Jasmin Mandarin

Sipdown no. 39 for the year 2014. Another sachet from the work stash.

Forgot the thermometer again! So I winged it on the water temp—let it cool for a couple of minutes before steeping.

I had a bit of a “doh” moment when I picked this tea today. I thought the word mandarin in the name meant it was flavored with both jasmine and mandarin orange, and I kept saying to myself—but I don’t smell orange? I don’t taste orange? So I did an internet search and all signs I could find pointed to this being a straight up jasmine green and that Mandarin presumably refers to the Chinese origin of the tea base.

Once I had a better understanding of what I was tasting, I could appreciate it for what it is. It seems like a really serviceable jasmine green tea. Having tasted the Kusmi Jasmine Green recently, I think these two teas are quite comparable. Both have a nice jasmine flavor, and with both, I don’t get a lot of green tea taste.

This one has a slight downward note in the finish that leans toward grassy and the jasmine doesn’t strike me as as rich and vibrant. Some of that could be simply because of the mode of preparation. But comparing the two I prefer the Kusmi.

This is a solid jasmine green though, and I wouldn’t turn it down. It’s just that, as with everything tea, I find myself having to make these fine distinctions to avoid having tea take over my house. I am going to bump the Kusmi a couple of points.

My Lupicia Newsletter arrived today – yay!

This is really nice. A really nice balance of flavors – the jasmine is not too strong but it doesn’t get overwhelmed by the mandarin, the mandarin provides a nice contrast to the floral notes, and the green tea is fresh and light. A beautiful combination of tastes!

Love this for the very fresh floral flavour. It’s the kind of jasmine tea served in good Chinese restaurants. Ideal for cleaning your palate before dim sum tasting!

Speaking of dim sum makes it crave for it right now…

This came as part of the Lupicia newsletter in tea bag form, and I finally took it out for a taste.

This is a nice, well-balanced jasmine tea. Some great floral notes and aroma from the jasmine without being overpowering. The green tea base is smooth and provides a great base to the tea.

Also, I’d say that I’ve the pyramid teabags Lupicia provides are sooo convenient for the office. I’ve found that this type of tea tends to be very forgiving of water temperature to consistently create a nice cup of tea. I’d definitely recommend having this type of tea in the office especially if you have a hot water heater that doesn’t deliver the hottest water.

First things first: the aroma. It smells like a flowery perfume I might wear. But the taste? Wow!

This tea is fantastic! It needs just a tiny bit of sweetener (hey, I have a very bitter intolerant, sugar loving tongue), but it’s delicious!

It reminds me of something I had in childhood, but I just can’t put my finger on it. Maybe that’s the mandarin notes coming through?

I could drink this every day. I’ve fallen in love. Time to try a lot more jasmine teas!

Very basic jasmine tea. It’s like the ‘default’ version. The jasmine tea you get served in Chinese restaurants. It’s light and floral, fragrant and flavorful, but the brew doesn’t blow me away with awesome.

Of course, maybe the only reason I’m thinking of Chinese restaurants is because I’m using a metal teapot today that I found in the back of a cupboard at work.

Quick note: I don’t like Jasmin very much but this one, it wasn’t the Jasmin that bothered me. There was a strong medicinal taste. Tasted artificial, tasted off. Hmm…

Not going to rate it because I don’t care for Jasmin and there was nothing else positive for me to give it a rating. I won’t ding it negatively because there are some that like the medicinal taste. I don’t.

On January 1 I ordered Yume, the New Years tea, from Lupicia. Like a bunch from their winter collections it seems more like a spring and summer flavor to me, so I always save it for later in the year. But I figured I’d get a sipdown done with the sample sachet they included.
Steepster indicates I’ve had this before, though I don’t seem to have written a tasting note. Hmm.
The jasmine gives it a very dry mouthfeel, but the flavor is not unpleasant. Its not something I’m going to buy, but a sample is a perfectly nice cup.

I’m on en epic mission to pare down my massive tea collection because the great majority of it is going stale- sad face. Once I get my collection under control I can start buying controlled amounts of more again- happy face.

Got this as a sample in the Lupicia catalog. Jasmine is overall my favorite type of tea so I was pumped for this one. It’s a nice jasmine but I’m not tasting anything in the way of other flavorings besides well, jasmine. I was expecting orange as in mandarin orange, but then I realized they probably just mean this is a Chinese jasmine tea. As a standalone jasmine it’s flavorful and fresh but didn’t convince to to switch from my go-to for this one.

This was a nice jasmine tea but not noteworthy enough for me to buy the higher end over standard jasmine tea you can find at an Chinese or Japanese market.