Just returning to the group after a few years absence -- left when it got taken over by some real vicious jerks.

Looking for advice on finding jasmine greens... How do you rate the various grades. I don't want to pay Mao Feng prices too often but some of the mid-range ones are iffy on leaf quality. I don't have much idea what to look for. The bigger leaf ones seem stemmy and uneven.

Same for White Peony -- I'm picking up nice leaf at under $2 an ounce. Any thoughts?

Thanks
M

mandy george > wrote:
>Just returning to the group after a few years absence -- left when it got t=
>aken over by some real vicious jerks.

When was this?

>Looking for advice on finding jasmine greens... How do you rate the various=
> grades. I don't want to pay Mao Feng prices too often but some of the mid-=
>range ones are iffy on leaf quality. I don't have much idea what to look fo=
>r. The bigger leaf ones seem stemmy and uneven.

The yellow box jasmine is sort of the baseline.... it is consistent and
although it's not really very good, it's a standard point that everybody
can use as a reference.

The cheapest jasmine Upton's has is their TP70 which is actually very
inexpensive and a couple steps up from the yellow box. It's a nice large
leaf with visible jasmine flowers in it and doesn't seem to have any
artificial jasmine added. It's got some stems in there but it tastes good.

Many of the cheapies have so much artificial jasmine in there that they
smell like pancake makeup, and you can start with the best possible base
tea and ruin it by doing this sort of thing.

Probably the best jasmine I ever had came from Imperial Tea Court, it
consisted of little pearls with jasmine flower fragments throughout it.
It would take several steeps successfully.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Hi,

> Looking for advice on finding jasmine greens...

I've tried Jasmine teas from several vendors, and those I like most come
from Akira Hojo's selection:
http://hojotea.com/item_e/s01e.htm (pearls)
http://hojotea.com/item_e/s03e.htm (loose)

There's also one I like but I do not see an English page about it. The
Japanese web page is:
http://hojotea.com/item/s04.htm

It is a Jasmine pu-erh tea, with a pretty long-lasting taste in mouth.
Price is about ¥3000/100g so maybe too high for what you are looking for?

--
Julien ÉLIE

« On appelle ça une insula. C'est une maison où les gens habitent
les uns au-dessus des autres… » (Astérix)

On Tuesday, March 24, 2015 at 9:29:29 AM UTC-4, Scott Dorsey wrote:
> mandy george > wrote:
> >Just returning to the group after a few years absence -- left when it got t=
> >aken over by some real vicious jerks.
>
> When was this?
>
> >Looking for advice on finding jasmine greens... How do you rate the various=
> > grades. I don't want to pay Mao Feng prices too often but some of the mid-=
> >range ones are iffy on leaf quality. I don't have much idea what to look fo=
> >r. The bigger leaf ones seem stemmy and uneven.
>
> The yellow box jasmine is sort of the baseline.... it is consistent and
> although it's not really very good, it's a standard point that everybody
> can use as a reference.
>
> The cheapest jasmine Upton's has is their TP70 which is actually very
> inexpensive and a couple steps up from the yellow box. It's a nice large
> leaf with visible jasmine flowers in it and doesn't seem to have any
> artificial jasmine added. It's got some stems in there but it tastes good.
>
> Many of the cheapies have so much artificial jasmine in there that they
> smell like pancake makeup, and you can start with the best possible base
> tea and ruin it by doing this sort of thing.
>
> Probably the best jasmine I ever had came from Imperial Tea Court, it
> consisted of little pearls with jasmine flower fragments throughout it.
> It would take several steeps successfully.
> --scott
>
>
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Thanks so much...

Teh two jasmine greens I now have are the Upton (I really do find they are about as reliable and discerning in their offers as any of the online providers) and a pretty good tea from Wegmans. They both have that nice light hint of the jasmine and not the Earl Grey style of hit you in the taste buds. I'm still a little disappointed in them though and in general I find jasmine pearls a better overall choice. Julien's jasmine puehr sounds really intriguing though.

Anyone know of a truly standout jasmine green?

Re when I left the group -- it was when that vicious narcissist dominic tiberio and the near-psychotic space cowboy had driven a lot of people away. Shame,it was really active and had some great folk on it.