Jasmine Tea
Jasmine tea is scented tea, most often a green tea base, that has taken up the aroma of fresh jasmine blossom by physical contact rather than by the addition of a flavouring. The flowers of Jasminum sambac are laid with the dried leaf overnight and removed the following morning, and the cycle is repeated several times until the leaf carries the desired intensity.
The chemistry rests on two facts. Dried tea leaf is porous and lipophilic and absorbs volatiles readily, and jasmine blossom continues to biosynthesise and release its volatiles for many hours after picking, opening in the evening and giving off linalool, benzyl acetate, methyl anthranilate, indole, cis-jasmone and methyl jasmonate. Indole in particular gives high-grade jasmine tea its heady, almost animalic depth, and its concentration separates properly scented tea from tea sprayed with jasmine flavouring.
The base tea contributes the catechins, caffeine and amino acids of the underlying class, so a green-based jasmine tea has essentially the polyphenol profile of green tea. Traded forms are loose leaf, including the hand-rolled pearl styles, tea bag cuts, and instant extract. Leaf is insoluble; the extract dissolves in water and loses aroma readily on heating, so bottled products are formulated with aroma added back.
We source bulk Jasmine Tea from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturers are in Zhejiang and Shaanxi. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
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- Function
- Plant extract
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Twisted or pearl-rolled green leaf, free from foreign matter and live insects |
| Aroma | Pronounced fresh jasmine floral character, free from hay or musty notes |
| Infusion | Clear pale yellow-green liquor |
| Scenting rounds | Five rounds minimum with fresh Jasminum sambac blossom |
| Moisture | 7.0 percent maximum |
| Water extract | 32.0 percent minimum |
| Total polyphenols | 15.0 percent minimum |
| Caffeine | 2.0 to 4.0 percent |
| Total ash | 6.5 percent maximum |
| Residual flower and stalk | 3.0 percent maximum |
| Lead | 2.0 mg/kg maximum |
| Arsenic | 1.0 mg/kg maximum |
| Total plate count | 10000 cfu/g maximum |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
The principal grading variable is the number of scenting cycles, quoted in the trade as three, five, seven or nine rounds, with each additional round using fresh blossom and raising both intensity and price. Base tea grade is quoted alongside, since a bud-heavy silver needle base and a coarse bancha-style base give different products from the same scenting.
Physical style is the third descriptor: hand-rolled jasmine pearls, twisted leaf styles such as Yin Hao and Mao Jian, and broken leaf and fannings for tea bags. Some grades retain a few dried blossoms in the finished tea for appearance, though in traditional practice the spent flowers are removed because they turn brown and contribute a hay note. Buyers should distinguish genuinely scented tea from tea dosed with jasmine extract or synthetic aroma, since both are sold under the same name and only the former commands the price. Instant jasmine tea powder is graded on solubility and polyphenol content, and organic certified lots are produced.
Applications
- Loose leaf and bagged tea for direct brewing, the main outlet for the scented leaf
- Ready to drink bottled jasmine tea, typically unsweetened in East Asian markets
- Milk tea and bubble tea bases, where jasmine green is one of the standard flavour options
- Instant tea powders and stick packs
- Bakery, confectionery and chocolate, where milled jasmine tea supplies a floral note
- Ice cream, panna cotta and dessert flavour bases
- Cocktail and spirit infusions using the floral volatile fraction
- Flavoured blend components combined with peach, lychee and citrus
- Fragrance and personal care products using jasmine tea accords
Brands Using Jasmine Tea
Widely-distributed consumer products that list Jasmine Tea on the ingredient label.
- Numi Organic TeaJasmine Green ↗Green tea leaves are scented three times with night-blooming jasmine to make this jasmine tea.Label verified 2026-08-31
- Numi Organic TeaJasmine Pearls Loose Leaf ↗Green tea leaves are hand rolled into pearls and mated five times with fresh jasmine blossoms, producing a jasmine tea from Fujian Province.Label verified 2026-08-31
Brand names, product names and logos are the property of their owners. They appear here as published evidence that the ingredient is used, taken from the brand's own label or website. Their appearance is not an endorsement, and it does not mean the brand buys from us or from any manufacturer listed on this site.
China Manufacturers of Jasmine Tea
Top Jasmine Tea manufacturers in China.
Lishui Mingyuan Food Co., Ltd.1 ingredient in the directory- Shaanxi Saiyang Food Co., Ltd.6 ingredients in the directory
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
Jasmine tea is a conventional food in the United States, and scenting with edible flowers is a traditional process rather than the addition of a regulated flavouring. Where a product is instead flavoured with jasmine extract or a flavouring preparation, that must be reflected in the labelling, since a tea described as naturally flavoured is subject to the flavour labelling rules and one carrying artificial flavouring must say so. Pesticide residues on imported leaf are the practical compliance issue, along with the preventive controls applying to the processing plant.
In the European Union jasmine tea is a food and carries no E number. Leaf must comply with the maximum residue levels set for pesticides in tea, and the general contaminant and hygiene legislation applies. Where jasmine flavouring rather than blossom scenting is used, the flavourings regulation governs the substances used and the labelling must distinguish a flavouring from the natural scented article. Codex has adopted work on tea as a commodity, and the general Codex standards on contaminants, pesticide residues and food hygiene apply.
Manufacturing Process
The base tea is made first and separately. Leaf is plucked, withered, fixed by pan firing or steaming, rolled and dried in the ordinary way for green tea, then dried further to a low moisture content, because dry porous leaf absorbs volatiles far better than leaf at normal packing moisture. It is held until the jasmine harvest, which runs through the summer.
Jasmine blossom is picked in the afternoon as tight buds and held in a cool room until the buds begin to open in the evening, which is when volatile release peaks. The flowers are then mixed with the dry leaf in beds of controlled depth and left overnight, with the pile turned and cooled periodically because the respiring flowers generate heat that would otherwise scorch the tea. In the morning the spent flowers are sieved out, the leaf is dried again to remove the moisture it has taken up from the blossom, and the cycle is repeated with fresh flowers, three to nine times depending on grade. A final low-temperature bake sets the aroma and brings moisture down for storage. Finished tea is sorted, graded and packed in barrier material, since the scent escapes easily.
