JASMINE DRAGON PHOENIX PEARLS WHITE TEA

This is the finest grade of this popular hand-rolled tea. Each kilogram in weight is made up of 14,000 pearls. Just eight will make a half pint of tea and you can use the same leaves again for at least another brew. If you do the maths you'll find it works out at just six pence a cup for one of the finest and rarest teas in the world! The tea buds that make this tea are hand-picked from gardens found among the chains of mountains, hidden in mist close to the Fujian border with Jiangxi. Night blooming jasmine flowers are picked in the morning with the tiny petals tightly closed and stored until the evening. As the flowers open they make a popping sound and the process begins. The blossoms are placed between layers of white tea buds for four hours and in this finest grade the process is repeated seven times. Each time the spent flowers are carefully removed and each leaf is skillfully hand rolled into a tiny pearl size ball. The tea is then wrapped in silk mesh and carefully dried. I enjoy this tea made in a wine glass or our special 'Flowering Tea' teapot.