Jasmine Dragon Pearls
Jasmine Dragon Pearls are hand-rolled balls of green tea, usually a bud-and-leaf green from Fujian or Guangxi, scented over several nights with fresh jasmine blossoms, then rolled into pearls that slowly unfurl as they brew. The quality lives in two places: the base tea under the scent, and whether the aroma comes from real repeated blossom scenting or from added oil. Done well, each pearl releases a lush, fresh floral perfume across several infusions.
Tight, uniform hand-rolled pearls that unspool into a recognizable bud-and-leaf green; the base should look like real tea, not dust. Genuine multi-scenting, where blossoms are added and removed over several nights, gives a fresh, natural floral aroma, while a flat, perfumey, or cloying scent suggests oil or a single rushed scenting. Silver-tipped, downy base material indicates a higher grade, and the jasmine should smell living rather than soapy.
Jasmine scenting is centered in Fujian, with Fuzhou the historic capital of jasmine tea, and in Guangxi (Hengxian), where jasmine is grown alongside tea. The base is typically a green tea, and the pearls are a premium hand-rolled form of the broader jasmine-tea tradition. Higher grades use earlier-picked, more tippy base tea and more rounds of fresh-blossom scenting, and the number of scentings is a real quality lever.
Western or glass: 80-85°C, 2-3 g (6-8 pearls) per 200 ml, 2-3 minutes; glass lets you watch them open. Gongfu: 85°C, 5-6 pearls per 120 ml, 20-30 seconds ascending, 3-4 infusions. Cooler water keeps the jasmine fresh and the green base from turning bitter.
Everyday jasmine pearls run €15-35 (about $16-38) per 100 g. High-grade, heavily scented, tippy-base pearls reach €40-80 (about $43-86) per 100 g.
Prices reviewed June 2026
Jasmine Green (Scented)
The broader jasmine green tea category that these pearls are the premium hand-rolled form of.
Bi Luo Chun
A naturally fruity-floral green, scented by orchard terroir rather than by added blossom.
Longjing (Dragon Well)
An unscented benchmark green, useful for tasting what the jasmine scenting is built on.
Top jasmine tea is scented by layering fresh jasmine blossoms with the tea over several successive nights, timed to when the blossoms open after dark, then removing the spent flowers; the finest grades are scented seven times or more. The flowers are not meant to remain in the final tea, so visible dried blossoms are often a sign of a lower grade rather than a higher one.