China Fujian Jasmine 'Phoenix Eye' Green Tea

Alright, let’s get another review out of the way before I get back to work. This was another of the What-Cha samples that I finished last month. I seem to recall working my way through this one around the start of the third week in June. I was on something of a mini green tea kick for several days around that time, so I am pretty sure that’s when I drank this tea. To be honest, I am not the hugest fan of jasmine green teas, but found this one to be rock solid. It was a pleasantly fragrant tea with admirable balance in the mouth.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of rolled leaf and bud sets in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 14 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry phoenix eyes emitted a strong jasmine aroma underscored by a subtle grassy scent. After the rinse, the strong jasmine aroma was still present, but there was a little more of an underlying grassy scent and a new hint of cucumber. The first infusion saw the jasmine mellow a tad and a hint of zucchini emerge. In the mouth, I found notes of jasmine, grass, cucumber, and zucchini. There was a hint of umami there too. Subsequent infusions saw cream, butter, and umami appear on the nose. New impressions of cream, butter, hay, spinach, minerals, and sugarcane emerged in the mouth and were chased by subtle impressions of asparagus and apricot on the swallow. The final infusions offered lingering mineral, butter, and umami notes balanced by subtler impressions of jasmine, grass, and zucchini.

This was not the deepest or most complex jasmine green tea in the world, but it was very drinkable and pleasant. I appreciated the fact that the jasmine was neither consistently overpowering nor artificial. Overall, this was a very nice tea. If you are a fan of jasmine green teas, you will probably find a lot to enjoy about this one.