Jasmine Black Pearls (organic)

Trying these bad boys tonight. I bought a sample of them in October when I learned that the DT closest to me actually got a stock of them. I had resisted before based on not knowing how I feel about jasmine, but the smell is just hypnotic. I have had jasmine in other teas but always have this fear in the back of my mind that it will be too strong and perfumey – despite that never having happened!

The dry smell of these pearls (really, like the Teavivre pearls, they are about the size of marbles. SO beautiful!) is sweet jasmine with a hint of bitter black tea underneath. I’m thinking the sweetness of the jasmine is so striking that it makes the black tea seem bitter in contrast, hopefully I don’t get any of that once steeped.

The beau and I did 4 pearls to our medium pot, steeped at 95 degrees for about three minutes. The first cup was basic black tea, a bit mild with a hint of sweet. Thre was a hint of jasmine at the back of the sip, but it was so unassuming that I almost thought it was just part of the tea itself. The second cup has quite a bit of astringency, but no bitterness. I’m thinking some crumbs may have been in the pot and continued steeping. The jasmine is stronger here too, it rounds out the tea quite nicely, but the tea itself is a bit too one-dimensional. I would like to get some malt or chocolate here, something with a bit of depth to balance the jasmine.

All that said, this is a nice tea. This is a special tea. I get that. This is NOT an amazing tea. For the price ($14 for 50 grams) I was pretty disappointed. I would much rather have Teavivre’s black pearls or Davids Yunnan Black. While I will definitely re-steep this and enjoy the remains of my 20 gram sample (about 20 pearls) I won’t be buying more. Hopefully I remember to try to steep it a little differently next time and see if I can improve it. If it cost less, it would get higher rating but at that price point I expect my tea to be more interesting. I think a better base tea could have made a big difference here.

I am lucky friends!
Our DT in the mall received this by mistake! They have to send it back because they don’t have a tin for it – but in the meantime… we get to drink it! And buy it… so it’ll probably be gone in no time and they will have nothing to send back. Yay!

mmmmm
It is SO good! I was a little scared because I got it to go, but then headed downstairs and had to do a bunch of work errands, so it had steeped fr about an hour. O_O Took a sip to prepare for the bitterness – of which there was none.

There was a sweetness, like honey! There was a maltiness and a smooooothness from the yummy black base – and a brightening sharpness from the jasmine. I say sharpness, but actually the Jasmine is really the perfect amount. It doesn’t overwhelm, it just dances along with the rest of the notes and makes me happy.

I need these in my life! No money though (I got my mug for $1 with the promo!) – but I’ll have to make an online order in time and I might just pop some of this in it. mm!

My friend picked me up some of these and sent me them. And finally I am trying them.

I used 4 pearls for 12 oz of water, and steeped them for 4 minutes.

The other jasmine black tea I’ve had tasted like candy coated chocolate. I loved it so much. I get the feeling these might be a bit different. Also I’m wondering in the ingredients if that’s a typo and meant to be Yunnan or if it is Hunan.

Anyway yes this one does not have that Cadbury mini eggs taste. It’s much more floral and tastes very much like honey.

I much prefer non-jasmine black pearls, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to try these. I’ve never seen jasmine black pearls ever, so to me it was worth the price to at least try them. But I just feel like I’m losing out on the maltiness and cocoa notes that I like about black pearls because the honey notes are so strong, and combined with jasmine it tastes a lot like honeysuckle.

I will definitely steep them again because maybe there will be less jasmine now, and I’d be curious to try them out in the gaiwan.

But it is nice to drink them and sit here with Tucker. He is laying next to me and snoring.

I was going to steep it again after dinner and my mom wanted to have some! Gasp. So I steeped it a second time of 4 min, and a third of 5. After that the leaves smelled more chocolatey/malty so I was excited this would be better. And indeed it was! Malty, earthy notes finally came out, and the jasmine was far more subtle but still present.

Dry Leaf Nose: Strong notes of jasmine, underpinned with the rich aroma of a classic China black Hunnan type tea.

Liquor: Golden brown and clear – so clear and visually crisp that it almost glows!

Flavour: Jasmine and Hunnan type black tea notes are beautifully balanced in this blend. The jasmine hits the palate nose first, gentle with only the most appealing and sweet, floral jasmine character. Immediately following are rich caramel notes of fine black, very oxidized tea. A delicate wild honey note rises in the background with a hint of sweet garden soil in the finish.The overall has a delightfully refreshing and palate cleansing character that lingers well without overpowering the palate.

I had these a while back and didn’t log. I’ve been neglectful. :(

In any case, I found these pearls to be disappointing. The jasmine was pretty mild and the base none too exciting. I think my expectations were a bit high. I love the look of the pearls, but the taste was not memorable. It was a tad malty with a honeyed flavor. Nice but I won’t be buying again.

Wow, it took me forever to get around to trying these! I’m not sure if it’s because I’m not hugely fond of jasmine, or if it got lost somewhere… Anyways, trying it now!

To be honest, this tea is pretty much what I expected. Although I’d like to say that 5 pearls is too much for 8oz, haha. I’m getting reasonably good jasmine flavour atop a nice malty black base, but as I mentioned, it’s a tad strong. I can’t recall how long I steeped it…. somewhere between 3-5 minutes, but I steeped it this morning and really can’t remember. It’s a little bit astringent, but I think that’s from too much leaf (and sitting out for a while).

I’m glad I got to try this, but I think I’d prefer to stick to jasmine greens/whites. However, for the floral/perfumey black tea lover, this is probably amazing!

I brought this to work on my thermos for my late morning – afternoon tea.
This note is somewhat of a combined effort from the last few times I have drank this.

This tea is wonderful. First off, I LOVE Jasmine. I have yet to try a Jasmine tea that I dislike. I love the earthy-sweet smell of Jasmine. I love the lightly tingy taste of Jasmine.

This tea is a GREAT example of Jasmine. Also, a BLACK tea in PEARL form WITH Jasmine just makes me skweee! I love everything about it. To picking the pearls out of the container to steep, the smell, to the lightly flavored taste. I have drank Jasmine pearls before (green) before and they were always Much smaller. These are more like marble sized whereas the others were more like mini ball bearings.

Also, my purchase of this tea was my first (personal) example of the delightful customer service at Davids. The store only had approx 2.3 oz left. Rather then make me buy the required amount to get the free tin – because they did not have enough to make it to that amount they just gave me the tin! Very nice, and not expected.

Yesterday was a dreary October day on the Prairies and my toddler was driving me crazy. So, I packed her up, got on the bus, and headed downtown to see what my DAVIDsTEA had in store.

Ended up with 50g of Pumpkin Chai, 2 sample packets of the new teas, and a delicious take-away cup of this. Not a bad haul for under $10! Except now I’m regretting not buying some more of this because Holy-Mother-of-Moses it is everything they said it would be! And my store wasn’t even supposed to get some!

Others have described this better than I could, so I’ll say this: it’s malty with hints of honey and a light floral finish from the jasmine. I might have a new contender for my perennial favourite Nepal Black! Try this if you have the chance, you won’t regret it.

Pleasant sticky sweetness. Light maltiness of the black coming through. Jasmine floral taste is present.

Three pearls for 250mL water @ 94C, steeped 4 minutes, drunk bare.

The packet copy reccommends a 5-minute steep, which is probably worth trying … or using 4 pearks at a time. My first infusion here is a bit weak …

Sweet black Hunnan with a clean finish, and some gentle honey and jasmine notes. Not a ravishing jasmine, but refreshing, and a lovely change from a green jasmine. A slightly stale note on the finish, as if either the tea leaf or the jasmine got exposed to too much air. Not sure this one lives up to the hype, but it is lovely.

When I was told 2 weeks ago by an employee that they were getting this tea, I was excited. I bought a 100g today, and I was eager to try it. It did not disappoint.

The pearls have a strong floral smell. Obviously it smells like jasmine with a hint of lilac (keep in mind I’m still recovering from a cold). The taste is very refreshing, perfect after a copious dinner. I don’t get the caramel and honey notes they are mentioning. I was hoping for the Yunnan black tea to be more present, but I’m still satisfied. It’s exactly what you’d expect of a good jasmine tea.

Highly recommeded.

These Jasmine pearls are HUGE. I’m used to the tiny little green tea pearls, so this was a bit of a shocker.

Steeped per the package (3 balls in 1 cup water), the first go was very floral, with that bit of astringency I expect from most black teas. It was fun sitting there watching the balls unfurl! This tea doesn’t need sweetener or milky stuff as it didn’t become bitter, but I greatly prefer black teas with something in them. The second steep I’ve added a bit of honey, and I like it a bit better. For some reason, adding milk to a jasmine tea just doesn’t work in my head. I might try it though, because this has the potential to make an excellent tea latte.

These aren’t bad by any means, just not completely to my taste. If you love your black teas without milk and/or sugar, then this would probably be a good tea for you. I think I like Jasmine green tea pearls better, so upon considering the cost I don’t think I’m going to buy more of this one. (Though if someone gave me some as a gift I certainly wouldn’t say no!)

(Edit: 1 month later, I gave what I had left to a friend who loves jasmine tea. If I want some I can just go to her house and have a cup!)

Wow… jasmine. So… much… jasmine. Tastes like I’m eating a bunch of flowers. Very floral and smells oh-so-pretty. The black tea is hidden a little by all the jasmine scent, but from what I can tell it’s a solid black tea base. The mouth feel is really nice, just dry enough. The leaves unfurl SO much and expand to surprising sizes… It’s fairly balanced though for a jasmine tea. Very yummy and relaxing for my hubby nerdswing and I to enjoy on our one-year wedding anniversary. :) Love you baby.

I LOVE jasmine teas, so when a jasmine black tea was released, I jumped on it!

The black base is rich and slightly sweet and creamy, and the jasmine makes its presence known without tasting like a punch in the teeth. One or two pearls makes a great light cup, two or three for a stronger or larger mug.

So I am recently really into jasmine tea. A few weeks ago I walked into David’s to try the straight leaf promotion ( straight leaf teas for 1$), and thought there couldn’t be any loss to try jasmine black pearls. I thought that jamsmine + black would = a strong and bitter tea, but I was wrong. This tea is so tasteful and not overpowering whatsoever. It has the soothing and warming taste of black tea and that spark of Jasmine that I just love so much. So for me this tea is really meant to exist.

Steepster! It has been a while. I have been very busy, not having much time to blog about tea, and unfortunately that trend is likely to continue. I was, however, enticed in by David’s $1 straight teas deal for the month, so I decided to try something new.

I’m a big fan of jasmine green teas, though I’m picky and particular with how I like them brewed. Between this and the new Genmai Hojicha I went with Jasmine Black Pearls, both because I’ve never tried rolled pearl tea before and I’m attempted to expand my knowledge and experience in black teas.

I hate to be the first to give an average review, but I do think most of my ambivilance with this tea comes from the fact that the service I received from the David’s location I got this from was atrocious, but that’s a different story.

I should have asked how many pearls were used for this, but I forgot to and didn’t keep the teabag when I took it out. Steeped for 4-5 minutes, but I honestly would have done it a bit longer. The jasmine notes are wonderful in this, though I didn’t get much of the Hunnan notes. When I got home I tried adding a little bit of milk and honey to some of it and I would not recommend for that. The jasmine becomes completely lost under it, but, well, it was an experiment.

I might like to try this again if ever I get a chance to pop by David’s, but I don’t think I’ll be making this a large or regular purchase for me. On top of being fairly out of my budget, I prefer my jasmine greens. It is still a lovely tea though, and I enjoyed this rare treat.

It’s one of those days where my head is in a fuzz (too much christmas wine last night, oops!) and I just have NO idea what tea I want. I need to de-clutter my tea drawer, so opted for something I may not restock.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE anything with jasmine, and this tea is delicious! But I find that I’m not drinking as much black tea lately. It’s been mostly green & oolong.
I over steeped this. Just as I poured the water, the neighbors happy golden retriever wandered into my backyard, so I had to go out for some snuggles and puppy kisses.
I added some cream and agave to try to off set the bitterness from the over steep. It’s a bit better.
Going to refrain from rating. It’s bitterness is entirely my fault. I had it once before, and quite enjoyed it.

Best jasmine tea I ever tried. I find the jasmine amount to be perfect, since the taste of the black tea is still present.

I do think it is very balanced. It’s a wonderful tea. Expensive, but worth it. My favorite DT black tea of all time!

I love how this tea tastes.

This tea is a beautiful little treat. The jasmine gives it a naturally sweeter taste and it’s one of the only black teas I don’t add milk to. I bought 50g it on a whim back when DavidsTea was promoting their straight teas and have had it sparingly since as it’s pretty pricey and stock they ran out shortly afterwards. Either way, now that it’s back I’ll definitely be grabbing a tin to stock up.