Can fresh jasmine flowers be brewed as tea? What are their benefits?

Jasmine, also known as naihua, xianghua, muliihua, and other names, was compared by the ancients to “the finest fragrance in the world.” So can fresh jasmine flowers be brewed as tea? Its fragrance is pure and elegant, pleasant and delightful; it can be used to scent tea leaves and extract essential oils, giving it high economic value. Its nature and flavor are sweet and cool, and it has the effect of clearing heat and releasing the exterior. Among the people, some use jasmine flower water to wash the eyes to treat red, swollen, and painful eyes; others soak an appropriate amount of jasmine flowers in vegetable oil and put drops in the ear to treat otitis media. Drinking water infused with jasmine flowers can also treat disharmony of stomach qi. Therefore, cooking it into porridge with glutinous rice, which strengthens the spleen and benefits the stomach, can clear heat, release the exterior, and eliminate foul qi.

1. Can fresh jasmine flowers be brewed as tea?

Jasmine flowers contain various organic compounds and vitamins, as well as beneficial nutritional elements for the human body such as sugars and starch, making them an ideal beauty product.

Fresh jasmine tea can be brewed and drunk. Jasmine tea is made by mixing fresh jasmine flowers into tea leaves so that the tea leaves absorb their fragrance.

Jasmine has emerald-green leaves, pure white flowers, and a rich fragrance, and is the most common fragrant potted flowering plant. Jasmine tea, which has the reputation of “allowing one to smell the breath of spring in tea,” is made by picking tea leaves, processing them into finished tea, then blending them with jasmine flowers and subjecting them to a certain processing technique. The reason jasmine flowers are made into a dried product is that it is convenient for storage.

Every year from July to August, jasmine flowers that have not yet fully opened are collected and dehydrated to make dried jasmine flowers, which can be used both to brew tea and to cook porridge. Cook porridge with 100 grams of fresh japonica rice, and when the porridge is almost ready, add 3-5 grams of dried jasmine flowers and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Jasmine porridge is sweet and fragrant, very refreshing, and the aroma of jasmine can penetrate up to the top of the head and down to the lower abdomen, dispelling all stale qi in the chest. It not only makes one feel refreshed, but can also condition dry skin, with the benefits of beautifying the skin, invigorating the body and refreshing the mind, and preventing aging and resisting decline.

2. What can jasmine flowers be paired with for drinking? What are the benefits?

1. Rose jasmine tea

Brew French roses and jasmine flowers in a 2:1 ratio to make rose jasmine tea. Long-term use can regulate menstruation and relieve pain, and it has the additional benefit of beautifying and moisturizing the skin. In addition, if conditions permit, an appropriate amount of lemon verbena can be added, which has an even greater weight-loss benefit.

2. Lavender jasmine tea

Brewing lavender as a tea can both soothe the emotions and calm the mind and nourish the heart, and also has a beauty and skin-nourishing effect. Taken together with jasmine tea, it can relieve anxiety; combined with chamomile and drunk long-term, it has the further effect of reducing stomach pain.

3. Mint leaf jasmine tea

Mint leaves have the benefit of clearing fire and heat. Drunk together with jasmine tea, they can freshen the breath, clear heat and reduce internal fire, brighten the eyes and clear the liver, and refresh the mind and relieve stress. Alternatively, paired with osmanthus and drunk together, it has an even greater effect of restoring appetite.

4. Chrysanthemum jasmine tea

Chrysanthemum is known for its benefits of clearing the liver and brightening the eyes, clearing fire and heat, and protecting against radiation. It is especially suitable for drinking in spring and summer. Long-term drinking of chrysanthemum tea can detoxify and dispel wind, and clear heat and soothe the throat. Drunk together with jasmine tea, it can promote metabolism and has beauty benefits for qi and blood, lustrous skin, and nourishing and protecting the hair. Long-term use can further reduce internal fire and clear heat, and calm the mind and soothe the spirit.

Although jasmine flowers are good, they are cool in nature, and people with a cold constitution are not suited to consuming them in large amounts at night, as this has an adverse effect on sleep.