by Lisa Richardson

Jasmine tea is an old form of scented tea which is flavored using jasmine flowers. The jasmine plant is commonly found throughout Asia and is used in many decorative Asian motifs. The jasmine flower is also unusual in that it only opens at night. Jasmine tea is very common in China.

Jasmine tea features a combination of the jasmine flower and tea leaves. Depending on the blend, there may be both flowers and tea in the final brewing version. Other times, the flowers are removed after they are kept stored with the tea leaves for a time, allowing the tea leaves to absorb the scents and flavors of the jasmine flowers. In the traditional process, the flowers are harvested during the day and allowed to open at night, when they are used to cover tea leaves for maximum scenting and flavor absorption.

Jasmine tea has a naturally strong floral scent, as well as the underlying flavor, as well as health benefits, of the tea used as the base. Usually green tea is used to serve as the tea base, but oolong tea is used as well for other jasmine blends.

Jasmine tea is ubiquitous in Asia and is also readily available in both tea bag and loose form throughout the world, including the United States. Jasmine tea is commercially popular, as well, making it one of the more common international tea varieties to be on the market.

There is also a herbal version of jasmine tea which uses only jasmine flowers, leaving out the tea leaves. This version, however, is less popular than the common blended version.