TeaChat

I tried Jasmine #12 last night for the first time and I am disappointed. The smell of jasmine was very strong, too strong for me. The taste was very faint as was the color - barely yellow. It was smooth however and had no astringent notes.

Given how many great reviews this tea got, I wonder if I brewed it incorrectly. I am a newbie to greens and oolongs.

I used fresh boiled water that I cooled a little by pouring it between couple of vessels a few times - I don't have a thermometer. I used about 1.5 teaspoons of pearls for 11 oz of water (that's the size of my pot) and brewed it for 5 mins per Adagio's instructions. I did a second steep almost immediately after the first and found the resulting tea identical to the first steep.

Should I be doing something differently? Or just accept that this particular tea is not for my taste?

Hi Russiansoul,
Jasmine 12 is my favorite tea! Here's how I like it --
I use 12 pearls in my IngenuiTea, or 6 pearls for an 8-oz. cup. On the first steep, water is little less than boiling and steeped for 4 minutes. The next 2 steeps, increase temp a bit and add a minute more for each (5 and 6 minutes respectively). The 4th steep is rather boring and I only go that far with it if I'm making a large batch of iced tea and want to blend all 4 steepings together.

Try that and see what you think before giving up on it.

Thank you, daughteroftheKing! I'll try that.