Fuzhou, the birthplace of jasmine tea, is renowned for its single-petal jasmine and the “nine-scenting and one-lifting” craft. Its top-tier teas exude a delicate fragrance, with a mellow, smooth infusion.
Core Process Analysis:
Scenting is the soul of jasmine tea. It involves layering the tea base and fresh jasmine flowers alternately, allowing the tea to absorb the floral aroma through physical adsorption and chemical transformation.
Specific Steps:
Tea Base Pretreatment: Re-roast and dry the tea base to reduce its moisture content to 4%-4.5%, then cool it to room temperature to enhance its aroma-absorbing capacity.
Fresh Flower Maintenance: After picking jasmine buds in the afternoon, spread them out to cool, sift out impurities, use magnolia as a base (at a 1% ratio to enhance aroma intensity), and then place them in an environment of 32-37℃ to stimulate blooming and aroma release.
Multiple Rounds of Scenting: High-quality jasmine tea requires 5-9 rounds of scenting. After each round of scenting (which lasts 8-12 hours), separate the spent flowers from the tea base and re-roast the tea to fix the aroma.
Final Flowering for Aroma Enhancement: For the last round of scenting, only a small amount of fresh jasmine flowers is used to give the tea a fresh and natural aroma.
Characteristics:
Taste: It has a mellow flavor, rich floral aroma, good infusibility (remaining flavorful through multiple brews), and the brewed tea is pale yellow and translucent with a long-lasting sweet aftertaste.
Shape: The tea strips are tight, even, elegant, curled and glossy; the jasmine flowers are pale yellow and bright.
Quality Identification:
Appearance Check: High-quality tea bases have tight, even strips with visible fine downy hairs; inferior tea may be mixed with broken leaves or impurities.
Aroma Check: The aroma should be fresh, vivid and long-lasting, free from burnt or off-odors. Tea made with single-petal jasmine has a fresh and delicate aroma, that with double-petal jasmine has a rich aroma, and that with multi-petal jasmine has a mild and subtle aroma.
Taste Check: The brewed tea should be yellowish-green and clear, with a mellow flavor and sweet aftertaste; it should be free from bitterness, astringency or blandness. Tea scented 8 times or more can still retain aroma after 5-7 infusions.
