Fuijan Tea – Jasmine Tea
This jasmine tea was a bit of a mystery. The whole side of the box with English writing on it was obscured by a big sticker with the ingredients (green tea, jasmine) in about 87 different languages. It wasn’t immediately apparent therefore who actually manufactured this tea. A bit of digging has revealed that the teamonger is the Fujian Tea Import & Export Co Ltd. The Fujian province of China is renowned for its Jasmine tea so that all checks out.
Jasmine tea is one of China’s most famous tea blends and jasmine plants have been cultivated in China since about 200 BC. The jasmine flower is culturally significant as it represents eternal love and is one of the holy flowers in Buddhism.
China’s relationship with the jasmine flower attained political significance in 2011 when pro-democracy protests were nicknamed The Jasmine Revolution. Always keen to stifle democratic debate, China responded by arresting 54 activists, banning the sale of jasmine flowers and blocking the word ‘jasmine’ on social media. I imagine that the sale of jasmine tea took a bit of a nosedive too.
Fujian Tea’s Jasmine blend is a perfectly amicable example of the genre. It’s got green tea. It’s got jasmine. It smells nice. But, you know, there wasn’t much here to get excited about. It’s a sort of forgettable tea experience. It wafts past like a gentle flowery scent and doesn’t leave much of an impression. It was a bit of an elusive experience all round, really.
Today’s featured book is Illustrated Myths and Legends of China by Huang Dehai, Xiang Jing and Zhang Dinghao.
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