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Jasmine flowers; a Yellow tea

by Lydia Kung

Receiving new Jasmine tea samples is a sure sign of summer, even if not according to the official calendar. ​

Scenting (mostly of Green teas) began mid-May this year in Guangxi, a tea region in the southwest but also known for its many jasmine gardens. From reports I’ve gathered, the flower market is not quite as bustling as in 2019. Last year higher and higher flower pricing was the main topic, fluctuating from early afternoon to early evening on any given day. This year the focus is on lower projections, with companies exercising caution in scenting and storing Jasmine teas.

Plucked jasmine blossoms scenting the tea

Flower prices so far appear to be comparable to last year’s. A substantial part of the price is the labor cost. Growers are not willing to pick the blossoms if the market price is low.

To put this in proper perspective, 2500 to 3000 about-to-bloom jasmine buds make one kilo.

As noted above, the price of jasmine at the flower market fluctuates day to day and even over the course of one day. An average price would be about RMB35/kg or about USD5/kg.

 

Standing for the first time in a jasmine garden surrounded by bushes dappled with white, I had little idea about how flower quality is assessed. A couple of factors are:

  1. Moisture content: too high a percentage results in low aroma. This is why picking cannot be done after a rainy day.
  2. Size of the bud: if it is too small, it may not open at dusk when added to tea leaves. Overall, the buds should not be too tight.

There was a time, when Fujian was the major producer, that standards of Jasmine green teas were consistently and easily identifiable by their Fujian codes. This system was a convenient short-hand when evaluating teas. Among importers whose memories go back a while, a Yin Hao Jasmine had to have a certain look or leaf style, distinguishable from the next grade. Simply naming a tea code when conferring with another judge at a competition would put us on the same page. Going from grade to grade, from the 6th up to a 1st grade, we could be in general agreement as to what to look for.

As tea companies became privatized and more tea producers outside Fujian sent their teas to be scented each summer, the desirable “Yin Hao” appellation was applied to lower grades. Just this month I received quotes where the Yin Hao was lower than for a Chun Hao Jasmine.

The system that I still use as a mental yardstick when evaluating leaf flavor and appearance, in conjunction with price, goes something like this, based on Fujian’s Jasmines:

  • Yin Hao / Silver Tip – – – at the top
  • Chun Feng / Spring Summit
  • Chun Hao / Spring Sprouting
  • Chur She / Swallow Tongue
  • Special Grade
  • 1st through 6th grades
  • Then there are fancier styles such as Jasmine Pearls, etc.

Visual and palate memory of these grades serves well in evaluating Jasmine samples, no matter what the label shows. And even within the Fujian context, what is marked as one standard in a season might be downgraded from our perspective.

One might assume that the highest grade teas are scented first, taking precedence, with lower standards and teabag-cut teas scented later in the summer. This is only partly true. For the domestic market, there is demand for jasmine tea once the flowers begin to bloom. Consumers are eager for this next seasonal tea after spring teas. Therefore, higher grades for this market sector are scented early – – in May, and the price of the jasmine flowers is at the highest.

Exporters watch incoming orders for jasmine teas and plan the scenting schedule accordingly. For example, I have already received jasmine fannings (teabag cut) from the current season as of last week (because we have orders pending). And regardless of the grade of tea being scented, the equalizing factor is a succession of several sunny days.

For the good hand-eye coordination and skill needed to pick the jasmine just before they open, the price of jasmine buds seems a bargain. With higher grades of tea, the proportion of flowers to tea leaves goes up as does the number of times the leaves are mixed with freshly picked white blossoms, only to have them sieved out later.

At the opposite end: In parts of NYC and Brooklyn, there are Chinese take-outs that put in a free jasmine teabags with each purchase. I have not priced these for some years but around 2017, each teabag was less than 2 pennies, closer to 1.5 cents. The wholesale price a few years ago was about $15 for a bag of 1,000 teabags (no string, no tag). That was and probably still is a very competitive sector of the restaurant supply sector with razor thin margins.  (The grade here is tea dust.)  And of course, this was before the duty went up to the current rate 13.9% for Jasmine teas from China. (The tariff category is actually broader, covering all scented and flavored Green teas.)

Having these Jasmine tea samples come in reminds me how late the start was for spring on our end, and this Yellow tea’s arrival at the end of May is one example.

For the last three years, I was timid in my purchasing and then found I could not fill all our orders by winter. Prior to spring this year, I decided to be a little bolder, but then of course the pandemic rendered all forecasts very shaky.

T​he picking period is especially short for this tea. This year buds were plucked between March 20 and April 1. There is no second round of picking or processing. Nonetheless, I went ahead with my original commitment to the producer. Orders are taken before processing is completed, so there was little chance for wavering.

This is a yellow tea whose appearance does match the category name. 

The tea base is at the XueFeng (Snow Summit) Mountains in western Hunan.

The tea name is literally taken from the Chinese, Xue Lung yellow tea. ”Xue” for Snow, ”Lung” for dragon (as in Dragonwell).

The cultivar is a Taoyuan Da Yeh (big leaf), which accounts for the thick, robust buds, covered with fine down, the remnants of which are still visible in the dry budsets. The processing follows the standard: withering, de-enzyiming, covering, shaping, drying, sorting. For this tea, the defining “covering” step that transforms the budsets into a yellow tea lasts about 4 to 5 hours at a steady temperature of about 45°C.

When considering Yellow teas, there is a range wider than one might think. At one end is the better known Huo Mtn Yellow Buds, perhaps the first Yellow tea to appear in the US market. This Yellow tea closely resembles a Green tea, in dry form, at any rate. Looking only at the leaves, one might be hard pressed to distinguish it from HuangShan Maofeng from Yellow Mountain, another summit in Anhui.  At the other end of the continuum are Yellow teas that invite sip after sip because they seem similar to complex Oolong teas. One example is the Organic Simao Yellow. The dry leaves are brown and the cup is orange rather than gold.

I have noted before that only high quality raw material is used to make Yellow teas, since the covering period means more labor expended. And one might ask, what’s the point here? As one answer, we might consider how some foods are covered and braised to bring out a deeper flavor. And similarly with tea leaves enveloped or cocooned in a warm state for several hours, more aroma and flavor are coaxed out during this covered stage. So along with better raw plucking at the start, this extra step accounts for the higher price range we find for this special tea category.

 

A few Oolongs and the current season are in better sync. En route are two Ti Kuan Yins from Anxi, a trio of Single Trunk Oolongs from ChaoZhou, and a stellar one from Taiwan.

None of these Dancongs was scented. All of the fragrance we sense was inherent in the particular tree cultivar and brought out by proficient processing. These remain very flavorful when cooled to room temperature, are easy to imbibe, and a worthy splurge on warm days.

There is another Dancong that has become better known recently, Ji Lan Kan (Chicken Coop), a name that really gives no hint as to its high price. I find this one very aromatic but not offering quite as much sweetness of the three listed above.

  • Fern Stream Oolong, a wonderful example of the skill of old masters in Taiwan when it comes to roasting. What their experience brings out of the leaves is not fire but layered sweetness.

Next week: a look at some Black teas, and some thoughts about intent and place.

June 16, 2020

 

Past articles on jasmine teas: