茉莉
(Mo li hua cha)

Jasmine is a delicate, floral Chinese tea, traditionally served with meals. To suffuse the tea with the scent of jasmine, the flowers are picked as they begin to bloom and layered over the tea leaves overnight; the tea quickly absorbs the jasmine aroma, leaving the petals pretty but useless; any which remain in the final product are there simply for decoration. This flavouring process is repeated with several batches of flowers.

Most jasmine tea is made with green tea or pouchong leaves, and should be brewed in the same way - use water which is very hot but not boiling, and if you are using loose leaf tea you shouldn't need more than a pinch for a cup. If you use jasmine tea bags, be warned that they generally contain several times as much tea as you need for a cup; to compensate for this, you may want to remove the bag after only a few seconds. Never add milk to jasmine tea.

Jasmine tea is the oldest known scented tea; it had its origins in the Hunnan province of China during the Sung Dynasty, more than 700 years ago. Nowadays jasmine tea is produced in Taiwan and Viet Nam, as well as China.

Information on process and history comes from http://www.healthymagnets.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/jasmineteas.htm?E+scstore

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