Fengqing Dragon Pearl Black Tea

I received this sample from the incomparable MissB. Thank you so much for sending this, because I’m in love with this one!
I used 5 pieces in my gaiwan, and followed the directions from the website (rinse 10 sec, then 30 sec infusion, adding 20 sec after for each infusion).
The dry tea itself smelled so lovely….chocolate and malty and utterly delightful.
Smooth mouth feel with such balanced notes.
As I progressed through infusions, the taste would shift (the chocolate sometimes being right there in the front, other times hanging back…), but each one so intriguing, fascinating my taste buds (seriously, this was a GREAT tea experience).
Definitely will add this one to my ‘must buy’ list.

I found this one in the back of the cupboard with the Bailin Gongfu black (score!) the other day. I tried it for the first time today and while it was tasty, I screwed up the steeping and the flavor was weaker for it. I think I looked at too many teas and for some reason I thought it needed 2 min @ 212F, but when I tasted it I wasn’t getting much chocolate so I investigated. On the TeaVivre site, it says 5-10 minutes @ 203F. Kind of a big difference. Oops!

So in the meantime, I am going to reserve the score until I steep it correctly. Even now it is smooth and pleasant though. I have enough to make it one more time, wish me luck!

I received a sample of this from boychik. Thank you!

The peals are so big! They are also very pretty with the dark brown and copper tones mixed in. This is my second time with this tea. The first time I felt the tea was very weak. This time around i tried to remedy that by steeping at just under boiling and for the full 2 mins. The tea turned out well this time around. I am getting a lot of cocoa and hay flavor. For me this tea is not very sweet like some have mentioned. This is a tasty cup.

EDIT: The 2nd steeping on this one might be better than the first for me. This is almost like the dark roast of black tea.

So a little while ago, Angel of Teavivre invited me to taste some tea samples. This is the first I picked out to try from the selection she sent me. I was hooked from first sip. I’ve had one dragon pearl tea previously, but it wasn’t a patch on this one!

I used 4 pearls (which turned out to be exactly half the sample). The pearls themselves are really pretty — chocolate brown and cream — and the scent dry is of cocoa and hay. I added boiling water, and left them for around 4 minutes. The pearls completely unravelled in about two minutes, and I was left with a dark-ish liquor and the strong scent of chocolate.

To taste, this is really amazing. I was expecting something quite sweet, which I got, but it also has a real richness and depth of flavour. I get cocoa first, followed by a mellow nuttiness, and then an almost grapey, wine-like flavour to finish. I loved it so much I brewed the second cup straight away!

This tea has really made me reevaluate Chinese blacks, which for some reason I’ve always neglected. I’ve tried Chinese greens before, but I’ve nearly always chosen Indian teas when it comes to black. This one has made me think, though, and I’ll definitely be looking to expand my experience of Chinese black teas in the future!

Many thanks again to Angel and Teavivre for giving me the chance to try this outstanding tea!

The Leaf: The size of the pearls is slightly smaller than a standard marble. Nice even fragrance of malt and chocolate. The high percentage of golden buds included gives each ball a marbled look contrasting them with the darker fully oxidized leaves. Some impressions left on each ball, supposedly during pressing, suggest they were made by machine or gloved hands.

The Brew: The liquor is golden brown and slightly cloudy. The aroma is similar to the leaf, malty and chocolaty. The flavor is very complex with tones of chocolate, malt, grain, spirits, and prune. Fairly sweet, but also leaves a slight dryness on the tongue. The flavor is full-bodied, but also quite bright and light. Aftertaste is subtle but lingers for a while.

I drink all of my teas cold.

Just finished off the sample that Angel sent me. I must have more of this tea, so I just placed my first official Teavivre order! Woohoo! Can’t wait!!

I prepared this tea Western style in a small teapot due to time constraints this morning.

First impression – chocolate forward! My first sip was all chocolatey goodness, which surprised me a bit. It’s lightly malty, which is a good match for the chocolate flavor. The aroma of the liquor is like a heavy version of what you expect of a Yunnan Golden Tip. Almost like the aroma is weighted down with something more complex.

One thing I like to do with a tea is close my eyes, take in the aroma, and sip it a bit while allowing my mind to wander (I like to think of it as my medi-tea-tion). Many teas take me places in my imagination, and I allow the tea to tell me where that place is. This tea takes me to a forest in winter covered in dry snow. It is comforting in the abandoned place and a perfect complement to the experience.

When I have a free morning, I’ll be excited to try this tea again Gong Fu style to see what flavor subtleties I can squeeze out. Thanks again to TeaVivre for the selection of samples!

This my first Teavivre tea I think and I used the full sample sachet to make a teapot (of 1 liter).
Let’s go for a stupid digression but I am not very attracted by Tea pearls aspect because they always remind me rabbit’s turds.
Anyway all the tea pearls I had in the past were very lovely experiences so it is really not an issue to pass though this stupid prejudice.

The pearls are quite dark but with lots of golden streaks.
It is not a full bodied tea, it’s a mild one, sweet, mellow . I am not noticing any bitterness at all.
I can detect earth notes, baked bread and malt of course. The cocoa note to me are poping up at the end of the sip.

A very lovely tea, perfect for a morning cup. Thank you Courtney for sharing.

So… this is a sipdown, running me out of Teavivre teas before my order arrives. :) I didn’t replace these but that doesn’t mean they were bad. I had mixed results with this tea but overall I liked it more than I didn’t like it.

Sweetish, caramely, thick, malty. For me, this tea was very water and temperature dependent. Too much temp without the right water and way too much smoke came to the forefront. Maybe it isn’t smoke I get from these teas where no one else gets it, maybe it’s burned tea from my improper prep! :)

These cups today were done with Hinckley Spring Water at about 205F and I used 10 balls for 16 ounces, steeped for about 3 minutes.

I brewed in the “Chinese Gongfu Way” listed on the tea’s website. With the recommended 5 pieces, and a quick 30s brew after a few seconds of rinse, I found the leather flavor overpowering, similar to few black Teavivre teas I’ve tried so far.