I recently tried Grand Jasmin Mao Feng, a jasmine tea from Palais des Thés. Here’s my detailed review of the experience:
Preparation:
- Temperature: 165°F / 73°C
- Time: 0 min, 30 sec
- Tea Amount: 5 g
- Water Volume: 3 oz / 100 ml
Overview
Palais des Thés calls this one subtle and creamy. Let’s see, we steep at 75°C with a steep of 25 seconds.
Second Steep:
Slightly bitter, jasmine lacks definition, shocking for this price point.
Third Steep:
Bitter, bitter, bitter and gross. It’s not all over the place though; I can see that the jasmine itself is the cause of the bitterness, like drinking ear wax: ew.
Fourth Steep:
Oh wow, this is just bad, bad bad bad. Where’s the creaminess? Where’s the subtlety? I cannot describe how bitter this is; it’s like ear wax with extra ear wax.
Conclusion:
Worst jasmine tea I’ve had, and I wish I was kidding.
Flavors: Bitter, Jasmine, Wax
Rating:
- Flavor Complexity: 5/30 – Lacks depth and is overwhelmingly bitter.
- Brewing Forgiveness: 5/20 – Very sensitive to brewing parameters, easily becomes undrinkable.
- Consistency Across Infusions: 5/20 – Consistently unpleasant across multiple steeps.
- Overall Enjoyment: 5/30 – Not enjoyable at all.
20/100
- yaro
Flavors: Bitter, Jasmine, Wax