Jasmine Dragon Pearl

🍵 Tea Name Jasmine Dragon Pearl (Mo Li Long Zhu)

📍 Terroir & Origin

• Precise Origin: The structural foundation of this tea (the green tea base, or Maocha) is still meticulously sourced from the core high-mountain tea gardens of Panxi Town, Fuding City, Fujian Province at an elevation of around 800 meters. However, the jasmine flowers that impart its soul-captivating fragrance are pinpointed to the core sun-facing flower fields of Hengxian County, Guangxi—globally renowned as the "Capital of Jasmine."
• Elevation & Environment: The high-mountain mist and slightly acidic red soil of Panxi Town accumulate abundant amino acids in the tea base, laying the foundation for a brisk, fresh liquor. Hengxian, Guangxi, on the other hand, is located south of the Tropic of Cancer, receiving exceptionally intense sunlight, abundant rainfall, and boasting selenium-rich soil. This highly humid, hot, and sun-drenched microclimate produces plump jasmine buds with an incredibly high concentration of aromatic essential oils, resulting in a bold, soaring fragrance.
• Tea Cultivar: Crafted from 100% pure Fuding Dabaicha (Fuding Large White). Its buds are plump, thickly covered in white trichomes (down), and possess a porous cellular texture, perfectly capable of absorbing and locking in the aggressive, bold aroma of Hengxian jasmine.

🌱 Plucking Standards

• Plucking Time: The fresh leaves for the tea base are strictly plucked in early spring, before the Qingming Festival (between the Spring Equinox and Qingming), to capture extreme tenderness. The jasmine flowers must wait until the Sanfu dog days in mid-summer (between Minor Heat and Major Heat), specifically harvested between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM. At this time, the heat in Hengxian is at its peak, and the buds are swollen to their absolute limit under the scorching sun.
• Plucking Requirements: The tea base follows the strictest pure single-bud standard, requiring uniform and robust buds. The jasmine requires picking only "mature buds" (known as "tiger claws" or "rock sugar buds") that are pure white, tightly closed, but guaranteed to bloom that night. Any immature green buds or rain-soaked flowers are strictly rejected.

🔥 Processing Techniques

• [Step 1] Green Tea Base Creation: The single spring buds undergo light withering and high-heat pan-firing (Shaqing). While hot, the tea master hand-rolls them into tight, round pearls. They are then dried to a moisture content of about 5%, creating the "Dragon Pearl base," which is sealed in a dedicated cold storage until mid-summer.
• [Step 2] Flower Preparation & Mixing: On a summer night, when the Hengxian jasmine naturally opens to slightly release its fragrance (corolla slightly open like an "umbrella handle"), the flowers are mixed with the tea base at a heavy ratio (e.g., 1:1.5 tea-to-flower ratio). The dry pearls act like a sponge, greedily devouring the high-concentration aromatic compounds released by the flowers.
• [Step 3] Scenting & Heat Dissipation (Tong Hua): The resting tea-flower mixture generates substantial heat. When the pile temperature reaches 40℃-45℃, the tea master must stay up all night to perform "Tong Hua" manually with a wooden rake. They spread the pile thin to cool it down and replenish oxygen, reviving the jasmine to continue emitting fragrance and strictly preventing the high heat from cooking the petals.
• [Step 4] Cycling & Aroma Lifting (Ti Hua): Once the flowers' fragrance is exhausted, the spent petals are sifted out (Qi Hua), and the moisture-laden tea is baked at a low temperature to dry. To match the bold characteristics of Hengxian jasmine, this process typically requires five to six complete scenting cycles. The final step uses a small amount of premium double-petal fresh flowers; after mixing, the tea is sealed immediately without baking. This is "Ti Hua" (Aroma Lifting), completely activating the sky-high, vibrant aroma upon brewing.

🍃 Tasting Notes

• Appearance: Tightly rolled, round pearls of uniform size, densely covered in silvery-white down. The dry tea is flawlessly clean, strictly adhering to the traditional standard of "seeing no flowers, only smelling the fragrance."
• Liquor: Upon pouring water, the liquor presents a bright, transparent yellowish-green (apricot green), as clear as a mountain spring.
• Aroma & Taste: * Aroma: The instant boiling water hits the leaves, a highly penetrating, soaring, and domineering Hengxian jasmine fragrance rushes into the nasal cavity, as intense as the mid-summer sun. The middle note is a fierce fusion of the pekoe tea aroma and the floral scent, and the base note is full of tension. The aroma is extremely enduring, remaining potent even after multiple steeps.
  • Taste: The mouthfeel is brisk, mellow, and highly impactful. The sweet freshness of the green tea is wrapped in layers of rich floral fragrance, and the tongue can feel the thick mouthfeel brought by abundant amino acids. After swallowing, the throat resonance is deep, and the sweet aftertaste (Hui Gan) is fierce and long-lasting.

🫖 Brewing & Storage

• Recommended Brewing: [Clear straight glass or White porcelain Gaiwan] / [80℃-85℃ / 175℉-185℉ purified water] / [3g-5g of tea] / [Steep for about 1 minute for the first brew to let the pearls unfurl and release the bold floral aroma; add 15-20 seconds for each subsequent steep].
• Storage & Shelf Life: Highly susceptible to absorbing odors and moisture. It must be placed in a thickened aluminum foil bag with all air expelled, kept strictly sealed, away from light, and moisture-proof, and stored independently in the refrigerator (0℃-5℃). The optimal tasting period is within 36 months from production; drinking it as early as possible is recommended to experience its peak "vibrant high-freshness."