Jasmine Pearl

Tea type
Green Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Hay, Jasmine, Nectar, Vegetal
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Jason
Average preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 30 sec 8 oz / 236 ml

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From Our Community

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25 Want it Want it

  • +10

19 Own it Own it

  • +4

25 Tasting Notes View all

  • “A pretty tea both visually (love the little balled up leaves) and taste-wise (mmm). Soft with a good jasmine taste that melds effortlessly into the taste of the tea. Beautiful.” Read full tasting note
    97
  • “Eep. I just glanced at my Harney & Sons post and hopefully Battle Part Deux will not be nearly as long as Battle Part 1. Scent There’s not much to say about this that I didn’t say in the H+S...” Read full tasting note
    93
  • “How lucky I was to get these from the generous LENA. Thank you! 6 months ago I would have confidently asserted that I dislike Jasmine tea because my only experience was with one of those wretched...” Read full tasting note
    94
  • “This is my ‘special’ tea. I drink it when I really want to relax and indulge in my passion for tea. A delicate jasmine, the perfect complement to the smooth taste of the tea leaves.” Read full tasting note
    97

From Samovar

Origin: Fujian, China

Flavor Profile: Perfectly fragrant fresh Jasmine bud, soft floral aromas of California Clematis, a light hint of cocoa powder, and fleeting notes of a baked green quality that is almost reminiscent of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.

Tea Story: Jasmine is a great natural remedy for stress.

When things get really hectic here in the tea lounge, we love to steep up a pot of Organic Jasmine pearl at the end of the shift. Watching the leaves slowly open, smelling the sweet aroma of jasmine flowers, and sipping this sweet brew, all tension drifts away. Jasmine is known to have very relaxing therapeutic effects, and, when blended with tea of this quality, you get an amazingly complex green tea.

Jasmine scenting green tea is a process that dates back nearly 1000 years in China. The family artisans we work with gently scent our organic green tea pearls by hand with organic jasmine flowers.

The process is extremely time consuming, labor intensive, and fascinating. While this tea is considered a green tea, the tea leaf used is actually a white tea varietal from Fujian, China. That’s why, when you inspect the dry pearls, you will see that they have a silvery- white quality from the thousands of tiny white leaf hairs.

The unique processing of this tea begins at the end of April and early May, when the tea is harvested in Fujian. The leaf and bud group are picked together and pan fired like a green tea. The processed tea is then stored until late May when the jasmine begins to bud. Then the tea is scented multiple times, each time using only fresh jasmine buds, so that no overly sweet smell of decaying flower touches the leaves.

The tea leaves absorb the jasmine fragrance, but the tea is not overwhelmed by the scent. It is an exquisite balance.After scenting, all the jasmine buds are removed and the tea is steamed to make it pliable again. Then the tea is hand rolled into it’s famed pearl shape.

Samovar’s Jasmine Pearl is certified organic is of the highest quality. Beware of the impostors out there. They are overly sweet and overly aromatic, and the open tea leaves are not uniform.

This is an ideal tea to brew in any of our glass pots where you can watch the leaves unwind.

Samovarian Poetry: So succulent and aromatic. Tea pearls blended with baby jasmine flowers.

Food Pairing: Serve with any light, sweet fair like tea cakes, pound cake with brown sugar and nuts, or buttery cookies. Pair with cuisine that has flavors that won’t compete with the heavenly bouquet of the Jasmine Pearl.

About Samovar View company

Samovar's is dedicated to preserving the simplicity and integrity of the tea traditions and inspiring people to practice peace through drinking tea.

25 Tasting Notes

97
911 tasting notes

A pretty tea both visually (love the little balled up leaves) and taste-wise (mmm). Soft with a good jasmine taste that melds effortlessly into the taste of the tea. Beautiful.

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec
Ricky

Why is it 99 out of 100! Is it not the best jasmine pearl you’ve ever had!?!?

Auggy

I doubt any jasmine tea could get a 100 from me!

Ricky

I’m sure one day Jasmine will win your heart over ;D

Micah

!!
Really? Is jasmine just not your favorite thing out there? I hope Ricky is right and that you find a jasmine worthy of your 100.

Auggy

I like jasmine but I think because I’ve had some less than positive experiences with it, I distrust it. For that reason, I must hold back a wee bit from utter love and devotion of any jasmine tea as I have a slight fear that one day, while I am sleeping, it will stab me with a spoon.

Teafreak

Agreed, my first few experiences with jasmine tea were awful. The tea was so awful that I think they used the jasmine to cover up the quality.

Now that I’ve found some reputable jasmine tea dealers though, my outlook has changed significantly.

takgoti

I would like to something get stabbed with a spoon.

Also, I’d say 99 is pretty damn good for a person who distrusts jasmine, you silly people!

Auggy

Thank you!
See people! Takgoti says you have to stop picking on me! :P

Ricky points finger in some random direction * He started it!

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93
260 tasting notes

Eep. I just glanced at my Harney & Sons post and hopefully Battle Part Deux will not be nearly as long as Battle Part 1.

Scent
There’s not much to say about this that I didn’t say in the H+S post. It smells so full and succulent that you want to be able to take a bite out of it. Just lovely. But H+S has a bit of a stronger scent and so I gave them the win.

Texture
Samovar’s jasmine was a little lighter in the mouth, but also smoother. Almost silky. If it just came down to those two components I’d call it a coin toss, but because Harney & Sons had that strange tingly/prickly thing going on the round goes to Samovar.

Things I Don’t Know Enough About
The leaves in Jasmine Pearl were more separated. Some of the leaves were attached in pairs at the stem, but many were singles. They were all completely unrolled and long by the time the 3:30 was up. Here are my Samovar pictures.
1 | http://twitpic.com/nfruc
2 | http://twitpic.com/nfrzg
3 | http://twitpic.com/nfs3t
leaf | http://twitpic.com/ng5um
cup | http://twitpic.com/ng61c
all | http://twitpic.com/photos/takgoti

Taste
This one was sweeter, like I mentioned in the H+S review, and a little more consistent over time [however, it did grow in flavor as it cooled]. It also had more of a vegetal quality to it, though subtle. I found that the liquid edged out the Dragon Pearl in terms of complexity, but both had very similar notes and tones. Samovar won the taste round.

Price
The price of Samovar’s 2 oz. can is $15, which is much higher price point per oz. than the next [and only] size up. For this tea to be “worth it” I’d get the 5.5 oz. tin, which runs at $28.

FINAL VERDICT
I am giving Samovar the championship belt in this battle, but it was really, really, REALLY close. If Samovar all of a sudden discontinued their jasmine tea and I would not be at all disappointed at the prospect of drinking Harney and Sons’ jasmine instead. Really, like I mentioned previously, I think that this decision should be based on who you buy more from [and how much you want to get, I suppose]. I buy more Samovar tea than anything else, so it makes more sense for me to get my jasmine from them.

So…I suppose that in the end this was all somewhat moot, but I got to play with my camera and two really great teas so it was a win for me. And really, isn’t that what matters? [Yes.]

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 30 sec
Hyrulehippie

That was epic! Thank you, I really enjoyed the battle!

takgoti

Thank you! It was a bit of a project. Spanned a good part of my day, actually. I’m okay with that.

Jason

I’m okay with that too!

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94
259 tasting notes

How lucky I was to get these from the generous LENA. Thank you! 6 months ago I would have confidently asserted that I dislike Jasmine tea because my only experience was with one of those wretched tea-bags (probably Bigelow or perhaps Twinings).

But recently I’ve grown to really enjoy and be impressed by the subtle aromas and tastes of green and white teas. The Jasmine flavour is one that I’ve grown to esteem. I think that Samovar’s Jasmine Pearls are, hencefar, the best I’ve experienced. The tea manages to be floral and biscuity. The characteristic buttery taste of some green teas is here but this is most certainly a jasmine tea and not merely a riff on a green tea.

The jasmine aroma is delicate and demure, yet it asserts itself beyond the taste of a biscuit-y tea, or a butter-y tea. I suspect, and not just from the price, that Samovar has one of the very best, if not the best, Jasmine Pearls for offer on the marketplace.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec
LENA

Excellent! I’m so glad you liked it! This is my all time favorite jasmine tea…but I still have to be in the mood for it.

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97
76 tasting notes

This is my ‘special’ tea. I drink it when I really want to relax and indulge in my passion for tea. A delicate jasmine, the perfect complement to the smooth taste of the tea leaves.

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75
20 tasting notes

Totally addicted to this tea.

takgoti

Not to get all freaky-outy on you, but I KNOW!!! ISN’T IT THE BEST???

[???!!!]

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85
100 tasting notes

Good, smooth tea with strong jasmine flavor but a little bit rough on the end.

JonTea

Jasmine is smooooooth :D I like it!

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81
66 tasting notes

My afternoon cup always varies. Today I’m drinking the Jasmine Pearls since the thought of smelling it brewed made me smile. I am enjoying every sip of it.

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94
9 tasting notes

The Jasmine was at first a little overwhelming but later it became a wonderful part of this tea

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75
35 tasting notes

Sometimes jasmine teas make me feel a little ill – they can be obnoxiously florid. This was nice, though. It was definitely aromatic, and had a hint of honey taste.

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97
2036 tasting notes

Sipdown no. 204. A sample. I thought I had tried all the Samovar green tea samples, but when I did my number on the tea collection I found this. Now, unless something got trapped under the drawer, I am sure this is the last of the green samples. I do have a few white tea samples, a couple of oolongs, and a masala chai, but all the blacks, greens, herbals and pu-erhs have been sipped down.

And oh joy! This is a tea that Samovar still carries!

I so love jasmine teas, and pearls are particularly awesome. So I’m excited by the prospect of this on a rainy evening, though this was another sample I saved well past what I’m sure was its prime.

The pearls smell richly jasmine and greenly tea, and they barely unfurled during steeping (I will steep them again, for sure). The tea is lightly yellow and very clear. The fragrance is a divine mix of jasmine floral and gently vegetal, sweet green tea.

Why did I wait so long to try Samovar’s jasmine? For shame. It is nigh on perfect, in my view. There is nothing heavy handed about this. It’s perfectly balanced between floral and tea, and for a type of tea that can be a very pleasant johnny one note, it has an amazing depth. I can only imagine how it would have been when fresh. It might have been my first 100 score.

Now I must sip down all of my lesser jasmines so I can justify ordering this in the convenient economy size.

Flavors: Hay, Jasmine, Nectar, Vegetal

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 1 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Kittenna

Hehe, your last sentence made me laugh :D

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