Imperial Jasmine Green Tea

Ah Ha! So it turns out that the green fly is just a common aphid. Cool story isn't it? Tea is at least as intricate and multi layered as the wine industry is, and I'm a little surprised that tea connoisseur-ship hasn't taken off (in the u.s.) like it has with wine, or cigars. Maybe I'll write a post about how fancy tea can be. Not today though. No, today I talk about Jasmine green tea.

Jasmine green tea is something I drink because it reminds me of Chinese restaurants. This is the stuff that they serve you in those stainless steel tea pots, with the little tiny cups. My grandparent's used to take me to this place called the Four Seasons in Seattle's Chinatown when I was a kid. In fact my grandmother still takes me to this little dive called the Ming Tree when I visit her. I've always connected jasmine tea, foo dogs, and sweet and sour chicken with a sense of well being, so although, jasmine green tea is not really an everyday tea for Americans; I like to drink it from time to time.

On the other hand; the Chinese love this stuff. It's right up there with the Dragonwell, and the Monkey Picked Oolong for them, and if you get some of the quality stuff it can be rather satisfying. Right now I'm drinking "Imperial Jasmine Tea" from Kamwo Herbal Pharmacy in New York's Chinatown. They have all kinds of interesting herbs and fungus' about the place, and they have an accupuncture clinic in the back called The Grand Meridian. I get needled back there once a week. The place looks a lot like any other pharmacy, except there are a bunch of people packaging up what looks like twigs, and bark.

So about the tea: Any Chinese tea that says imperial is going to be high in quality, so try for that. Jasmine tea comes from tea picked early in the season from Fujian Province in China. The tea is "decorated" with fresh jasmine blossoms to impart the Jasmine flavor on the tea. Tea is highly absorbent of odors, so all you have to do is place the tea in and around a bunch of jasmine flowers, and the tea will soak up the scent. The harvesting is done during the day, and the flowers are layered on at night when they are in full bloom. The more consecutive nights that this layering is performed, the more heady the scent and flavor. High quality jasmines will be decorated up to twelve times.

I have read that jasmine teas are technically oolongs because they are allowed to ferment for a short time, but I don't think anyone will turn up their nose at you for calling it green. If you don't know the difference between white, green, oolong, and black teas, then check out this link Types of Tea.