These little pearls of tasty greeted me with the wonderful scent of cocoa when I opened the bag. Clearly off to a good start!
The directions on the bag recommended a “heaping teaspoon” for each cup, but I remembered the description on Adagio’s website advising the use of two to three pearls per cup. I chose to place three pearls in my teaspoon infuser. A heaping teaspoon seemed like it would be a bit much for one cuppa, and only using a few pearls would leave each of them some room to unfurl and steep properly. To be very specific, I chose two larger and one smaller of the pearls. I steeped them in boiling water for four and a half minutes. (The recommendation was boiling water for three to five minutes.)
The scent of cocoa is not very prominent once the tea is brewed, but the hint is still there in the taste. The farther into my cup, the more earthy the tea tasted. I did not add anything to this tea since it was my first brew, but I will likely add a bit of sugar next time. It is entirely enjoyable without the addition of sugar but my personal preference is for a sweeter taste. Another future cup might have me experimenting with half-and-half as well.
Completely unrelated to the tea itself, the name invokes a certain want all on its own. If you’re partial to dragons, that is. Why not try a cup to celebrate the Year of the Dragon? As for me, I feel a bit inspired. Perhaps I will use these pearls to create a Fire & Blood Latte for the second season premiere of HBO’s Game of Thrones. And since the gaming world has confirmation on the release of Guild Wars 2 later this year, I might have something on the brew there as well.
Want to give this tea – or any of Adagio’s other teas – a taste? Let me know and I will send you a $5 gift certificate to use for your first purchase! :)
