Another one from my recent order from Ovation. I couldn’t resist the combination of jasmine and passion fruit, even with some ingredients that sounded odd (juniper berries?). The tea is what looks like a sencha with a scattering of jasmine pearls and a lot of jasmine blossoms, orange peel, some cornflower petals, and yes, a good number of juniper berries. It smells kind of similar to some other jasmine/fruity teas I’ve come across, but way more natural. There’s an interesting herby hint to the aroma too that I’m going to guess is the juniper berries.
Steeped it smells mmmm very nice. Lovely jasmine, sweet passion fruit, and some aroma that reminds me strongly of asian grocery stores. Actually, the whole thing kind of does; I was just in my local asian market not long ago, and it’s definitely reminding me of that. In any case it’s a pleasant aroma, and amalgamation of a lot of scents and flavors. The flavor of this is quite tasty, and fairly similar to the aroma. I put a little more leaf in than I would usually use (because that’s what the bag called for, 2tsp per cup), but I think I wouldn’t do that again because it does seem a little strong for me. But otherwise I enjoy it a lot! I don’t like gin so I was worried about the juniper berries, but they seem to just give it a pleasant, grounding, herby taste.
I have more than once bought jasmine, passion fruit & citrus flavored green teas (actually the same blend from different companies but I didn’t realize), only to be sorely disappointed by poor quality flavorings that tasted like fake fruit candy. This seems like the flavor profile that those teas were going for, but it actually succeeds. I can still pick out the jasmine and separate it from the passion fruit and a hint of citrus. It definitely works. Even if Ovation’s black tea base isn’t for me, their green & white blends have been great so I definitely see myself ordering more of those in the future.
