Fu'an Dragon Pearl Jasmine Tea

Dragon pearl jasmine, also known as phoenix pearl jasmine, is an exceptionally fragrant green tea from China characterized by its unique pearl-like appearance and intensely floral aroma. These pearls unfurl when steeped to create beautiful whole tea leaves and a cup of pale tea that is fragrant, nuanced, and incredibly smooth with a lingering sweetness. It is considered by many tea aficionados to be the holy grail of jasmine teas. The making of dragon pearl tea is laborious: young tea leaves from Fujian province are infused with fresh jasmine flowers over several weeks during the drying process before being hand-rolled into pearls to retain the rich and floral fragrance of the infusion. Dragon pearl jasmine has a variety of grades and an exceptionally good tea is denoted by a few factors: an intense sweet floral fragrance, tightly curled balls, and streaks of white to denote that the young "white" tea leaves were used rather than bitter adult plants.

 

These hand-rolled tea leaves are from the origin of dragon pearl tea: Fu'an in Fujian province, China.