Whence
Jasmine tea
Drink

Where does Jasmine tea come from?

Jasmine tea comes from Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province in south-east China. The city is famous for inventing the method of scenting tea, usually green, with fresh jasmine blossoms, and it has been called the City of Jasmine since the Song dynasty.

Flowers that open at night

Tea leaves are picked in early spring and stored until the jasmine blooms in late summer. The flowers, usually Jasminum sambac, are picked by day while still tightly closed and kept cool. As they begin to open, at around nine at night, they are layered with the dry tea and left for about a day while the leaves absorb their scent. Then the flowers are removed and the tea is dried; top grades are scented six or seven times.

The City of Jasmine

People in China have grown jasmine for over 2,000 years. Fuzhou's records say it was planted there as early as the Western Han dynasty, and by the Tang the area was a major tea region too. Jasmine grows on the riverside plains and tea on the slopes above, in a landscape built in levels. In 2014 the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization named Fuzhou's jasmine and tea culture a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System.

Why people say Thailand

Jasmine is loved all over South and Southeast Asia. Jasminum sambac is native to Bhutan and India, it is the national flower of the Philippines, and in Thailand jasmine is the symbol of Mother's Day. Jasmine tea is made in other places too, among them Okinawa in Japan and Vietnam. But scenting tea with the flowers began as a Chinese craft, and jasmine tea spread widely only under the Qing dynasty, when China began exporting tea to the West in large quantities.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org › Jasmine tea ↗ · fao.org › en ↗ · fao.org › en ↗ · en.wikipedia.org › Jasminum sambac ↗

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