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Old 04-07-2011, 09:19 PM   #405 (permalink)
Red__Zed
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Now, as to the tea itself. This is EXTREMELY fine jasmine tea. Rishi's offering uses "dragon pearls" of excellent quality--Chinese green tea leaves that are hand-rolled into little...well, pearls. The pearls are then scented, over the course of several days, with fresh jasmine blossoms--20 lbs. of fresh jasmine blossoms are used to scent each pound of tea. This is excellent, absolutely delicious tea that, excepting the word "jasmine," has virtually nothing to do with cheaper grades of tea that are scented chemically with perfumes. It scents the whole room as it brews.
Bearing in mind that there are no bargains to be found for top-grade tea--it's never cheap--Amazon has the best price I've yet found for Rishi Jasmine Pearls, especially if your order qualifies for free shipping. It can and should be infused three times, which might take some of the sting out of purchasing, the health benefits of green tea providing the final push.
Rishi Dragon Pearls are now a part of my parents' daily routine. In addition, I made a gift of a can to a friend's mom--that can went all the way to Russia and was, predictably, received with delight and appreciation. A cousin in California, on my recommendation, went a bit hog-wild and bought four cans from Amazon--she's now a fan, too. I doubt there are any better green jasmine pearls to be found. (Seven Cups, an online purveyor of top-grade Chinese tea, has white jasmine pearls that are equally fine but very different--I like both).
Incidentally, try to brew this tea in glass as the unfurling of the pearls is extremely beautiful to watch.

Update: I just bought a new can and noticed that the brewing instructions are radically different. The suggested brewing times remain the same (3 - 4 minutes), but the amount of leaf has TRIPLED to one tablespoon and the suggested brewing temperature has decreased by 10º to 180º. Frankly, given that I get excellent results with the suggestions that are still posted on the Rishi Web site (steeping for a good minute less, though), I decided that the only concession I'll make is to drop the temperature to 185º, leaving everything else the same (the correct brewing temperature can be had very easily: pour boiling water into a large Pyrex measuring cup, then pour over the leaves). A higher concentration of scented leaf would likely gag me (as in the case of the brewing instructions for Rishi's Osthmanthus Silver Needle), plus the original instructions are MUCH more cost-effective. Tea preferences, however, are very much a matter of taste, so play with the suggested parameters, if you're so inclined, to determine yours. Keep in mind, though, that jasmine tea can become bitter if mishandled (this just passed on to me by Austin at Seven Cups), so play safe!
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