This a tea to drink at any time of day and it even goes well with meals. For an extra touch of sweetness you can even add some sugar, although make sure it is always in crystal form as opposed to granulated. Also known as Jasmine tea, Flower tea has many different types and tastes. Most are sweet and are good to clean out toxins while offering a great taste. As the name implies flower tea blossoms in the cup while offering that wonderful exquisite aroma.
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Tea enriched with the fragrance of jasmine flowers has been a favorite since the Southern Song dynasty. Jasmine, a native of the Persian Gulf area, was brought to southern China sometime before the third century A.D., according to a Chinese botanist of that time.
The sweet-smelling jasmine blooms open only at night. The flowers, plucked in the morning when they are freshest, are kept in a cool place until nightfall. Then, just as they are about to open and release their fragrance, they are piled in next to previously heaped piles of heat-dried green tea leaves. The loose, dry leaves then absorb the fragrance.
After several hours, when the piles of the start to heat up, the leaves are spread out and re-piled for another round of scenting. Ordinary grades of tea are scented two or three times, special grades up to seven times.
In some places this scenting is done in wooden chests, with layers of flowers alternating with those of leaves. Much of the labour of piling the leaves has now been taken over by mixing machines and electric driers, so that tea of more uniform quality and a more accessible price can be produced.
The Fuzhou area in Fujian province is the most famous producer of Jasmine tea. The jasmine shrub grows particularly well along the Min River, where fields of it fill the evening air with fragrance.
There is a proverb in Chinese
A daily cup of tea or more, keeps you out of the pharmacy.
Polyphenols have been found to increase white blood cells, the "soldiers" which fight infection in the human body. Tea extract is one of the main ingredients in a medicine now widely used with a high rate of success in China to counteract the reduction in white blood cells which accompanies radiation therapy.
A study of Jasmine tea by the Fujian Institute of Traditional Medicine and Pharmacology found that tea heightened certain functions of the white blood cells in mice. Soviet researchers say that tea helps the body excrete harmful radioactive strontium 90 before it settles in the bones. Chinese sources say tea can help absorb strontium 90 even after it has lodged in the bones.
Research indicates that tea may work against heart attacks, strokes and thrombosis.
Tea contributes to this in several ways. Firstly it does this in a general
way through its role as a gentle stimulant to the heart and circulatory system.
Secondly, it strengthens and keeps the blood vessel walls soft. Thirdly, there
is evidence that the phenols in tea inhibit the absorption of cholesterol in
the digestive tract, which could help decrease the cholesterol in the bloodstream.
Fourthly, it may decrease the blood's tendency to form thrombi, or unwanted
clots. Often several of these functions operate together against a stoke or
heart attack. Strokes and thrombosis often occur because the blood vessels
have lost their elasticity. Rutin has long been prescribed to keep these walls
soft.
Tea has turned out to be a double-barrelled threat to tooth decay for both the polyphenols (tannin) and the fluoride it contains. Polyphenols tend to reduce the formation of plaque, while fluoride strengthens tooth enamel so that it can resist decay.
Considerable research is being carried out on the role of tea drinking in preventing cancer. Out of 25 papers related to health presented at the Hangzhou Symposium, seven reported on research on cancer and tumors. Green tea seems to get the best results, with Lung Ching preferred. Stomach cancer, the number one cause of death in Japan, is at its lowest rate in Shizuoka prefecture along the coast southwest of Tokyo. One explanation is that Shizuoka is a tea-growing district and its inhabitants drink large amounts of green tea.
Tea has some effect against cancer because it inhibits the formation or action of cancer-causing substances. Tea may block the action of nitrosamines which can cause cancer, said Dr. Han Chi, and associate professor at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Hygiene under the Chinese Academy of Preventative Medicine. In a test of 145 types of tea, she and her colleagues rated green tea highest, with a blocking rate of 90 percent. Brick, Jasmine, oolong, and black tea followed in that order.
Another way tea may help fight cancer is through preventing cell mutation. The antioxidation actions of the polyphenols in green tea inhibit mutation of the DNA in healthy cells, which can cause them to become cancer cells.
Long ago in China, tea was an ingredient in immortality potions favored by the Taoists, who were keen on that subject. Still today, perhaps as an echo of those beliefs, claims are made that tea drinking helps one to live to a ripe old age. While it is no magic fountain of youth, some of its benefits can be said to contribute to longevity (stimulation of bodily functions, strengthening the immune system, reducing the chance of heart disease and improving stomach functions). The fluoride in tea can strengthen bones and help ward off osteoporosis in the same way that is strengthens dental enamel.
You can use small cloth tea bags and simply pour two or three tea spoons of the leaves inside the bag, twist it closed and place it in the cup. Alternatively if you do not use tea bags, simply add the leaves to the cup and let them settle in the bottom, this is “The Chinese way”. With the latter, not only do you enjoy the taste and aroma of the tea, but you also get to see the wonderful display of the leaves and how they “blossom” when they come in contact with the water.
The Water :
An important role in making a nice cup of tea is the quality of water.
The quality of water will affect the way the tea leaves dissolve in and therefore
the quality of the tea. Lu Yu said “spring water was best, followed by river
water, and then well water”. The amount of minerals in the water seems to have
been an important consideration. However, for most people nowadays the problem
is that it’s
practically impossible to find such 'natural' water that is unpolluted. As for
tap water, that is often highly chlorinated. The best option therefore is one
of the various types of bottled spring water, now available everywhere.
Drinking Tea is an exquisite and traditional ancient Culture that has lasted for over 5000 years; drinking Tea is indeed a Way of Life. Enjoy the ritual of preparing it as much as drinking it. Drink the tea with all your senses; sight, touch; taste; and smell. They all play an important part in the tea drinking experience.
Instructions on how to prepare a nice cup of tea:
1. Use fresh cold water. If you are using tap water, let the cold tap run for awhile first to avoid flat-tasting water. Never make tea with water from the hot tap.
2. While the water is heating, get the tea things ready. (We suggest using porcelain/chinaware
cups to make Jasmine teas). A small porcelain cup is preferable to a large
one, as the amount of boiling water used in a large one may “stew” the leaves
and results in flat-tasting tea.
3. Warm the porcelain cup by rinsing it with hot water.
4. Just before the water in the kettle boils, empty the cups and add tea.
5. An optional step before adding boiling water to tea is called “rinsing the tea leaves.” After the tea leaves have been added to the porcelain cup, pour in a little boiling water and drain it off immediately.
6. Finally, do not use boiling water, but pour the 90 degrees water into the porcelain cup until is it half full and then cover with the lid. The Chinese don’t use a tea cosy to keep the porcelain cup warm , as they believe that it causes the leaves to stew, making them bitter and putting the chemical elements out of balance.
7. After 3 to 5 minutes pour more water into the porcelain cup filling the other half of the cup. The best time to start drinking the tea is in the next 1 to 2 minutes. Let the tea stand. The best tea is made by infusing for a short time rather than steeping for a longer period. Very fine tea only needs to stand for an extremely short time.
8. Rinse cups with hot water.
9. Never use cream. The tannin causes cream to curdle. Milk is sometimes used with oolong.
10. Before pouring, stir the tea or shake the porcelain cup and then let the leaves settle, Pour into cups through a tea strainer.
11. Strain off any tea left in the pot/cup into another warmed pot/cup, and cover with the tea cover. Don’t let the tea stand with the leaves in too long.
12. The second infusion. Many people say the second infusion is the best.
Jasmine Teas Regions of China:
Fujian, Fuzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing in Jiangsu province, Hangzhou and Jinhua in Zhejiang province, and in Sinchuan, Jiangsi, Anhui, and Hebei provinces.
