Jasmine Silver Tips

茉莉银针

Harvest
July 2022

Origin
Hengxian, Guangxi

Tea leaves are long known to have the remarkable capacity to absorb and preserve the scent of flowers that would otherwise disappear.  However, the process of scenting tea leaves is laborious and long-developed; it began in the Southern Song Dynasty more than 1000 years ago. It requires a careful understanding of the ratio of flower to tea, and several rounds of infusions to achieve a lasting transfer of the flower's otherwise fleeting scent.

For this Jasmine Silver Tips, the fresh green tea buds are made into tea in April, and set aside to await the blossoming of the jasmine flowers in July. The fresh jasmine flowers were harvested in late July, and the scenting process lasted for 2 weeks. Traditionally, scenting is done in small batches: tiny jasmine blossoms are scattered with the tea leaves on bamboo mats and left overnight, where the tea leaves gradually absorb the delicate night-aromas of the blossoms. The next morning, craftsmen separate the jasmine flowers from the tea leaves, and the tea is baked over charcoal for a few hours. This Jasmine Silver Tips received 6 traditional rounds of scenting.

This tea remembers the nights it spent with those flowers vividly. The dry tea alone contains such a total jasmine smell that the tea seems to act only as a medium – with our eyes closed, it is pure flowers, under laid by the sweetness of rock sugar. Even though the tea’s perfume is intense, it impresses upon our palate lightly. This is a beautiful quality often attributed to jasmine: it captures us, but only to let us go.

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Brewing guide