Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black & Green Teas
Where To Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
Our Jasmine Passion tea is a divine blend of green and black loose-leaf teas, passion fruit essence and jasmine blossoms. Not only does it taste great hot, it also makes a killer iced tea for those warm summer evenings.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I am finding myself in agreement with the last sentence in the above description … this Jasmine Passion Tea Blend from The Persimmon Tree makes an excellent tea served hot OR iced. I took my first few sips of this hot, but then I was distracted and my cup turned cold, and the flavor is still so good!
I generally find myself questioning why a company would combine two different leaf types as it has been done here, using both green and black teas to create the tea base. I mean, black teas are typically brewed at boiling temperatures, and green teas are typically brewed at lower temperatures (around 180°F) and are often steeped for different lengths of time. So, to appreciate fully the black tea in this blend, one would think that the tea should be brewed with boiling water for 3 minutes or so. But that temperature would – more often than not – scald the delicate green tea leaves, and three minutes? That could result in a bitter cup of green tea!
But, after tasting it, the combination works well. I brewed the tea at a lower temperature to observe the needs of the green tea leaves, and steeped it for a little longer than I would a green tea, but a little less than a typical black (2 1/2 minutes). This produced a really tasty cup of tea!
The sweet, fruity notes of the passion fruit and the exotic, floral tones of the jasmine come together in a very pleasing way. It is both fruity and floral, with the fruit notes just narrowly claiming the edge over the flower.
The black tea and the green tea play very nicely together too. The black tea is a softer taste than one might be used to with a black tea, but this is because I brewed it at a lower temperature for less time than I might normally brew a black tea. But the lighter flavor of the black allows the green tea to express itself without being overpowered by the stronger black flavors. I taste the sweet, delicate notes of the green tea, and the earthy tones of the black tea.
This tea is a really well-executed blend from The Persimmon Tree. I like it quite a bit, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to try it!
