Moli Yu Die

Moli Yu Die — jasmine jade butterfly — is a premium jasmine green from Fuzhou, the home of the craft. Like the city’s other shaped jasmines it is made by repeated scenting: a green tea laid bed-on-bed with fresh sambac jasmine until the leaf carries the flower, with no oils or flavouring. What names it is the form — each leaf hand-shaped into a small butterfly, so that the brewing becomes a quiet performance in the glass.

The cup is deeply floral and honeyed over a clean green base, soft and silky with a faint cream, the jasmine and the leaf in fine balance. There is no bitterness when it is brewed with care, and the finish is long, cool and sweet. Fuzhou’s jasmine tradition was recognised as a globally important agricultural heritage in 2014, alongside Yunnan’s rice terraces and the tea gardens of Pu’er.

In the cup

Brew it cool, around 75 °C, in a glass so the butterflies can open. It cold-brews beautifully — the shaped leaf in cold water in the fridge for four to eight hours gives an especially pure, clean jasmine drink. Drink it fresh, while the flower is bright.