Buddha's Tears

Delicate-as-morning-dew green tea + fragrant jasmine = DIVINE. This is definitely what I would like to drink while enjoying dim sum in a Chinese tea house. :) Clean, calming and refreshing, it is also my choice of drink when doing reading or meditation in quiet evenings. Too bad I only have a sample of this from T2 as it’s too expensive…

Oh by the way, T2 recommends using 3-4 tears per cup, which I think is too little. Double that unless you prefer weak tea!

This tea is one of the first green tea’s that I tried at T2’s Macquarie centre tea house. I was pleasantly surprised. With a sweet aroma and a crisp green tea taste, Buddha’s tears is both a great starting point for people who want to get into green tea AND people who know a high quality green tea from a sip.

This was one of the first green teas I had ever tried, off a recommendation from a good friend. I tried it from the cafe section of T2, since the retail price for the tea is a little steep. The workers at the cafe made it with boiling water, which was kind of dumb, considering this IS green tea. However the delicate aroma struck me instantly, which was no doubt the best part of the experience. As I waited for it to cool down, it was rather entertaining watching the buds dance open inside the teacup. The taste was a little disappointing, but not unbearable. the combination of Jasmine and Hand picked green tea leaves were cool, but I personally didn’t enjoy the taste, as much as the rest of the drinking experience. (The next time I had this tea however, the taste had grown massively on me.

To me it is disappointing that the tea is called Buddha’s Tears. This is only because this tea is extraordinary and there should be nothing to be sad about. As a Zen Buddhist I often indulge in an extravagant selection of teas. Now most of these teas aren’t listed because they do not have a brand name so I can not rate them, though as I will return to China in the early hours of March, I will be sure to let you know about the teas I have.

Rather than being flavoured with perfume or flavourings, these balls of tea are exposed to 3 parts Jasmine Blossoms per one part Tea at a heat which imparts the lovely Jasmine scent into the leaves before they’re hand rolled into balls of perfection. Only the best leaves are used for this high quality brew. When infusing, don’t worry about the balls unfurling, that will happen over a long period of time and doesn’t affect the nature of the infusion. Yes, these are a little on the pricey side but think about how much you’d spend on a bottle of wine, and you definitely get more out of these than that! Also, the balls can be reinfused up to 5 times in the same sitting.

I was a little disappointed when I tried this tea from T2. While I love Jasmine Pearls this one had a faint chemically aroma, and the tea tasted flat. It might just be the shop I bought it from was outside the CBD so might have done less business. Or it could have been the water. Either way though T2, in my opinion, has priced this tea a tad bit too much.

If you’ve never tried any green tea, this should definitely be your first one to try, as it’s a good introduction into the world of tea.

Steepings: On T2’s website, it says to use 3-4 “tears” into a cup and brew for 7 minutes. Personally I’ve never tried that, if you have let me know how it tastes.

Teapot – I’d suggest use more than 3-4 “tears” depending on the size of your teapot, don’t be afraid to use a couple more than 8, especially if your planning on drinking more than 1 cup and resteeping it. Trying combining a mix of 80% boiling and 20% tap water. That’s how I like it, but of course try using all boiling water and see if you like that.

Food – You can drink this with Yum cha or any asian cuisine, if you really want to mix things up, trying it with nachos ;-). This tea is also perfect on it’s own as well.

Overall rating – 4/5

Yum! Very light and smooth. It certainly is neat watching the balls unfurl and colour the water, especially in a double walled glass tea cup. Unfortunately it’s too expensive for me (I got a sample), though the number of times I was able to re-steep this made me consider puchasing.

A highly aromatic green tea, great scent and a great taste. A little pricey at T2, search for Jasmine Pearls to find where you can get it online cheaper.

Sipdown! (47 | 251)

Holy crap Batman, this tea has such a high rating!

I’m not saying it’s bad, in fact it’s quite delicious. I love jasmine pearls, and these are undoubtedly high quality. I’m just surprised by the average of 89!

Anyway, the tea is light and fragrant with a nice sweet and natural jasmine flavor. Smooth and almost creamy, like other fine jasmine pearls I’ve tried. There’s a lingering sweet and nectarous floral finish.

Like I said, very good! I don’t have any Teavivre jasmine pearls handy, but it would be fun to compare. That being said, this tea is priced higher than even the most expensive grade of jasmine pearl from Teavivre, and I can’t imagine it being worth that much…