Jasmine White by Teakan
White Tea / Straight
$25.00 for 70g
Jasmine White is part of the Teakan’s Spring 2020 Exploration Box, which I purchased at the 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival back in March. This Exploration Box consists of 5 teas and Jasmine White was 15g of the 70g.
First Impressions
Teakan is a Vancouver-based tea company that I was first introduced to at the 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival. Two lovely tea enthusiasts who came together to produce this: the Spring 2020 Exploration Box – which consists of five single origin teas that they love and packaged together to create an affordable collection of high quality teas. So of course that meant I had to purchase a box for myself (fun fact: they sold out of their boxes at the Vancouver Tea Festival!).
The collection itself comes in a cardboard carton, sealed with string. The teas are individually packaged in kraft paper pouches that are sealed and resealable. The labelling is minimalist – white with black printed text. The front side features the name, origin, type of tea, harvest time and weight. The back has steeping instructions, tasting notes, and a QR code to use that leads you to their website for more information.
Jasmine White comes from Lincang, Yunnan, China. It’s a scented white tea (silver needle, to be exact) and was harvested in spring of 2019. The tea leaves are fuzzy and are heavily scented with jasmine – it just has a nice floral note to it. Quite inviting and I love jasmine, so what’s not to love about a white tea with jasmine?
Preparation
Teakan recommends steeping Jasmine White in 95°C (203°F) water. I opted to use 93°C (200F°) water. For western style steeping, it’s a 25 second steep. For gongfu style, it’s 5 seconds. I opted to do 25 seconds because by the type I filled the teapot and put the kettle back onto its base and checked up on the leaves, it was much longer than 5 seconds.
First Taste
Jasmine White steeps to a very pale yellow after a 25 second steep. The aroma is very sweetly floral with the jasmine. The tea itself is very light – it has some sweet floral notes, something fresh and inviting in the background. Zero bitterness or astringency, which I didn’t expect to have any issues with such a short steep. The flavour is pleasant, and there’s a mild vegetal note that lingers on the tongue.
A Second Cup?
With any single origin tea, you know I’m going to resteep it again and again – Jasmine White is no exception to that. I ended up resteeping this white tea seven times (eight steeps total). I added about 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The colour of the tea became a nice golden yellow after the initial steep. The flavour stayed consistent and the tea itself was quite flavourful even by the last steep that I did.
My Overall Impression
I loved Teakan’s Jasmine White. I really enjoyed the flavour of the tea, since I do adore jasmine teas. The tea leaves stood up quite nicely to being resteeped, and it just showed off the quality of the leaves themselves in how well they did. I would definitely recommend resteeping this tea as much as humanly possible just to get all of that beautiful flavour out of it. I would pair this honestly with any meal or dessert – it can lend itself to being a contrast with a savoury meal (and adding some lightness to a heavy meal) or just pair well with the sweetness of dessert since this tea is sweet, but it won’t overpower cakes or pastries.
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