Jasmine tea

Jasmine tea is tea that has been scented with fresh jasmine blossoms. The classic method comes from Fujian in southern China: jasmine flowers are picked in the morning, then layered with dried tea leaves in the evening as the blossoms open and release their fragrance. The leaves absorb the scent overnight, the spent flowers are removed, and the best teas are scented several times over.

Most jasmine tea is made with green tea, but white tea, oolong and even matcha can carry the flower too. Rolled jasmine "pearls" — sometimes called dragon tears or dragon pearls — are hand-rolled balls of leaf that slowly unfurl as they steep.

Good jasmine tea is fragrant before you take the first sip: sweet, heady and floral, with the light, fresh body of the base tea underneath. Jasmine greens are soft and delicate, jasmine oolong is rounder with a fruity depth, and jasmine matcha adds a creamy, vegetal richness. The aroma should taste natural and lingering rather than perfumed.

Brew jasmine green tea like any delicate green: water at 75–80°C, 2–3 g per 250 ml (about 8–10 pearls), and a 2–3 minute steep. Water that is too hot will turn it bitter and flatten the floral notes. Jasmine pearls are worth watching in a glass cup and can be re-steeped two or three times. Jasmine oolong takes slightly hotter water, around 85–90°C, and jasmine matcha is whisked rather than steeped.

Jasmine tea is traditionally enjoyed plain, without milk or sugar, so the fragrance comes through. Browse our selection above for jasmine greens, pearls, oolong and matcha.

Jasmine tea has the same caffeine as its base tea. Jasmine green and white teas are usually low to moderate, often around 20–45 mg per cup; jasmine oolong is moderate; and jasmine matcha is higher because you drink the whole powdered leaf. The jasmine flowers themselves add no caffeine.