I have a feeling that this is not, in fact, the exact same tea as the one described, but I am too lazy to make a new entry and this IS a jasmine tea by Ito En so…oh well!
What I’m drinking is actually called “Natural Jasmine Tea” and gives no indication that it has a green tea base, although that seems to be the most common so it probably does. It’s big thing is that it doesn’t us anything except actual jasmine flowers to induce the jasmine aroma and taste (hence the “natural”). I didn’t really pay that much attention to the other jasmine tea that I’ve tried so far, but the implication is that all the other ones use artificial means in order to strengthen the impression of jasmine. I guess.
The jasmine aroma/taste DOES seem to be fairly subtle here. The aroma definitely is lighter than it was in the other jasmine tea, but I think I preferred it that way. The more this tea warms up the more the base green seems to overwhelm the jasmine within it and I quite LIKE the taste of jasmine. That is, in fact, in fact the reason why I BOUGHT jasmine tea and not green tea. The bottle also tells me that there isn’t much caffeine in the tea, which makes me wonder if it isn’t quite lightly brewed (thereby deepening the “naturally scented” image they’re shooting for). Thus, this is not my favorite jasmine tea, although it’s not really bad, either.
