Jasmine White (Scented)
Jasmine White is a white tea, usually White Peony or Silver Needle grade, scented with fresh jasmine blossoms until the leaf carries a soft floral perfume. It is the gentler, more delicate cousin of the far more common jasmine green tea: the white base is quieter and sweeter, so the jasmine sits on top of hay and melon rather than over a brisk grassy green. Done well, the floral note is layered onto a genuinely good tea; done cheaply, jasmine is used to mask a mediocre base.
The base leaf should look like a real white tea, downy buds and pale leaf for a Silver Needle base or bud-and-leaf for a White Peony base, not dusty fannings. Good jasmine tea is scented by layering the tea with fresh blossoms over several nights and then removing the spent flowers, so a scattering of dried petals is fine but a heavy load of them often signals a cheaper grade leaning on visual appeal. The aroma should read as fresh, living jasmine, sweet and slightly green, not the flat, cloying note of added jasmine oil or flavoring. In the cup expect a pale, sweet liquor where the floral perfume and the soft white-tea body sit in balance, neither one drowning the other. A harsh, soapy, or perfumey finish usually means heavy-handed scenting over a thin base.
The white base comes from the Fujian heartland (Fuding and Zhenghe), while the scenting tradition centers on Fuzhou, historically the capital of Chinese jasmine tea. The jasmine itself is Jasminum sambac, and the bulk of China's flowers now come from Hengxian in Guangxi, the country's dominant jasmine-growing region. Scenting (yinzhi) is the real craft here: fresh blossoms are layered with the dried tea at night, when sambac opens and releases its fragrance, and the process is repeated over multiple rounds for higher grades. The number of scentings, not the visible flowers, is what separates a serious jasmine white from a token one.
80-85°C; the white base and the jasmine are both delicate, and hot water pushes the floral note toward soap. Western: 3 g per 200 ml, 1.5-2 minutes first infusion, 3-4 infusions, stopping short of the point where it turns bitter. Gongfu: 5 g per 100 ml in a glass or porcelain gaiwan at 85°C, 20-30 seconds first steep, ascending gently for 5-6 infusions. Glass suits this tea, both because the perfume reads beautifully and because you can watch the leaf, and a quick cool rinse is optional rather than necessary.
Quality jasmine white runs €15-40 (about $16-43) per 100 g, with Silver Needle-based versions at the top of that range and White Peony-based ones more affordable. Be wary of very cheap jasmine white that is really fannings carrying borrowed perfume.
Prices reviewed June 2026
Unlike a plain white that rewards patient aging, jasmine white is best drunk fresh: the volatile floral aroma fades over months, and a year-old jasmine tea is a noticeably quieter thing. Keep it sealed, cool, and well away from other strong odors, and treat it as a tea to enjoy within the year rather than one to cellar.
Jasmine Green (Scented)
The standard and far more common form, scented onto a green tea base; brisker and grassier under the same flower.
Jasmine Dragon Pearls
Hand-rolled jasmine green pearls; a green base again, with the same scenting craft but a rolled presentation and a more concentrated cup.
White Peony (Bai Mudan)
The most common unscented base; tasting the two side by side shows exactly what the jasmine adds and what the tea brings on its own.
Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yinzhen)
The premium unscented base used for top-grade jasmine white; delicate and bud-pure before any flower is introduced.
Jasmine sambac blossoms are picked closed during the day and only open and release their scent after dark, so scenting is done at night, with the spent flowers usually sifted out before sale. The best jasmine teas can carry an intense perfume while showing almost no flowers at all, because the fragrance lives in the tea, not in the petals left behind.