Jasmine Tea (茉莉花茶, molihua cha)

Jasmine tea is a scented tea: a base of green tea, Camellia sinensis, layered with the fresh flowers of jasmine, Jasminum sambac, until the leaf has taken up their fragrance. Fujian, and Fuzhou above all, is its historic centre, and the tea has long been the everyday tea of northern Chinese households and of teahouses in Beijing and Tianjin, where it is called xianghua or simply huacha. It belongs to the tradition of scented teas, in which the tea is the body and the flower is a perfume added to it, and it is the tea poured as a matter of course at the Cantonese yum cha table, where it is known as heung peen.

The base is most often a green tea, sometimes a white tea or a fine bud tea, dried and held until the blossoms are ready. Jasmine flowers are picked in the afternoon while still closed and are laid among the leaf at night, when the buds open and give up their scent. The leaf and flowers are left together for some hours, the flowers are removed and replaced, and the cycle is repeated, the number of scentings marking the grade. The tea is then fired dry again so that it keeps. In the cup it is pale gold to yellow-green, with a high floral aroma over a clean, faintly bitter green-tea body. Some teas are sold with a few dried blossoms left in, and some are rolled into pearls that open in the water.

Jasmine tea is poured with dim sum, with the fried and steamed dishes of the Cantonese teahouse, and with northern snacks and pastries, and it is also served at the opening of a meal. Its structure is the reason: the light astringency of the green-tea body cuts through oil and pork fat, and the floral top note cleans the palate between dishes without competing with delicate fillings. It suits dishes of modest seasoning better than very hot or heavily spiced food, where its perfume is lost.