Teavivre, Jasmine Bi Luo Chun Green Tea

Teavivre Description:
After the Bi Luo Chun Green Tea is made, they will be put together with large numbers of jasmine flower in a room. That’s why this tea carries a heavy jasmine fragrance. When brewed, it taste refreshing with sweet aftertaste.

My Review:
This tea has three things going for it before I even open the package. First, it is Teavivre - one of my very favorite tea providers. Second, it is Bi Luo Chun - one of my very favorite green teas. And third, this is jasmine. Before tasting Teavivre's high quality offerings, I did not like jasmine, but they do it right. Their jasmine premium dragon pearls are crazy good.

With that introduction, it sounds like this tea almost doesn't have to work to get a good review. You never know something could still go horribly wrong.

Opening the sample releases the scent of jasmine. As always, it is very pleasant and natural. It is rather strong though.

I poured the contents on a plate and was surprised. The Bi Luo Chun I have reviewed before was long twisted curls of loose leaf. This is rolled tight like a mix of dragon pearls and tieguanyin. I see a couple petals of jasmine left over from the scenting process. The color is olive green with silver streaks.

The sample is about 7g so I chose to divide it in half and save some for another day. Into the press it goes with 185F filtered water. The steep was two minutes.

The dance during steeping was pretty interesting. The pellets fell to the bottom and bubbled like an aquarium airstone. After a few moments some of the leaf began to rise while the pellets unfurled and waved in the joy of release.

Then, and this was awesome, some of the whole leaves began to rise up. It reminded me of an old Saturday matinee monster movie. I could hear Godzilla roar in my head while watching. It still resembles a sea monster once safely beached on a plate. Definitely one of my favorite steeping shows in a long time.

I recommend a clear teapot so as not to miss this display.

The liquor is golden and clear. As the scent suggests this is more heavily scented than most of the other jasmine teas I have tried from Teavivre, with the exception of Silver Jasmine Green Tea.

Even though this is fairly strongly scented, it is not over the top, and it tastes natural. I find with 3g of leaf and the two minute steep in a 10oz cup this is a bit drying and brisk. I like the briskness but if you don't, I would recommend starting with a one minute steep and adjust from there. Lowering the temperature a little would help tame it as well.

I can taste the tea beneath the jasmine, especially late in the sip. It gets kind of grassy and in the aftertaste it adds a fruity element. I read one review that suggested melon. I think that sounds accurate. The aftertaste really lingers.

The cup is a little sweet. Even so, if you have a real sweet tooth, I have always thought jasmines take sweetening rather well.

You can find Jasmine Bi Luo Chun Green Tea here.