Jasmine Green (Formerly Monkey King) ~ Numi

Jasmine Green is scented three times using a traditional Chinese jasmine scenting method. I’m excited to finally get a chance to review a tea produced this way.

Numi has always been a favorite of mine when it comes to well-produced CTC. I’ve also tried one of their Pu-erh Tea Bricks (ie. orthodox loose leaf) and found it to be delightful. I completely endorse their tea and have yet to try anything they’ve put out that I legitimately didn’t like. I had put off trying Jasmine Green since Numi tends to be fairly expensive for bagged tea. Yesterday I spotted this one on sale in the Health Food section of Kroger’s and nabbed it. ;)

I photographed Jasmine Green’s liquor next to a bottle of vegetable oil to give you a truer sense of its adorable yellow-crayon coloration. In scent, Jasmine Green closely resembles a Jasmine Pearl, especially similar to TeaSource’s Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearl. Basically any other scent that might have been present from the Green tea is drowned out by a panacea of jasmine blossom. Since Jasmine Green is a broken leaf, its texture emerges very thin. In taste, the floral jasmine also tends to drown out other distinctions. Since the Chinese Green used is lacking in a distinctive flavor (it is noted to be organic), and the pluck isn’t mentioned, I’d venture to say they’re not using a Hao Ya or a Mao Jian, but rather a cheaper Green native to Hunan.

1. Aroma – 94
2. Taste – 87
3. Texture – 88
4. Spunk – 90
5. Price – 89
6. Availability – 88
7. Appearance – 91

Mean score – 90%