Insight
What is a scenting round?
A scenting round, or yin, is one full cycle in which finished green tea is layered with fresh jasmine blossom picked that evening, left to absorb the aroma, then separated and re-dried. Each round consumes a fresh crop of blossom. Three rounds is the volume grade, five is standard specialty retail, and seven with a bud-heavy base sits at the top of the export book.
Because each round means another lot of blossom and another drying cycle, the round count is the single largest cost driver in jasmine tea — larger than the base tea grade in most contracts.
| Grade | Role |
|---|---|
| 3-round | Volume grade for blending and bagging |
| 5-round | Standard specialty retail grade |
| 7-round with tip | Bud-heavy base; top of the export book |
| Jasmine Pearl | Hand-rolled pearls; retail-facing |
What else has to be on a jasmine contract?
Three things beyond the round count: the base tea grade, whether blossom is removed from or retained in the finished tea, and moisture, which for scented tea runs at or below 8.5% rather than the 7.0% used for unscented green. Retained blossom is a visual cue for some markets and a defect for others.
Fujian ranks first in China for scented tea exports. Fuzhou jasmine tea alone exports roughly 1,500 tonnes a year for about USD 13 million.
Where does jasmine tea sell?
Russia, North America and, increasingly, as a premium step up inside North African markets that already drink green tea daily. Russia's Chinese tea mix runs 4% jasmine on top of a 68% green share, and Morocco's mint-tea ritual sits adjacent to scented green rather than opposite it.
That adjacency is the commercial argument for jasmine into Morocco and Senegal: it is not a new habit to build, it is a grade step inside an existing one.