What Is Jasmine Tea? The Scented Tea Under Fruit Bubble Tea

Jasmine tea is tea dried with jasmine blossoms placed between its layers, so the leaf takes on the flowers' scent. The UK Tea & Infusions Association (UKTIA) says the result has "a light, delicate Jasmine aroma and flavour". In Fuzhou, the Chinese city the FAO calls the most important for jasmine tea, the leaf under the blossoms is green tea.

It is also the quiet tea that bubble tea menus put under fruit. Below: how the scenting works, where the tea comes from and why the craft is on heritage lists, how it tastes, and where it turns up in a bubble tea shop, under fruit and now and then under milk.

What is jasmine tea?

Jasmine tea is a scented tea. The UK Tea & Infusions Association defines it as "China tea which has been dried with Jasmine blossoms placed between the layers of tea", and lists it with Rose Congou and Earl Grey among the flavoured and scented teas. It comes from the same plant as every other tea, Camellia sinensis.

In Fuzhou, the raw materials are "refined green tea leaves and high-quality jasmine flowers from Fuzhou", in the words of the Fujian Provincial Government. The process runs to more than ten traditional steps, among them flower nurturing, flower scenting, baking, cooling and blending. At the heart of the process, mature jasmine flowers release their fragrance and the tea absorbs it.

The green tea matters. The UKTIA explains that the length of the oxidation step, or its absence, is what gives black, green, oolong and white tea their different flavours. Green teas are "totally unoxidised", where black teas are fully oxidised. So a jasmine tea on a green base starts from a leaf that has not been oxidised at all.

Where does jasmine tea come from?

Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province on China's south-east coast. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) calls Fuzhou "the most important city in producing jasmine tea in China", and says the city is known for its jasmine because of its climate and "its invention of the tea-scenting method".

The two plants have shared the place for a long time. The FAO's records put the first jasmine planting in Fuzhou in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC to 9 AD), and by the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907) Fuzhou was one of China's major tea areas. Jasmine is mostly planted on the riverside plains and shoals, and tea on terraced fields. From the mountaintop down, the FAO describes the landscape as "tea, trees, village buildings, jasmine and the river".

The Fujian Provincial Government dates written records of how Fuzhou jasmine tea was picked and processed to the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279). In the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1911) it moved into large-scale commercial production and was sent to the royal court as a tribute tea.

Is jasmine tea on a heritage list?

Yes, on more than one. On 1 May 2014 the FAO announced the "Jasmine and Tea Culture System of Fuzhou City" as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System, one of six farming systems in China, Iran and South Korea designated together. Within China, the Fuzhou jasmine tea scenting technique is a national-level intangible cultural heritage item, in the traditional craftsmanship category.

On 29 November 2022, at a meeting in Rabat, UNESCO inscribed "Traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices in China" on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The listing is for Chinese tea making in general, and scenting is part of it: UNESCO's entry names flower-scented teas among the reprocessed teas that take China's tea products past 2,000, and the Fujian Provincial Foreign Affairs Office's report of the listing names yinzhi, scenting, among the core skills.

What does jasmine tea taste like?

Light and delicate, with the aroma of the blossoms it was dried with. Those are the UKTIA's own words for it: "a light, delicate Jasmine aroma and flavour". The jasmine comes from the scenting, and in Fuzhou's tea the leaf is an unoxidised green tea.

Why do fruit bubble teas use jasmine tea?

Because a light tea leaves room for the fruit. US bubble tea suppliers' recipe titles pair green jasmine tea with mango, and a fruit tea built on jasmine green tea puts a light, delicate tea under the fruit rather than over it. For the black tea side of a bubble tea menu, see our guide what is Assam tea.

Every TeaJoy fruit tea syrup prints a jasmine green tea flavour in its ingredients, at 1.5% to 1.9% of the syrup (1.5% in the passion fruit and mango syrups of our Fruit Tea Kit), and does bubble tea contain tea sets out the form the tea takes in each of our drinks.

Can you have jasmine tea with milk?

Yes. Jasmine milk tea is a bubble tea drink: US suppliers' recipe titles include a boba jasmine milk tea and a green jasmine wintermelon milk tea. Built on a light, delicate tea rather than a fully oxidised black one, it makes a lighter milk tea than the classic, and how light is down to each shop's recipe.

Questions people ask

Is jasmine tea green tea?

In Fuzhou it is. The Fujian Provincial Government lists the raw materials of Fuzhou jasmine tea as refined green tea leaves and jasmine flowers from Fuzhou. The UK Tea & Infusions Association's definition says "China tea" dried with jasmine blossoms, so check the pack for the leaf.

Is jasmine tea flavoured or scented?

Scented. The UKTIA groups jasmine with Rose Congou and Earl Grey among the flavoured and scented teas, and its definition describes jasmine blossoms placed between the layers of tea as it dries, so the tea takes its aroma from the flowers themselves.

Why is Fuzhou famous for jasmine tea?

For its climate and for scenting. The FAO credits Fuzhou with "its invention of the tea-scenting method", says jasmine has been planted there since the Western Han Dynasty, and has listed the city's jasmine and tea system as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System since 2014.

Fruit teas to try

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