Jasmine tea is the most popular flavored tea in the world. Chinese tea gardeners have been producing this delicacy for at least 700 years. Though jasmine tea is already considered a blend, it is often used as the base for additional blends because of the popularity of the jasmine tea base. Jasmine tea is mild and slightly sweet, making it perfect for combining with other flavors, like vanilla.
Jasmine tea is created by plucking the jasmine blooming tea balls blossoms just as they are beginning to bloom and adding them to the tea leaves at night to ensure the best infusion of the aroma and fragrance. In most cases, green tea is used as the base for jasmine tea. To make vanilla jasmine tea, the tea is infused with vanilla bean or vanilla flavoring after the infusion of the jasmine blossoms. While vanilla jasmine tea is most often made using green tea, it can be found in black, white and oolong tea varieties, too. The type of jasmine tea used for the base will affect the flavor, caffeine content and health benefits of the vanilla jasmine tea.
While China is still the largest producer of jasmine tea, in part because the Chinese are such large consumers of all varieties of jasmine tea, you can find vanilla jasmine and other jasmine teas produced in nearly every tea producing country in the world. There are Formosa vanilla jasmine teas from Taiwan, Darjeeling and Assam vanilla jasmine teas from India and Ceylon vanilla jasmine teas from Sri Lanka.
Black Vanilla Jasmine Tea – Vanilla jasmine tea made from a black tea base will have a bold flavor and produce a rich liquor. You’ll find this tea to be complex in flavor, with many variances, depending upon the variety of black tea used as the tea base. This is a sweet blend of tea, perfect for serving with dessert. Black vanilla jasmine tea will have the most caffeine of any vanilla jasmine blend.
Green Vanilla Jasmine Tea – Vanilla jasmine tea made from green tea will produce a much lighter liquor, often pale amber or green in color. This tea will be milder in flavor with a very natural taste. Because of the lightness of the tea, the vanilla and jasmine flavors will be much more prominent. The region of the world in which the green tea is grown will affect the flavor of the tea. Green vanilla jasmine tea will have less caffeine than black vanilla jasmine tea and will offer many health benefits.
Green tea is a very powerful source of anti-oxidants, which are important to our health because they combat free radicals in our bodies. Free radicals are created as a by-product of our digestive processes. While they are naturally occurring, they are oxygen containing molecules that have the power to damage our cells and DNA. However, a diet rich in anti-oxidants, like those found in green and white tea, help rid our bodies of these free radicals before they can damage our bodies. For many years, Asian cultures, where green tea is a staple beverage, have shown far lower incidences of serious illnesses like heart disease and many forms of cancer. This led to research on green tea’s health benefits. Since then, much research has shown a strong connection with lifelong green tea consumption and a longer and healthier life.