Jasmine Pearl

Tea: Jasmine Pearl
Vendor: Just4Tea
Price: $17.50 / 4oz.
Vendor Description: Jasmine tea is made by stacking up alternating layers of premium green tea from Fuzhou area of Fujiang province and Jasmine petals. This scenting process is repeated multiple times. After the scenting process, the tea is then rolled to pearl-shaped balls, which gives the tea its name. It delivers a unique flowery scent with refresh green tea flavor.

Leaf: The color of the pearls was a lot more varied and generally browner than the pearls from Lupicia. The pearls had the same rather strong jasmine aroma to them.

1st Infusion: The leaf unfurls a bit unevenly, it does not have the same uniform appearance of of the Lupicia pearls. The infusion has the same strong aroma, although the aroma is not the same as the leaf. The tea was sweet, with an almost sugary flavor to it. There was a small tinge of bitterness, but it was not like the bitterness of a sencha at all. This bitterness was almost from too much of a tea flavor, but the actual flavor was not quite that strong. There were quite a few flavors going on in this tea that complicated it, but it was not as pure of a flavor as the Lupicia Jasmine Pearls.

2nd Infusion: The aroma now had a more woody almost singed aroma to the leaf now. The liquor was still brown in color. The flavor though was much flatter this time, there was no sweetness in the flavor. It also left a bit of dryness on the tongue alone, which turns into a light astringency. There are trace amounts of jasmine in the aroma though.

3rd infusion: This infusion had a stronger, medium sense of bitterness and a medium sense of astringency. The astringency and bitterness clouded up any flavor that remained. There was still a light aroma. The now unfurled leaves also showed that the pearls were not made of the two leaves and bud that the Lupicia pearls were made of, these included some larger broader leaves further down the stem.

Rating: 3/10

Conclusion: The quality on this tea just wasn't up to par. It didn't provide the same enjoyable purity of a higher grade Jasmine Pearl. I would say if you're going to get a Jasmine Pearl get the Lupicia one over this, the quality is just that much better.