Jasmine Harvest Season, Price per Jin, and Profit per Mu
Jasmine is not only ornamental but also widely used to make scented tea, essential oil and desserts, making it an excellent choice of flower material. It has the effects of dispelling cold and relieving depression. It is reported that growing jasmine tea in Leshan, Sichuan, yields 20,000 yuan per mu! So how much does jasmine cost per jin now? What is the market situation?
1. The Best Time to Pick Jasmine
The best time to pick jasmine is from June to September every year, when villagers pick jasmine to sell for money.
2. How Much Does Jasmine Cost per Jin Now
This year it is basically 20 yuan per jin for us; in previous years it was not as good, last year it was basically 15 yuan per jin.
3. What Are the Returns per Mu from Growing Jasmine
At present, the jasmine planting area in Qianwei County has reached nearly 100,000 mu, making it the second largest jasmine planting base in the country. Every year it needs 80,000 flower pickers, bringing the local area an income of 160 million yuan. And this is in fact only one link in the jasmine industry chain; the jasmine tea that local people spent 300 years developing is the crystallization of wisdom.
Bao Yunxiu, technical consultant of Sichuan Chaohua Danlu Mingcha Co., Ltd.: Three generations of our family have produced jasmine tea. Making this jasmine tea is especially particular: the jasmine is all organic jasmine from our local Qianwei, so our scented tea drinks with a particularly delicate fragrance and sweetness.
Growing other crops yields only 3,000 to 5,000 yuan per mu, while growing jasmine can reach more than 20,000 yuan, and growing jasmine is an industry that allows local farmers to transfer their labor locally. Growing jasmine has achieved agricultural efficiency, increased farmers' income and made rural areas greener.
Chen Guangyong, deputy head of the Qianwei County People's Government: At present, the comprehensive output value of the county's jasmine tea industry has reached 2.88 billion yuan. Next, we will continue to rely on the unique jasmine resources to further expand and strengthen the jasmine tea industry, newly develop 5 jasmine tea deep-processing enterprises, and the number of processing enterprises will reach 50. We will continue to expand the northern sales market and achieve a comprehensive output value of jasmine tea of more than 4 billion yuan.
4. How Jasmine Is Made into Jasmine Tea
The flower buds are the key to making jasmine tea. Because jasmine is pure white and flawless, it has been favored by people since ancient times. And the rich fragrance of jasmine also makes jasmine tea the preferred "household tea" of many consumers.
1. The Scenting Principle and Procedure of Scented Tea
Scenting principle: The scenting process of scented tea is mainly the process of fresh flowers releasing fragrance and the tea base absorbing fragrance. The fragrance release of fresh jasmine flowers is a biochemical change. Under the action of enzymes, temperature, moisture, oxygen and so on, mature jasmine flowers decompose fragrant substances and, with physiological changes and the opening of the flowers, continuously release fragrance. The absorption of fragrance by the tea base is under physical adsorption; while absorbing fragrance it also absorbs a large amount of moisture. Due to the osmotic effect of water, chemical adsorption occurs, and under damp-heat conditions complex chemical changes take place. The tea liquid gradually turns from green to bright yellow, and the taste changes from light and astringent to rich and mellow, forming the unique fragrance, color and taste of scented tea.
2. Tea Base Treatment
The tea base for scenting scented tea is made from green maocha after refining (omitted) and blending according to the standard samples for scented tea base grades.
Drying: The tea base for scenting scented tea generally needs to undergo drying treatment. Purpose: for high-grade tea bases, it is to release the stuffy water smell and stale flavor; for medium- and low-grade tea bases, it is to reduce the coarse old taste, stale flavor and so on, revealing the normal green tea fragrance and helping improve the freshness and purity of the scented tea. The temperature of the dryer should generally not be too high: high-grade tea bases at 100-110°C, medium- and low-grade tea bases at 110-120°C. Traditional techniques require the moisture of the tea base after drying to be 4-4.5%; it must not be dried with high fire, which easily produces a burnt flavor and affects the quality of the scented tea.
Cooling: After re-firing, the tea base usually has a relatively high pile temperature, at 60-80°C. It must be spread to cool until the tea pile temperature is only 1-3°C above room temperature before scenting. If it is too high when scenting, it affects the vitality and fragrance release of the jasmine and lowers the quality of the scented tea. The lower the tea base temperature, the better, so that after scenting and blending, the pile temperature rises more slowly, relatively extending the time at a pile temperature of 32-37°C, which is beneficial to the fragrance release of the fresh flowers and the fragrance absorption of the tea base, improving the quality of the scented tea.
3. Manual Operation Method for Scenting Scented Tea
First spread 1/3-1/5 of the total tea base evenly on a clean scenting floor, with a thickness of 10-15 cm, then take the fresh flowers according to the tea-flower ratio and likewise divide out 1/3-1/5 to spread evenly over the surface of the tea base, so that one layer of tea and one layer of flowers alternate for 3-5 layers, then use an iron rake to open and mix from top to bottom along the cross section. While mixing the tea base and fresh flowers, carry out "scenting" by the methods of box scenting, bin scenting and block scenting.
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