This is a perfect tea for a gray, drizzly day like today. Or, for that matter, an icy winter day. In my cup this morning is a garden bouquet – a white tea that has been delicately scented with jasmine blossoms. It is called Jasmine Silver Needles.
I have read that it is customary to serve jasmine tea to guests to welcome them to your home. What a lovely way to welcome someone.
The tea buds are plucked in early spring and processed as white tea. The buds remind me of little pea pods. Once the jasmine plants get ready to bloom, the flower buds are plucked in the early morning and kept cool all day. As early evening approaches, the flower buds are mixed with the tea buds. As the night blooming jasmine flowers open, the tea buds absorb their scent. This process is repeated every day over the course of a week. So, a lot of work goes into creating this beautiful, unique tea.
I steeped the tea for 3 minutes in 180 degree F water. Another name for this tea could be Jasmine Silver Swords. What do you think?
A candy sweet, floral aroma greeted me the moment I lifted the lid of my glass teapot. The pale, straw-colored liquor is quite sweet and softly floral, allowing the mellow whisper of white tea to come forward as well.
As I sat quietly and sipped my tea, I thought about how many times we can get lost in our thoughts and, at those times, we aren’t really fully inhabiting our bodies. You know that spacey, kind of out of it feeling you can get? Yup, you’re not fully in your body. You’re off somewhere else, in the inner space of thought energy.
There are many ways, exercise being one of them, that can bring us back into our bodies and away from the hamster wheel of thoughts running through our minds. Sipping and appreciating a delicious cup of tea is another way. What do you do to bring yourself back into your body? I meditate and do yoga and have even been learning T’ai Chi again. And, of course, I drink tea!
Have a great week, dear tea friends!
“And the day came when the risk [it took] to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
~Anais Nin
Art and Tea 
Mmmmm nice tea for the cold weather; sounds good.
Karen:
Jasmine teas are some of my favorite. You can bet I’ll have some in my next tea order. 🙂
I remember a Jasmine tea from Summer 2010 that you listed as one of your favorites. It could have been # ZJ94 Jasmine Silver Needles, but I’m almost positive it was #ZJ98 Jasmine Downy White Pekoe. I really wanted to try #ZJ98, but it sold out before I purchased it. Did you review it here? Every once in a while there’s a tea that I am sorry I missed, and Downy White Pekoe was one of them. I hope it can be restocked in the future. {sigh} Jasmine Silver Swords is a great name, but it reminds me of another tea I miss from about five or six years ago. A China green called Sword of the Emperor. What a truly memorable tea! I will search for more great China greens with my next order.
Again I ask you where did you get that nice tea cup… I really like it.
That is one of the best quotes I can remember you posting. It is the perfect quote for this tea, and in life. Thanks Karen. 🙂
I did review the Jasmine Downy White Pekoe, Scott, on January 17, 2009. You can search on my blog using the word “jasmine” and it should come up. That little teabowl is part of a set of 4 that I purchase from In Pursuit of Tea a couple of years ago. Glad you like the quote, it’s always been a favorite of mine.
I don’t remember reading your blog 2 1/2 years ago so I read your review of #ZJ98 JDWP. Just curious, but from memory how did it compare to the newer lot of Jasmine Silver Needles?
Ouch! What happened to your shoulder in 2008/ 2009? Now that I know when your Birthday is, I’ll have to drink a cup of Jasmine tea, or a good FF Darjeeling to wish you well, in celebrating another happy, healthy year. Cheers! 🙂
My memory isn’t all that great these days, lol, but I believe that they’re very comparable, Scott. I had a frozen shoulder back in 2009. It was a very painful condition but it’s all better now, thanks for asking. Cheers!