Jasmine Pearls

I committed a tea crime with these beautiful pearls! I was preparing a tea package for one of my friends who is just getting into the wide world of loose leaf—I split a good chunk of my Ovation order with her, and I wanted to include some samples of other brands as well. She loves jasmine so I thought I just had to put in some pearls—my little sample packet of this was lying on the table next to the box and I thought perfect! But I had not tried them yet and that won’t do, so I put a cupful in the nearest thing I could find—my gaiwan.

Later that night I really wanted jasmine and was dead tired and didn’t feel like switching to my Ingenuitea which still needed a rinsing out, so I just brewed them up in the gaiwan! But I was not feeling like sitting around trying all the different steeps so I brewed them up 4 times and dumped it all in the same mug. Without tasting the differences! I know, horrifying. But it worked out pretty well!

After 4 steeps these pearls had not fully unfurled so I am saving them for a few more steeps later. This is a really light and sweet jasmine tea, the floral elements aren’t at all soapy and in fact they are very soft, not in-your-face jasmine at all (though that might be because of the steeping method?). This reminds me of the tea you get after a meal of really good Chinese food—fancy restaurant kind, not takeout, where they serve wonderful jasmine blends at the end (that are properly brewed—I have had some very bitter restaurant teas). Sweet green to just perfectly cap off a meal!

These pearls really stand out from other jasmine teas because the flavor is subtle, not in-your-face floral. They’re nicely balanced with a sweet honeysuckle flavor and a hint of jasmine that becomes stronger the more times you steep the tea. Because the pearls aren’t as heavily scented as other jasmine teas they don’t have the strong soapy flavor I seem to run into time and time again. There is nothing I hate more than a tea that reminds me of soap, or worse yet, potpourri. If I happen to be in the mood for something stronger I can always add additional pearls for a flavor that better suits my mood.

You can read the full review on my blog
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2015/2/3/tuesday-tea-jasmine-pearl-green-tea-persimmon-tree

Marco Lewis TTB

Thanks Persimmon Tree Tea for this sample!

This is my first jasmine green. I’ve been traumatized ever since having Adagio’s Jasmine Rooibos so I’m scared to try this, but here it goes.

2 steeps: rinse,40s,60s

Not too bad, the jasmine flavor was not overpowering like the other one I had. The only problem is it tastes as if the leaves have been artificially scented rather than being scented by real jasmine flowers. I don’t like artificially flavored teas so I don’t seem myself drinking this again.

I have given Buffy our 7 month old puppy the nickname Taz. It is really hard to concentrate with a whirlwind flying through the room dragging out another toy as it zooms by. Currently she is committed to forcing me to play fetch with her except she doesn’t want to let go of the ball. So for my brief review this is a solid jasmine pearls offering. Not too intense but no wallflower. Reminds everyone else of honeysuckle. Reminds me of Grape Nehi. Can’t go wrong with Grape Nehi. Don’t puppies ever wear out?

This is an exceptionally late post because yours truly feels quite awful today. Not even the dread lord Cthulhu miniature I am painting can make me feel better, the trials and tribulations of Fibromyalgia! Some days you feel fine and some days, for no reason, your body decides that everything is going to hurt and none of your medicine helps, the only option is to curl up in bed until it goes away. Usually I can still write, but sometimes a flair up is joined by a migraine (like today) and that means no looking at a computer. Luckily after a nap my headache is gone so I can write, yay!

Today’s tea is Jasmine Pearls by The Persimmon Tree Tea Company, a tea that I frequently forget exists. No idea why, I have enjoyed every Jasmine Pearl I have had, but after I drink it they tend to leave my mind until I run into them again and say to myself ‘how do I always forget how much I love this tea!’ It is really quite a funny process. These pearls are made from Organic Jasmine Scented Green Tea, I prefer the process of scenting a tea with jasmine over just tossing the flowers in a blend, usually the effect is much more subtle and quite wonderful, it is very easy to get overwhelmed by jasmine’s intensity. The aroma of these pearls pretty intense, very heady jasmine with notes of fresh vegetation. It reminds me of standing next to a blooming jasmine late on a summer evening, the aroma of the flowers fill the air and the smell of growing things surround me.

Into my gaiwan they go! Part of me is tempted to make a jasmine scented yixing pot, that could be intense or a disaster…food for thought. The aroma of the slowly unfurling pearls is very sweet, a heady mix of jasmine and honeysuckle nectar with a strong sharp notes of freshly broken vegetation. The liquid is sweet and floral, like flower nectar mixed with a delicate green tea.

For the first steeping the taste is fairly mild and the mouthfeel is nicely smooth. It starts off with slight fresh vegetation and then a gentle fade to honeysuckle and jasmine, it has the taste of flower nectar and growing things, it is delicate but has a definite presence.

Second steeping time! The aroma is really coming alive, strong jasmine notes waft out of my tea cup pretty much filling the area with headiness. As expected this steep is stronger than the previous one, it starts off like a fresh green tea, more vegetation than vegetal, though there is a hint of artichoke. This fades to an explosion of heady jasmine sweetness and nectar, the taste is strong but still well balanced with the green.

The aroma of the third steep is mostly sweet jasmine nectar, I do not detect any lingering notes of green tea, it is all flowers. The taste is winding down, there is only the sweet flower nectar blend of honeysuckle and jasmine. If you are like me and prefer your jasmine tea on the sweet and mild side rather than super intense flower bouquet, then I recommend this tea, it is light and refreshing and maintains a good balance with the green tea.

For blog and photo: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-persimmon-tree-tea-company-jasmine.html

First Sip Thought: “Breathtaking!”

Smell: Woo…very fragrant but that’s to be expected with something as precious as Jasmine Pearls. Even though the Jasmine smell is quite strong, I feel like the floral scent relaxes me. The after steep colour was surprisingly very bright.

Taste: Move over diamonds, this girl has a new best friend in town: Jasmine Pearls! Before trying them I was aware how beautiful it would be to watch the tight leaves unfurl. It’s an added bonus! This tea would be ideal for tea meditation because it’s hard to not focus on the steep process. These Jasmine Pearls have a smooth taste with sweet undertones. Drinking this tea is sort of like indulging in a cup of green tea outside near a bed of Jasmines. As mentioned in the “smell” section, the jasmines are made evident quite well. Some might think too much but I find that with the taste it isn’t as strong as the smell made it seem. If you’re a jasmine lover you should not have any problems with it.

www.theteacupoflife.blogspot.com

So I decided to try this iced, I wasn’t to sure about floral and cold, but something was telling me give it a try.

This is so delicious and refreshing. Instead of tasting like I was drinking perfume like I feared, this actually just tasted like sitting on the porch on a hot spring day next to the fragrant jasmine flowers that are intertwined along the porch railing and climbing their way up the wire arches. You’re drinking an ice cold green tea, and the jasmines smell so strong you can almost swear you can taste them in your tea. And you love it, you couldn’t imagine a more perfect place. And that’s what this taste like. Cool and flowery and slightly sweet and just fresh. Even in the dead of night I can almost feel a warm breeze. I need a big pitcher of this cold in my fridge for the hot Florida days.

The second steeping is just as bright and floral as the first and the leaves are still so fragrant there’s no doubt in my mind that I could get at least one or two more good cups out of this.

The jasmine is a bit too strong, in my opinion. It isn’t as bad as some of the super perfumed jasmine greens I’ve tasted (Bentley’s, I’m looking at you), but it’s much more noticeable than I normally like. That said, it’s not to the point where I’d stop drinking it.