How Jasmine Tea is Scented
Traditional jasmine green tea is harvested, made into green tea, stored until the jasmine flower harvest, and then scented during a multi-day process. There are two ways the tea can be scented with jasmine.
In the more laborious and expensive method, fresh jasmine flowers are placed on a tray below a woven tray of tea leaves in a warm room. The jasmine flowers are replaced often, at great expense, to give the tea an ethereal, light aroma and flavor. Then, the tea is dried and packaged to be sold.
In the second, cheaper method of making jasmine green tea with real jasmine flowers, the leftover, wilted flowers from the first process are mix in with green tea leaves, allowed to impart their scent, and then separated out from the tea before the tea is dried and packaged.
Sometimes, a few jasmine flowers will remain in the tea when it is sold.
Some jasmine green teas are flavored with natural jasmine essential oil, jasmine natural flavor, artificial jasmine flavor or a mix of flower flavors. Although real jasmine essential oil is extremely expensive (one of the most expensive essential oils in the world, in fact), this flavor-scented style of jasmine green tea is considered to be inferior to the traditional jasmine green tea.