BEHIND THE CRAFT
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Köhler's Medicinal Plants

The tea plant is well worth celebrating for its beauty as well as for its usefulness. It's a small evergreen plant with dark, pointy leaves with serrated edges. Fragrant, delicate white flowers bloom in the Spring.

We celebrate this most important plant with a beautiful representation from Kohler's work of the late 19th century, on our Signature range of teas.

Of true historical botanical importance, Köhler's Medicinal Plants is a three-volume work by Hermann Köhler, a German chemist and physician.

A guide to the known botanicals of the time, it contains hundreds of stunning and precise illustrations, produced by a process called chromolithography, the common method of producing colour prints at the time.

FGTE20108

The Forbidden City Jasmine Blossom Green Tea x 20 Tea Bag Sachets

Net Weight: 50g

£6.00
A Chinese green tea, that has absorbed the floral fragrance of delicate jasmine blossom, is a calming and irresistible blend seeped in 1000 years of history and flavour.

The East India Company - Lifestyle

Tea

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£6.00
SPECIFICATION DELIVERY & RETURNS
Product Detail Experience How to Ingredients & Allergens
Jasmine tea has become one of the most popular green tea flavours in the west in the last few years, but actually it's 1000 years or more old, first popular in China during the Song Dynasty. Then, the best jasmine teas were reserved for the Emperor. Now, the very best jasmine tea still comes from China.

We like to remember its heritage, naming our tea after the famous Forbidden City, home to the Emperor. Although the Jasmine plant, a member of the olive family, produces a lovely fragrant white flower, it is not generally used as in ingredient, but instead only its scent. The scenting process is centuries old and it is the craftsmanship that is the critical ingredient, the difference between good and bad.
With the jasmine fields in bloom and the weather warm, the afternoon labour-intensive task is to collect only those buds that the picker judges will bloom that evening. The collected buds are layered with dried green tea leaves. The flowers reveal themselves, a heady scent fills the air and infuses into the tea leaf.

The process is repeated several times over consecutive nights to achieve the desired Jasmine scenting. A long process, but worth every moment.
A pale amber liquor in the cup

A heady aroma of jasmine rushes from the cup as soon the hot water hits the tea.

Clean on the palette with irresistible sweet floral notes.

High quality green tea and jasmine flowers are the critical ingredients, chosen by our Tea Master Lalith Lenadora.
A cup of Jasmine tea is a lovely finish to a meal - light and cleansing to the pallet and healthy too, as it contains high levels of antioxidants like all green teas.

Pairs well with citrus fruits and berries, for a light lunch.
Quantity

1 SACHET PER CUP

Temperature

200ML OF WATER AT 80ºC

Brewing Time

2-3 MINS BREWING TIME

Ingredients

Green Tea, Jasmine Flowers

Storage

Store in a cool, dry place avoiding direct sunlight and strong odours.

Stories

What is Green Tea?

Just like Black Tea, it all starts with a small ‘just-plucked’ green tea leaf, usually about 5 cm long.

The leaf pickers deliver their leaves to the local factory for immediate processing. The core difference v Black Tea - the oxidation process that darkens the leaf is completely missing. The green leaf remains… green.

Step 1 - ‘Withering’: the whole leaves are spread out in warm air for up to a day to reduce the water content by about 10 to 20%. The leaves literally wilt and starts to lose some of its vibrant colour.

Step 2 - ‘Steaming/Pan Frying’: The critical ingredient to produce Green Tea. After withering, the wilted team is steamed or pan fried to destroy the enzymes that would otherwise be the catalyst for oxidation.
Step 3 - ‘Rolling / Shaping’: the soft leaves are shaped to requirement, either on a machine or by hand. This is where the world of green tea explodes in creating many unique teas, where a specific village may craft the tea to a characteristic and ownable shape. What emerges maybe the very large and thin leaves of Dragon Well Green Tea or the tight bullets of Gunpowder Tea.

Step 4 - ‘Drying’: the process varies from producer to producer and is sometimes integral to the shaping process. But in a nutshell, the Green Tea is heated in pans or ovens to remove remaining water content and ensure it is dry and stable for packaging.

Our spirit delivers no ordinary products

  • FAQ

    Does green tea include caffeine and is there more or less than black tea and coffee?
    Yes it does, and it varies. All tea leaves, just like coffee, contain caffeine. Tea usually has a lower level of caffeine than coffee, which averages around 95mg for a normal cup of coffee. But it is impossible to give a precise answer, because there are so many variables at play - the length of brew time, the amount of tea used, the age of the leaf, the provenance of the leaf. Even the temperature of the water. Our best advice is to treat all tea and coffee similarly if you need to manage your caffeine intake."

    I’ve heard that tea contains theanine. What is it and what does it do?
    Tea does indeed contain theanine, which is an amino acid [the building blocks of proteins]. Tea is one of only a few sources of theanine. It represents about 1% of dry weight and is at its highest concentrate in shade-grown teas like matcha and gyokuro. Whilst not yet proven in scientific studies that would permit specific health claims to be made, it is believed by many to be able to reduce mental and physical stress, promote relaxation and a sense of well-being. But not only that, it is more recently being thought to aid cognitive function. It’s one explanation for tea’s famous ability to create calm in a crisis [the Great British solution to all problems – ‘putting the kettle on’] and to stimulate when a little boost is required.

  • Delivery & Returns

    UK Standard Delivery: £3.95
    UK Next Day Delivery (mainland UK only): £9.95 (Order before 12pm)
    International Delivery is available, please see our delivery page for details. For more information and Terms & Conditions, please see our Delivery page.

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