The Secret of Jasmine Flower for Making Fine Jasmine Tea | HOJO Online Speciality Tea Shop

Jasmine tea is made from green tea scented with the fresh jasmine flower. The quality of both green tea and jasmine flower is important. Jasmine tea consists of various cultivar and variety. The type of jasmine and the timing of plucking greatly affects the quality of jasmine tea.

Heng Xian County of Guangxi is the heart of jasmine flower in China

In China, Heng Xian county of Guangxi produces the biggest volume of jasmine flower. They produce 80% of jasmine in China and it is 60% of the total jasmine produced in the world.
Guangxi is located in the south west of China. Thanks to the location, Guangxi has very ideal warm weather throughout the year. In fact, Yunnan is also located in the south west However, Yunnan has too many mountains and it is not suitable for jasmine production. In Guangxi, the local government is also putting a lot of efforts on jasmine production.

Quality variation of jasmine flower according to the season

The jasmine flowers blooming season is from May to October. From May to August, because of warm weather, flower grows faster and it contains more moisture. Thus, the jasmine flavour is lighter. Those spring to summer jasmine flowers are generally used for scenting low-grade jasmine tea, such as bottled jasmine tea. The cost of these jasmine flowers is very low.
On the other hand, there is very less rainfall in August till October. So, jasmine flower contains very low moisture and the flavour becomes more intense and richer. In this season, the cost of jasmine flower increases more than 3 times as compared to the earlier crop. Because of the intense flavour and higher cost, the autumn jasmine flowers are used for scenting the high-end jasmine tea.

Jasmine Cultivar

The cultivars of jasmine flower vary a lot. There are various cultivars from China, Vietnam, Myanmar or Thai. However, in Heng Xian county, usually one type of jasmine flower is used for scenting. It is called double petal jasmine.

Various kinds of jasmine flower

Double petal jasmine

Jasmine flower is plucked by hand

The fresh jasmine flowers are all hand-picked. In jasmine flower gardens, farmers continuously looking for the right flowers and carefully hand-pick the flowers one by one and place it in a mesh bag. They have to pick the flower buds which grown up to the right size, and only theses right flower buds are going to bloom on the same day at night and emit its natural flowery bouquet when it is mixed with tea. They cannot pick the bloomed flower because the jasmine fragrance has volatilized, and if mixed with the tea at night, the faded flowers will give sour flavour to tea. They also cannot pick the small bud which is not ready to bloom at night. Small flower bud does not open even if it is mixed with green tea.

The flower in the middle is the right size. The bloomed flower is not suitable.

The ideal jasmine flower which is at the right timing for plucking

The two flowers in the middle are at the right timing for plucking. The smaller flowers will be ready for plucking in one to two days’ time.

Jasmine flower blooms on the same day

In the afternoon around 4pm, the farmers will bring the jasmine flowers to the Heng Xian jasmine flower market. It is an open market with fair trade practice. The trading rate is incorporate with the online apps so that both farmers and buyers could understand the market rate at once. The manufacturers need to decide quickly if they wish to purchase certain quantity as the jasmine flower will be used on the same day. Those flowers will be immediately transferred to the jasmine scenting factory and used immediately. The freshness is crucial for jasmine production.

Jasmine flower market in Heng Xian County