Scented Tea · Updated regularly
Jasmine Tea 茉莉花茶 mòlìhuāchá
Not a flower tisane — green tea taught to remember jasmine, one humid night at a time.
Direct answer
Jasmine tea is true tea — usually a green tea base, so it contains caffeine — scented with fresh jasmine blossoms through repeated overnight infusions called yin (窨). The flowers are typically removed afterward; petals in the finished tea are decoration, not quality. Guangxi's Hengxian county produces most of the world's supply; Fuzhou holds the historical crown.
Key facts
- Base
- Camellia sinensis — green tea base most commonly
- Caffeine
- Yes — that of its green tea base
- Process
- Scenting (窨 yìn): tea layered with fresh night-blooming jasmine, repeated 3–9 times
- Flower
- Jasminum sambac, picked as day-warmed buds that open at night
- Main origins
- Hengxian (Guangxi) volume; Fuzhou (Fujian) heritage
- Petals in tea
- Cosmetic — good scenting needs no visible flowers
Jasmine tea is a manufacturing marvel that gets mistaken for a simple blend. The traditional process — perfected in Fuzhou and industrialized in Guangxi's Hengxian, which now scents most of the world's jasmine tea — layers finished green tea with fresh Jasminum sambac buds picked on summer afternoons. The buds open in the cool of night and exhale; the tea, hygroscopic and hungry, inhales. Come morning the spent flowers are sieved out, the tea is re-dried, and the cycle repeats — three times for everyday grades, up to nine for top ones, each round written as one more 窨. That is why petals in the finished product signal marketing rather than quality: tea that spent nine nights with jasmine needs no bouquet to prove it. Grades like 'dragon pearls' (hand-rolled bead shapes) change the leaf's form, not the scenting logic. The result is one of China's great everyday luxuries — and it remains, underneath the perfume, a caffeinated green tea.
How to brew it
- Water
- 80–85°C — boiling water scalds both the green base and the aroma
- Amount
- 3–4 g (or ~8 dragon pearls) per 300 ml
- Time
- 2–3 minutes first steep
- Re-steeps
- 3–4; pearls unfurl fully by the second
- Note
- Glass or porcelain, nothing lidded with strong odors. The aroma is the product — overbrewing trades it for bitterness.
How to choose it
- Scented, not flavored. The label difference matters: traditional scenting (窨制) uses real flowers and costs more; 'jasmine flavor' means sprayed oils. Both exist honestly — at different prices.
- Count the scentings if stated. More 窨 rounds mean deeper, rounder aroma. Five-plus is a quality claim worth paying for; unstated usually means three or fewer.
- Ignore the petals. Visible flowers are cosmetic. Judge by smell after brewing: good jasmine tea's aroma survives into the third steep.
- Check the base grade. Downy, unbroken leaf or tight pearls under the scent means a base worth scenting. Dust-grade base wears jasmine like perfume on cardboard.
- Buy fresh-year. Jasmine aroma fades within a couple of years even sealed. This is a tea to buy small and re-buy, not to cellar.
Common questions
Does jasmine tea have caffeine?
Yes — jasmine tea is scented true tea, almost always on a green base, and carries that base's caffeine. The flowers add fragrance, not stimulation. For a caffeine-free floral evening cup, chrysanthemum or osmanthus infusions are the usual Chinese alternatives.
Why doesn't my jasmine tea have any flowers in it?
Because it was made well. Traditional scenting infuses aroma overnight and then removes the spent blossoms before re-drying; petals left in are decoration for the eye. Judge jasmine tea by how long the aroma survives re-steeping, not by the bouquet in the tin.
What are jasmine dragon pearls?
Hand-rolled beads of downy young tea leaves, scented like any other grade. The shape protects the leaf and unfurls theatrically in glass; you pay for hand labor and typically a higher base grade, not a different kind of scenting.
Is jasmine tea green tea?
Usually yes — the classic base is green tea, though white and black jasmine teas exist. The base determines the caffeine, the brewing temperature and most of the mouthfeel; the jasmine determines the memory.
Sources
Traditional classifications on this page describe historical frameworks, not modern clinical findings. This page is educational and is not medical advice.