I'm Making Jasmine Infused Tea

[Diane Lane]

Well, the poor man's (or woman's) version of it. I don't have actual tea leaves, just tea bags for now, but this is the first time I'm trying this out. I was reading up on jasmine tea and how it's made, and since I have a jasmine plant, I decided to try infusing my green tea bags with the scent from my jasmine flowers. If it works, I'll buy some nice green tea leaves and try it again.

The bags have been infusing with the flowers since yesterday. I'm going to get some more blossoms in a bit, and check out the bags to see what's happening. If they're ready (it can take as little as 24 hours, according to this article http://www.teatulia.com/tea-101/what-is-jasmine-tea.htm), I'll 'fire' them in the oven, to remove any dampness, before I use them. Then, I'll start a 2nd batch with the new blossoms I obtain today. If I like the results, I might consider trying to make my own earl grey at some point.

 

[Berties]

Very interesting,keep us upto date with your progresses ,it's one thing I have never considered doing,good on you!

 

[DancingLady]

That sounds fun. I bet you can get an even better jasmine flavor when you infuse them yourself. My guess is it will work better with loose leaf tea though. Hope you get a chance to try that sometime too since you have the plant.

 

[Diane Lane]

So far, I don't have enough jasmine flowers to overcome the scent of the green tea. I had never realized how strong the scent of the tea was. There are more flowers every day though, and I might steal some star jasmine from across the street and add that. I'm only using 6 tea bags, so hopefully soon, it will be enough. I definitely would prefer to use loose tea, so will do that in the future.

 

[Diane Lane]

Ok, I pulled out the flowers, since they were starting to expire. The tea bags have a milder smell that they did before the infusion. For some reason, those bags were very strong, so maybe that's why the infusion took longer than I had anticipated. They are Japanese green tea bags, maybe that's why. Now the tea bags have a gentle jasmine scent!! The experiment was a success . I haven't tried making tea with them yet, but I will later. It's been too rainy to collect more flowers, but I will as soon as I can, and start a new batch. I'll definitely work on getting some loose green or oolong tea or tea leaves, so I can experiment with those, as well.

 

[Food4thought]

This article on edible flowers - http://www.wildfoodandrecipes.co.uk/2010/06/ultimate-guide-to-edible-wild-and.html - recommends using honeysuckle flowers in tea. It's supposed add an amazing honey taste. I'm going to try this.

In the same article there are other flowers mentioned as being good in tea, and of course it is possible to drink floral infusions on their own, without needing to add them to green tea or black tea.

 

[Diane Lane]

This article on edible flowers - http://www.wildfoodandrecipes.co.uk/2010/06/ultimate-guide-to-edible-wild-and.html - recommends using honeysuckle flowers in tea. It's supposed add an amazing honey taste. I'm going to try this.

In the same article there are other flowers mentioned as being good in tea, and of course it is possible to drink floral infusions on their own, without needing to add them to green tea or black tea.

I keep forgetting, I want to try to propagate some honeysuckle either from my neighbor, or from the park/trails near here. I was just there yesterday, and forgot. It smells heavenly, and if I'd realized I could add it to my tea, or use it on its own, I'd have taken care of this a long time ago. Thanks so much @Food4thought, for sharing. It's considered invasive in some areas, so be careful. If I do propagate it, I'll do it in containers, just to be safe, although there are worse things than honeysuckle run wild, in my opinion. The jasmine-infused tea came out very mild, which I like, and I'm really enjoying it. I wondered about whether or not I could add in some gardenia, so I'll have to look into that, as well. I sure don't want to poison myself or another .