It’s Monday morning and I am back to work after taking Thursday and Friday off. I knew this morning would require drastic measures to get back into the flow, so I reached for this Black Dragon Pearl tea that my lovely wife bought for me this weekend at the Teavana store.
The sales pitch was that this selection is stronger than your average black tea. I planned to save it for those mornings when I needed shock treatment to return to the land of the living. And here we are.
When I opened the container, a slightly more powerful than usual tea smell shot out from the rolled dark tea balls inside. I had high hopes that the taste would follow suit.
I steeped the “pearls” (I used 10 for two cups of tea) for four minutes at 195 degrees as instructed. The brewed color was a muddy gold. The aroma was richly tea-like.
The flavor was like a potent English or Irish Breakfast tea. However, the taste was a little sweeter and more focused than those blended varieties. My first few sips also contained some bite which I initially thought was astringency. However, this was soon overpowered by the more robust black tea taste.
My head started to clear during my first cup which is always a positive sign for me. As I began my second cup, the well established flavor on my palate began to seem smoother and sweeter. The pseudo-astringent bite had all but disappeared. The sweetness began to identify itself as brown sugar. Also, the Yunnan flavor attributes emerged. The aftertaste did not have any bitterness.
All in all, I found this to be a very pleasant morning tea after the first few sips. I’ll determine how powerful it was at quitting time today when I measure my production for the day.
