As regular readers will know recently I've received several lovely tea samples from the fabulous Basilur Tea. As I was excitedly rummaging through the tea box I found this lovely little gem. I say a gem because there is, quite frankly, nothing nicer than a Jasmine Green tea.
This evening, as my bank holiday draws to a end and I prepare to go back to work tomorrow, I wanted something extra special to enjoy. I write this, tucked up in bed with a mug of this lovely tea by my side, sipping slowly on this fragrant tea.
I am not totally sure why I am so taken with Jasmine in tea, but I truly am. I love it's lovely fresh fragrance and I love how it takes a green tea from the lovely to the sublime. However, not all Jasmine green tea's are created equally. Some are beautiful, others less so. So it is always with interest that I try a new green tea.
The first thing I'll say about Basilur's tea is that the packaging is extraordinary. It just is beyond pretty and I never tire of looking at the fabulous designs the tea comes in. It remains traditional but is by no means old fashioned. It's just lovely.
What is a bit different about this tea is that almost all of my tea from Basilur has been loose leaf tea. This tea, however, comes in a silky pyramid. Secretly I was delighted. I absolutely love silky pyramids. I love how they feel in my hands, a lovely, uniform smoothness. As a tactile person, the feel of something can be just as important to me as the aroma or taste. I think I stood a little bit too long just holding this pyramid. It's just lovely to the touch.This is, for me anyway, a tea for all senses.
As well as feeling lovely, this tea is very pretty indeed. I love the deep, lush green colour of the tea leaves and the splashes of colour from the Jasmine. The bag is also filled with a generous amount of tea, too. Ensuring that the strength of the tea will be a little stronger.
After boiling the kettle and leaving it to cool for a short while, I stood over this tea and inhaled it's beautiful, floral scent. The scent of jasmine is hard to describe, but all I can say it it's utterly beautiful and this tea just smelt wonderful. I simply couldn't wait to give this tea a try.
This blend, which comes from the companies bouquet range, is just an ideal tea to relax to and unwind with at the end of the day. I cannot sit here and say my day has been hectic, it has not! However, drinking tea that is over loaded with caffeine isn't the best thing to do at this time of day and yet I still want a warming tea and this is ideal.
The green tea enclosed within the silky pyramid is strong and robust. It has a natural, earthy flavour which I love in my green tea and which I find, for my tastes, utterly intoxicating and satisfying. I do think that because jasmine is quite a potent floral flavour it does need a strong green tea to work well and this certainly does.
I have spoken quite frequently about my intense dislike for cheaper jasmine tea's that add jasmine flavoured oil to the tea. Nothing is more acrid and difficult to drink. It is rather like drinking a bottle of perfume. However, Basilur use jasmine petal's instead of flavouing so the jasmine takes on a fresh, natural flavour.
Within the tea there is just enough flavour but not too much. It's always lovely to be able to taste the base tea as well as the jasmine. It's not nice if one cancels out the other. However, with this blend the two flavours work hand in hand to create a beautiful and tasty tea. You can still taste the base tea, yet the jasmine is strong enough to be noticed, too. It's a hard balancing act to get right but that has been achieved with this tea!
As I sip on this blend, and as I write this blog, I'm listening to George Harrison's solo masterpiece, All Things Must Pass. 'Sunrise doesn't last all morning' he is singing 'a cloudburst doesn't last all day ... all things must pass ... all things must pass away ..."
It's just a real pity that the experience of drinking this lovely blend of tea will pass. The cup is nearly empty, the tea almost gone. Basilur have created a perfect, well balanced, high quality jasmine tea. It's totally devoid of any bitterness, even as it cools. It's just about as perfect as you can get.
I am not surprised that the quality of this tea is high, it's Basilur's after all. But this tea has so many different layers, there are so many things I love about it, from it's delightful scent, mouthwatering flavour and even the silky pyramid is just lovely to experience.
As my evening draws closer to it's end, as work approaches, I can go to bed happy knowing I've had a lovely tea. And as a lady who loves her floral blends, I'm hard to impress, yet I am so impressed with this tea.
It's tea's like this that make blogging such a utter joy. I love to write, I love tea and to bring the two together over superior quality teas such as this makes me feel just about the luckiest person in the world.
And as for brand Basilur, well, I have several more samples in my tea jar and I cannot wait to see what delights await me.
But, isn't it a pity I have to work tomorrow when there is so much tea to drink?
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