Black Dragon Pearl

Got this as a Xmas gift. Now I am unable to enjoy any other tea. Yes it really is that good. No after taste, never a bitter cup. Hints of cocoa and very subtle bites on malt.

I found out that the woman who was my son’s one to one aid at school is a tea drinker. She worked with my son for six years, and is just about the sweetest woman on the planet. She’s working with another child this year, but since I just found out about her love of tea I had to get her some for Christmas. She told me she is a Teavana fan, so I picked up some of this and one of their ceramic tumblers for her. Since I was already buying some I also picked up an ounce for myself. Because tea.

This is really nice. There’s a strong chocolate flavor along with some malt and leather. I used three pearls for my eight ounce cup, and I’ve resteeped the leaves twice. I’m pretty sure I can get at least two more steeps before the leaves are spent.

I wish I had some of Teavivre’s Dragon Pearls on hand so I could do a side by side tasting. I’ll have to do that at some point.

P.S. I’m also giving her North Winds from Whispering Pines and Earl Grey Cream from Zen Tea. Because tea.

Going through my tea log, I was surprised to see that I hadn’t rated this tea, considering it was one of my first from Teavana.

This is magical stuff, warm rich cocoa tones balanced out by grainy, malty notes with the slightest hint of something woodsy. Had to get an Yixing pot just for this bad boy.; I thought it that good!

4 pearls is plenty for my pot and lasts through a fair amount of infusions, 5-6 pot-fulls… and I still have about 35 pearls left from my order last year!

Only real downside is the outrageous price. When I run out, I might try a less expensive option, but I’d imagine I’ll always have some black dragon pearls in my cupboard at all times.

So, I love this tea but, what I’m actually excited about is. … I’m getting my first yixing pot today! How cool is that! I’m pumped.

Anyways. SIPDOWN
beautifully hand spun pearls create an interesting amalgam of gold and deep brown. Smells like a bold Yunnan black tea, which makes sense it is…
Nice deep dark chocolate dust aroma.
During the steeping I get the fall smell of wet fall leaves.
Tasting: smooth soothing flavor with nice cocoa undertones. I also find a natural sweetness like honey as well. I love this tea and with the caffeine kick it has, I love all morning.
Something else, I have a lot of this tea… ALOT ALOT so if anyone is interested in a swap for it please let me know.

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.

This Tea is a great Black Tea, It offers a earl grey feel, but is completely different and strong in its own way. furthermore this tea brews well and if you let it sit for a good 4-5 min then it will be dark enough to have a full body and with one sweetener and then iced it is perfect.

love this tea!

A decent tea. The pearls are pleasant to look at. There are a lot of golden buds peeking out of there, and I like that. The flavor, for a Chinese black tea, was rather thin and bland, but with at least a prominent flavor nonetheless. The aroma is delicious. At this price, though? I’ve had much better Chinese black teas at a much cheaper price.

Smooth, dark black tea. Pleasant cocoa notes. My favorite full bodied black tea with no bitter tones.

While I don’t care for their marketing, the tea itself is quite good. I could tell they were not used to customers who want black tea with no flavorings with it.

Good leaves, lots of nice flavor. An excellent tea for work as the pearls make it easy to dish out into my steeping mug.