I have loved every tea I purchased from Grace Rare Tea, until this one. I don’t hate it, it just doesn’t have much jasmine flavor. I wonder if it is old? I bought the two ounce tin at A Southern Season. I asked if it was a pouchong base and the manager said she had never heard of a jasmine tea having a pouchong base and told me it was a black tea base. Hmmm. Most of the jasmine teas I have seen are pouchong! Harney’s basic jasmine is pouchong and really tastes great for the price.
Anyway, I opened it up and sniffed and the jasmine aroma was very good. Steeped, it is a typical pouchong base in color and strength, fairly smooth. The jasmine flavor isn’t strong enough for me, though. It isn’t soapy and nasty like the jasmine black I tried from SS. The more you sip, the more the jasmine comes through. If I had never had Teavivre’s Jasmine Dragon Pearls, I might really like this. Unfortunately, this is standing in the shadow of an awesome tea. I am glad I got to try it, though!
Teavivre’s Jasmine Dragon Peals still have my number one spot for jasmines!
most of the jasmine teas that I’ve encountered are green tea, with white tea coming in at #2… pouchong would probably be third.