

But. Stress. And work stress this week too, no time to work out for 2 days. I’m hoping to take a few days off as soon as I get a project done, maybe get a massage. Yeah, that’s what I’ll look forward to, she said.

Anyway, I thought I had a conference call at 7 p.m. tonight but it got postponed, so I actually have a shot of doing a workout. But I really don’t feel like it, so I am hoping a gentle caffeine lift may help motivate me.

I haven’t had jasmine pearls before though I’ve seen pictures of them. The pictures don’t really do them justice. They’re quite charming looking in real life. They look like tiny, variegated aquarium snails. Or miniscule turbans. Or rolled up bits of rattan. They have a strong, sweet, jasmine smell.

The liquor is pale yellow with a hint of green and has a rich jasmine smell. It’s got a lot to it without being artificial or overwhelming. I’d happily wear it as perfume; it smells lovely and fresh. It would make a nice spring/summer eau de toilette.

The taste is very, very sweet and slightly vegetal, with the predominant note, not surprisingly, that of jasmine. The tea has a light body, but I’m not sure I could rightly expect jasmine to be chewy.

By the end of my first steep, the pearls had only partially uncurled. Some of them were starting to look a bit ringletty. The flavor on the second steep, while still light bodied, had more depth. It felt a bit silkier, like it was leaning toward green oolong land. The pearls were pretty much uncurled at this point, except for a few that had a tightly wound bit still at the end of the leaf and looked a little like… sperm! I gave them another run through, believing that there might be more flavor hiding in the curls. There was, though the second steep was tastier. The third was heading toward washed out.

I can’t remember the non-pearl GM jasmine well enough to compare these two. Perhaps it’s my mood and my great need for comfort today, but I have a more positive visceral response to this one than to the other.

Can someone who is more experienced with green teas in general and jasmine green tea in particular educate me on why one would have both jasmine pearls and regular leaf jasmine in one’s cupboard other than for variety in how they look and whatever difference there may be in how any given one tastes vs. another? Is there something else I should be considering? If I had to choose between the two at the moment I’d pick this, but perhaps there’s more to it I should be thinking about?

We are having another dreary, rainy day, so I had to pull out something jasmine from my stash; it has a magical property which puts me in a good mood!

Beautiful rolled leaves striped with jasmine flowers. A real treat to look at.

First infusion: Sweet, light, and delightful! I had it in my mind that I preferred jasmine oolongs, but I see that I once again put myself into an incorrect box! I love this tea!

Second infusion (4 min): Slightly darker in color. A slightly more green taste and slightly less jasmine taste make it a very harmonious, delicious cup. Totally in a better mood!

Third infusion (5 min): This tea has had it – I am sipping slightly jasmine tasting warm water. I will finish it because I’m freezing!!! but if I had more of this tea I would only make two infusions.

To me, the second infusion is the better of the two, but both are very enjoyable.

I would call “TIN!” but I have a tin of A+D Jasmine Green in my stash, plus I really, really want to try Samovar’s Jasmine Pearl Green Tea first. It looks exquisite!

Jasmine tea is my happy tea!!!

ok ive been wanting to try a jasmine tea for a while now and the sample was 0.99$ how could i go wrong? the leaves/balls smell nice they are not strong at all like i had expected them to be and there cute little pebbles :) they looked really cool opening up in the hot water. the smell of the wetl eaves and tea….they remind me of those foam tub toy blocks i had as a child that stick to the wall when their wet. i tasted it unsweetened and it had almost no flavor so i added my normal amount of sugar and well…it tastes like it smells…i dont think i like jasmine tea….i will try others because i dont want to compleatly close that door. the tea itself is yellow which i didnt expect either but it is very pretty.

This is one of those teas that falls into the “eh” category. A take it or leave it kind of tea.

But frankly, right now, I’m pretty happy to be drinking tea. I really haven’t had ANY since January 1st.

I actually have three different kinds of Jasmine Pearls in the house, thanks to takgoti! I figured I’d try the Golden Moon one first, before I try some high-quality takgoti versions.

The look of this tea is gorgeous! Pretty little pearls, a beautiful blue-green with yellow strings interspersed. So soft and silky to the touch. The pearls smell like a juicy, floral jasmine. They’re extremely fragrant. Each pearl has jasmine seeped right into it. I couldn’t wait to see what these leaves would do in the water!

They unfurl beautifully once the hot water touches them. I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t unfurl more than I thought they would. Most of them were still somewhat rolled by the time my timer rang.

So I poured, and the wet leaves smell like a milder version of the dry. And the infusion smelled delicious, with a rich, heady jasmine scent. A sweet green smell underlying it as well. And such a pretty light yellow! Similar more to a white tea than a green, actually.

The light color should have tipped me off to the taste of this tea. Because it’s very light, especially when hot. The jasmine doesn’t really come through until the aftertaste, and the forefront of the flavor is definitely a Chinese green taste: a bit bitter and vegetal, maybe a bit mineral-like.

The problem is just that the tea is just too flavorless and unexciting. It’s not that it’s a bad tea, perse. It’s just I wanted a fuller tea taste, and more body. Not necessarily bold and brisk and strong, like a black. Just more rounded and interesting, especially on the jasmine front.

In short, the tea is weakness. Maybe a good introduction to jasmine, but I don’t see it winning any awards. I’m sure that there are better jasmine pearl teas out there.

Second Steep

So I decided to steep this a second time, at 3:30 minutes, and the same water temperature. The leaves opened up a little bit more, but still didn’t completely unfurl. Odd. The juice was around the same color as the first time, except with a bit more of a honey tone. The tea had a bit of a thicker mouthfeel, and much more sweetness. The sweetness became a bit overbearing after a while, though, with the jasmine only appearing as an aftertaste. After the tea cooled, it seriously began to taste like Juicy Fruit gum. I don’t know why, or how. But it was bizarre. More of like an aftertaste of Juicy Fruit. Like you’ve chewed it for too long and you spit it out, and then your whole mouth feels like it.

Really odd.

In case you have not noticed, most of my recent infusions have been ones I am doing in a travel mug on my ridiculously long drive to work – which means my tea is infusing for way longer than necessary and being drank while the leaves are still submerged in the cup. As one of my first entries (on a Dragonwell – I think Teavana’s) explained, this is how I usually drank green tea, over-infused so as to get every ounce of tea flavor out of a single infusion. Today is no exception.

I really want to finish the Golden Moon sampler. I have but a few samples left – I chose this one because I really needed to relax today and this usually does the trick. The little tiny pearls are perfectly curled and rolled into little balls, none of them are broken or damaged, no torn or flailing leaves, very nice. The aroma off of the un-infused tea is jasmine and green tea, so far so good.

Added the sample pack to my travel mug, filled ¾ with hot water and the rest with cold water (I do this so that the tea is not brewing so hot because it is going to infuse for so long – this is not correct practice, I know this, but I do not want to scorch it up front and have a wasted cup of tea while on the road.) The pearls took about ten minutes to completely unfurl into long green leaves with a light honey colored liquor, the fragrance is strong Jasmine. The flavor initially is green with some Jasmine. After a bit longer on the infusion, the tea shifts in flavor to be less vegetal green and more Jasmine. By the end of the cup, it is mostly Jasmine, no real other flavor playing any role here.

Overall, I like this tea, you cannot have it every day, but that is true of most people and most Jasmine teas. The floral aroma and smell is just too powdery and overwhelming to enjoy every day. When I need to relax and have something special, I could definitely see me reaching for a cup of this, it was very good, but too strong for every day.

This is nice. Very light, bordering a bit on perfume-y but not crossing over and I’m not getting a ton of tea taste from it, but it is still nice. No nasty aftertaste or obnoxiousness, just a soft jasmine. Not too complex, not a big depth of flavor and more jasmine than tea, but sometimes the tea taste in a jasmine can turn me off so this avoids that problem.

Overall, it’s pretty inoffensive. Just a jasmine tea. I know I keep saying it’s nice, but it is. I can’t really go farther than that, though. Nothing bad is going on in it, but there’s nothing stupendous either. It’s just nice. I feel like I’m damning it with faint praise but I just can’t get all that excited about this tea. But I it doesn’t make me think icky thoughts either so that’s gotta count for something, right?

I just wanted to jot down a few words, because I have to run:

Sweet
Fresh
Mild

I think this tastes delicious and uplifting. Pretty much what I expect of a good quality Jasmine Pearl tea.

I think I’m the odd one out on this one! I really liked this tea. The jasmine flavor was definitely there, but was not as overpowering as some of the other jasmine teas that I have tried. I think this will become my new “favorite jasmine tea”. I brewed it in a glass mug so I could watch the pearls unfurl, which is always a fun way to spend some time.

Golden Moon Sampler Tea #2
So, given how small the golden moon samples are, I’ve decided to try and use them up in one go. There’s a little too much in each pouch for my ingenuitea though, so I’ve dusted off my teapot specially for this occasion. Of course, upon doing so, I was confronted with the problem of lid. Or rather, lack thereof. I can’t even find the pieces left after it broke during the move! Did I throw them away (like an idiot)? Ah well, for the moment I have used my MacGyver-like ingenuity to come up with a temporary fix. (It’s a pickle jar lid. Not optimal what with being made of metal and getting kinda hot, but needs must!)

I had a hankering for some Jasmine tea, so I decided to go straight for that rather than letting fate decide this time. The pearls themselves are of course lovely, and watching them unfurl is a treat. The taste is everything I expect from a Jasmine tea, floral with a slight undertaste that reminds me of (and this may sound weird) rice. This is quite delicate though, even after using all of it in my pot, it requires no dilution. Drinking this reminded me of how much I like Jasmine tea, but I’ll have to form a larger basis for comparison before I decide whether or not to buy.

This is kind of a middle of the road jasmine green tea. The fragrance is heavenly, and it’s one of those teas that makes me want to strap the packet to my nose. The jasmine is spot on: not subtle, not perfume-y, not overwhelming, not artificial. Really, really nice.

Given its fragrance, I was hoping for a nice, bold flavour to do it justice. That’s not the case here, though: the tea is a little on the weak side. To its credit, however, I didn’t get any bitterness or dry mouth from it.

Another It’s All About the Leaf review:

Jasmine has been scenting and flavoring tea for almost as long as tea has been grown in China. The aromatic qualities of the jasmine bloom and the aromatic qualities of the tea plant are one of nature’s perfect matches.

As you may be able to guess, I’m very fond of jasmine pearls – it’s my favorite way to have jasmine in tea.

(read more at http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/1503/tea-review-golden-moon-tea-jasmine-pearls/)

To paraphrase Patton Oswalt: this is a failure tea in a sadness cup. This is the first time that a tea has upset me – I got over it after a few minutes, but man, I wasn’t in a happy place for those few minutes.

I’m thinking “Yippee! I adore jasmine and I’ve been dying to try a pearled tea!” I even found the teapot my mom gave me when I started on my tea journey (a glass Bodum) so that I could watch the agonized tea leaves (wait, what?). Not impressed with the show. I only enjoyed it once I started adding sound effects in my mind of screaming leaves or tiny little “enhs.” I sniffed the sample pouch and thought, “oh, this should be lovely!”

And then I poured it.

Two wafts of a smell hit me as I poured and I was rather shocked. I had a moment of bewilderment where I thought that maybe I had grabbed the Vanilla Jasmine instead. I double-checked the bag: nope, it definitely was pearls.

Then I sniffed and that smell that I thought was vanilla was there. I sipped and oh lordy, the disappointment. Within a few sips I was able to nail what that smell/taste was that bothered me (because I was only getting the tiniest hint of jasmine): it’s a freaking half-eaten Tootsie Roll Pop. You know that point where most of the lolipop is gone (I’m thinking grape) and you’re almost transitioned to the Tootsie Roll? Yeah, that’s it. I hate Tootsie Rolls and I hate their “Pop” brethren.

I gave it a second chance with another steep and it mellowed quite a bit to where I’m tasting more tea, but once something has been smelled it cannot be unsmelled.

Ultimately, Tootsie Roll Pop lovers should rejoice and think about trying a sample of this tea. GA

I love jasmine pearls, so my expectations here might be too high, but what the heck. Opening the packet I get that lovely scent of jasmine blossoms, sweet and for this variety, particularly juicy. I’ll plan on doing a couple steeps and see what develops.

1st steep: 2 minutes, 190 degrees. The pearls are semi-unfurled, and look like little caltrops with their spikes pushing out in all directions from the central core. The liquor is a clear, light golden-green, and the scent is jasmine but with an unusual note that reminds me of a chemical sweetness, almost like acetone/nail polish remover. It’s enough in the background though to not be bothersome. The flavor is light and sweet, with the distinctive perfumed aftertaste that I really like about jasmine pearls. Just a hint of butteriness, too.

2nd steep: 3 minutes, 190 degrees. Now I’ve got a kelp forest in my little pot, with long green fronds gently waving about in the currents of hot water. The liquor is a little cloudier this time, and a little duller in tone. The aroma is still distinctively jasmine. The flavor is much milder this time, and I’m not getting any new notes that weren’t there the first time.

Overall, I’d call this a good but not outstanding example of jasmine pearls.

Here is my 3rd sample from Golden Moon, this time I decided to go with something safe and that I knew I was already fond of! This tea is OK, it is a really light jasmine tea, especially when hot. For this being jasmine pearls I would expect a bit more of the jasmine flavor to be taking the front and center stage, but it’s just not happening. This is a light and subtle jasmine tea… probably would make a good bed time tea.

Taken Plain.
Usually Golden Moon never ever misses with me. I can open up anything they send and adore it absolutely. Not this one. It is a very nice scented green but I have had better. I’ve had a TON worse and this is in no way a bad tea… but Ive had better. I’m just disappointed that this isn’t as good as the vast majority of their other teas.

What I was looking for was a deep toasted green base to add depth paired with the bright floral notes extending down into the base to pull it up into the light. The green tea feels like it is living up to my expectations but the jasmine seems to be the part falling short. It seems almost two dimensional and weak next to the base. Not weak as if you couldn’t taste it but weak like brittle. It does not have depth into the lower notes of jasmine flavor that would add richness to the blend and a more full mouth feel.

It’s ok. It is what they promise but I know that they can do better because they usually do. If you are looking for a light, pleasant and unoffensive Jasmine blend definitely give this one a shot. If you are like me and you want to be dazzled by new, bold and exciting flavors you might think this one is too calm.

Nyaaaa me and jasmine meet again…

This would be one of those that I don’t like much. The jasmine taste is quite strong and I’m not a fan of that. Its kinda watery. Not smooth enough for me.

It’s more drinkable than some jasmine teas I’ve tried but no way I would buy this one…

EDIT
2nd steep was better. i could taste the green tea leaves even tho the jasmine is still overtaking…

I am down to my last 3-4 sample packets from GM. I love jasmine pearls, well most the time if it’s not over powering. The jasmine in these pearls was just the amount I liked. It made for a great iced tea. The green tea itself was really yummy and strong. They were bigger pearls than other tea providers. Enjoyed 2 rebrews, which were equally just as tasty. I really enjoyed this tea.

GM Sample 17/31
Back at school and back into the swing of things. I liked this tea much better than the regular jasmine tea. No bitterness to the tea, and the leaves are so cute! Light yellow green colored brew and very fragrant.

When it comes to Jasmine tea I don’t consider myself very expert. Other than Chinese restaurant teas I’m relatively new to them. After reading what others wrote here I sense that those who are into jasmine teas probably like them for various reasons. I’m not a big floral flavored tea fan. But jasmine is pretty nice in tea, if it’s light. I think that’s why I like this tea, not in a big way but it’s a nice evening tea to relax over.

I steeped it 2 minutes for my first steep and didn’t add anything else. This is not usual for me as I usually sweeten my teas. I think this one without sweetener is nice. The Jasmine flavoring doesn’t overpower the light green tea it’s based on. The tea leaf starts out in a tight ball and unfurls. it wasn’t quite unfurled all the way in 2 minutes so this clues me it’s got more steeps in it’s future. The brew is light colored and a pale mostly yellow color.

The second steep I did about 3 minutes, again no sweetener. It was just as flavorful as the first time. The leaf reveals a quality leaf that is skinny and long from fresh leaves of the plant. Again enjoyable. Obviously you Jasmine tea fans must have other sources you really enjoy for your own reasons. I’ll have to try some another time to compare. Feel free to share your faves and reasons why.

Intense Jasmine fragrance. Surprisingly, it doesn’t overwhelm the green tea underlying it. The two combine very well. The tea is light, fragrant without being overwhelming and does not have any sort of “chemical” harshness that I’ve detected in lesser Jasmine Tea’s (from artificial flavoring??). 3 minutes @ 200deg