Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Chinese Tea-Shop
Product Description:
Golden Ring Jasmine Tea leaves are hand rolled into ring-shaped pieces. Small, round and circular in shape, they are generally made from a single bud and contain white hairs on them. After steeping the rings unravel to reveal the full green bud.
Taster’s Review:
This is a nice jasmine tea. The young leaves are rolled into ringlets, and they unfurl slowly to expose a very tender, small green leaf and a bud.
The jasmine flavor is strong with this tea. It is much stronger than I’ve experienced in a jasmine pearl. It has a sharp floral taste to it that is sweet and slightly bitter. The bitter tone hits just before mid-sip.
While I do enjoy the strong jasmine taste of this tea, I am finding this a little disappointing because I am having a difficult time tasting the tea here. I can taste slight vegetative tones in the distance, and a fresh sweetness that definitely tastes like tea, but these flavors are very slight and sometimes hard to discern.
Once the cup cools a little (still warm, but not hot), I notice that the flavors become smoother. The floral notes are more sweet and less bitter, with a creamy background note. The flavor of the tea starts to emerge with the cooler temperature.
Overall, I still enjoyed this tea despite the difficulty in distinguishing the tea flavors while hot. The jasmine is very lovely here. This would be an excellent tea for those who are really fond of strong jasmine flavors.
Editor’s Note: At the time of this writing, I was unable to connect to the Chinese Tea-Shop website. I hope that this is only a maintenance issue and not a sign that this tea shop has closed… because it’s a great company!
