I was on a date at the Milwaukee Art Museum yesterday. We took a break for some jasmine tea and to watch the fluffy white snow falling on Lake Michigan. While breathing in the warm steam and light jasmine scent the place was filled with students singing Chopin. It was serene and other worldly.
Sitting at home on this cold Sunday thinking about yesterday and delaying shoveling the snow. I was thinking about the ancient origins of jasmine tea. It has been around for over 800 years, sometime during the Song Dynasty. It was the first flavored tea and unlike most flavored teas which are relatively recent in origin. Curious about the story and reason for adding jasmine flowers versus something else. Did a jasmine flower drop into someones tea like the legend about a tea leaf falling in Emperor Shen Nung's hot water? Did a Chinese herbalist combine tea and jasmine? Would like to know the reason or legend, but could not find it yet....
