Black Dragon Pearl

Thank you LiberTEAS for the 6 delicious pearls of wonder that I am enjoying this morning!

Wow, I can see why this tea is a favourite to many – it’s so smooth and the quality is definitely there. The smell is sweet with hints of cocoa and the taste is indeed smooth-bodied, a perfect amount of malt and a bit drying. I’m getting no aftertaste after the sip, but this is just the first steep so I’ll have to see what happens on the next.

This tea was really the perfect way to start my day – and after my sample is finished I think i will be seeking out a Black Dragon Pearl to add to my collection. This tea warms me to the bone with it’s gentle chocolate-malty tones, without kicking me in the face with astringency.

Ah I’ve got it! Similar to the way the pearl itself unfurls, this tea is gently waking up my senses. Sometimes that is preferable to a kick in the butt morning assam – especially this Lazy Sunday.

And now for steep #2, with a pinch of sugar!

mmmmmm thank you tattooed_tea! for sending along these lovely pearls as a surprise in our swap. These? these are great! it’s almost enough to make me want to go to teavana. I was drinking this in the morning with my caramel toffee tea and i have to say that the combination of the two was also fairly awesome. this one lending the beautiful chocolate cocoa notes while the other tea highlighted delicious sweetness with the toffee.

i really enjoyed that this tea was just a malty, cocoa cup of delicious. I’m relaly looking forward to resteeping these to see how they hold up over time. thank you tatooed_tea!

Just bought this stuff from the Woodfield Mall Teavana. They have a whole new staff and boy are they pushy. Girl at the front had samples and asked if I wanted any. I said “No thanks” and she gave me a nasty confused look as if she couldn’t understand why I would walk into a store and not want a sample. She then assumed I must have known what I wanted to purchase so that must be the reason why I said “No” to her. I told her I didn’t know what I wanted and that I was going to check out what they had. The confusion continued. She then left me alone to have another guy come uncomfortably close to me and asked if I knew what I was looking for and what I was more into. When I got him away from me and behind the counter things started to get better. However, he kept trying to sell me more than I wanted. Sort of like assuming the sale buy saying “I will get these bagged for you”. I told him I wasn’t sure what I wanted yet but I would let him know. I kept telling him I am familiar with tea but I think the sale tactic is to treat everyone as a newbie to tea. I suppose that works a lot but I think they should back off when they are dealing with someone not so new to tea. So anyway, I bought this one and it is pretty good. Here you go…
It is smooth and a bit sweet but not in the conventional sweet way. It is on the back end and a little earthy. Overall not bad but not great. I think I want to make it stronger next time.

Thank you, thank you, Purrfect Cup! My package arrived today with so many goodies!

I found myself getting another biopsy today unexpectedly and now comes the long wait for the results. (it is probably nothing this time, but why around the holidays??)

I wanted a tea treat and I just knew this would be one. It is! The rich, chocolate-y aroma is reminiscent of Emperor’s Red by Premium Steap. My youngest daughter was astounded when she smelled it. This is smooth and sweet, has nice body, and is a bit like a chocolate Golden Monkey. I will be near a Teavana tomorrow, and this may be coming home with me to be put in my stocking!

Praised be the astute and venerable person who originated the aphorism “good things come in small packages!” This satisfyingly rich mixture is indeed a small gustatory marvel! When I began to open the package, I could at once sense that this tea would be so. As my heart rate began to reach a seemingly inordinately rapid pace for the opening of a tea package, and as my agèd nerves once again felt the brisk and exhilarating quickness of youthful anticipation, I knew that this could be no common tea. And yea, I did experience this innate awareness again as I watched the small dainty balls of lightly compressed tea, each their own microcosms of a world of fantastic taste, fall with a supernatural grace into the seething water of my humble teapot. And oh, how right I was. The fine globes of tea slowly unfurled themselves, as does the dragon unfurl his long and noble body after a century’s worth of the most profound slumber, and as does the ivory-petal’d lily unfurl its soft beauty upon a bright world in glorious springtime. When Father Time did turn his hourglass at three and a half minutes to signal the completion of the tea’s deeply moving steeping process, I rushed to grab my cup to taste and behold this sweet and velvety chocolate wonder. The water in the pot had turned a shade of amber rich enough to surpass that of the jewels of Baltic princesses from the days of empires, and beautiful enough to rival the ethereal splendour of the wide Jordanian deserts.

This tea was such a warming, rich, sweet delight that I utterly neglected to pause Lawrence of Arabia when it automatically resumed on my television. It is no matter however; I own the film, but I only own a finite amount of this exquisite and aptly named Black Dragon Pearl tea. [My deepest apologies to the distinguished Mr. O’Toole…]

I can’t believe I haven’t already reviewed this. I love this tea. It’s one of my favorite strong, robust black teas which is not bitter. The fact that it’s shaped into balls just adds to the fun — and I love that the tea isn’t all black; there is quite a bit of gold.

It is easy to measure. I use 6-8 balls for every 8 oz. of water. This brews a nice, strong cup. The liquor is dark. The taste is powerful, strong, and full of cocoa and malty notes. In fact, when I brew this as a tea latte (16 oz mug filled with 8 oz steamed milk, 8 oz. double-strength brewed tea, one packet of Truvia), it is so chocolately that I could almost swear I am drinking hot chocolate.

As much as I love this, it isn’t a tea for sipping when you want something that has subtle, sophisticated flavors. This is serious black tea. It will wake you up and start your day on the right note. If you like Keemuns or Assams, I feel confident saying you will probably like Black Dragon Pearls.

(As a side note, I visited Teavana today and saw they had a Black Dragon Pearls candle! I almost bought it, but like most Teavana products, it was a bit overpriced. It smelled lovely, although it didn’t capture the rich chocolate-y-ness of this tea.)

I enjoy this tea for many reasons. The first is the multiple infusions I get out of just 1tsp of pearls. These five will get me at least three cups of tea! This tends to make me very happy considering the cost of 2oz of this tea (more on that later). I also really enjoy that each infusion is a little different from the last. The dry rolled leaves have a very chocolaty aroma to them. Sadly this is where the chocolate stops. I’ve never had the chocolate flavor come out and play when I drink this tea. This is a bit of a let down to say the very least.

I do taste the malty flavor I have come to know and love in the black teas that I drink. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite things about black teas. If that makes any sense to you at all. This has to be one of my favorite teas to start my morning off. Sadly it is not a tea I can enjoy in the afternoon (even if Teavana says it is) if I want to sleep that night. But it does brew up to a lovely amber color.

Full review here: http://wifeywoman.teatra.de/2011/09/04/hello-not-so-lazy-sunday/

Asked for tea for Christmas; my mother and her posse happened to walk into a Teavana store in Chicago (Lady’s “Lets Go Shopping” roadtrip). After a hour’s guided tour through the intracies of tea (which mom reports was a pleasure), their guide picked out three “must try” teas, this was one of them; Thanks Mom! (and Teavana guy).
I used too much in my first cup….I have a 16 oz mug and used 3 pearls, 2 would have been fine. Water was off the boil for 5 minutes or so. I brewed this loose, directly in my mug for about 4 minutes, but it took a minute before the pearls actually started to unravel and steep. From there it steeped fast! I decanted it into another cup, ditched the leaves and returned the brew to the warm mug.
It has a strong, bold flavor with no astringency. Slightly woody and an edge of “burnt” in the flavor…perhaps from oversteeping. Still, very tasty and I look forward to another cup, and another shot at getting the steep correct.

Really delicious tea. In the package, it smelled a lot like fruit. But now, having steeped it, I’m only getting that fruit as a bit of a touch in the flavour, and not at all in the aroma. A bit of cocoa notes in the aftertaste.

My first tea of 2010 is this one. Three balls in the mug and 3 min steep. Brew comes out a deep golden amber. With a little sweetener this is a great cup. Flavoring is bold and reminds me of a Golden Monkey with a little malty, woody, and caramel-y notes. There’s no bitterness or astringency and makes for a great morning tea or anytime.

Good morning cup…getting a lot of malty-ness with this steep. I love Saturday mornings!!!

So, what, I went to a new tea monger and you didn’t think I would get a little bit of everything? Sure, it was hard to find the tea among the the “delightful mixtures” at Teavana, and it’s pretty clear they want to sell you with their accouterments, but they have some good teas. This tea, this one is okay.

The pearls have an almost cloying sweet raisin, leather, barnyard smell to them. A smell and taste profile those of you who’ve read my reviews before know that I like quite well in my black teas. The pearls themselves have a really nice feel in the hand and are very attractive in appearance.

The brew is kinda okay. The scent profile didn’t transfer over quite true, but it has a nice natural sweetness with some of the barnyard leather. Almost a dry hay smell, but only the kind you get from a hayloft. A little bitter at the end, a little sediment on the tongue, but definitely an enjoyable tea. Also a light mouth feel.

I’m just now taking my last sips from my mug and I swear I taste cinnamon or clove, something in that kind of range.

Good for a midday cup.

exquisito, un suave sabor amargo.

A smooth chocolate taste, perfect for the afternoon. Able to be infused multiple times. Plus any time you get to watch teas like this open up almost makes it worth it.

Got this tea during a 75% off deal at Teavana and I am very glad I decided to get the Black Dragon Pearls. Probably one of my favorite teas to have in the morning. Don’t even need to use a teaspoon for these. Just drop two little pearls in my infuser and I’m good to go. Only thing I don’t like about this tea is the smell. Still not sure what to make of it yet.

This tea can be steeped more than once and it still tastes good. When using two pearls I will only steep the leaves twice. If I do three I’ll steep them three times.

MMMMmmmmmm. I broke into a few new bags the other day (I’d been trying to finish off a few opened bags of looseleaf before I opened up more) just to sniff around and this was the one I HAD to try first. The aroma was amazing. I used to be so confused when people were reviewing teas and saying ‘definite chocolate notes in this tea….’ I mean, how can a tea not infused with chocolate possibly taste cocoa-y? Now I know what’s up!

I’m from PA so the smell is SUPER familiar to me. I don’t know if anyone has ever been to Hershey Park, but when you go in for the little chocolate making tour the entire ride has this wonderful smell! Not a chocolate smell like you’d get from ripping open a candy bar, it’s definitely chocolate-y but different. That Hershey Park ride smells exactly like this tea.

I used three balls for one mug, honestly probably could have gotten away with just two though. It tastes just as it smells, rich and malty with hints of chocolate. I was originally really upset because I did Teavana’s Tea of the Month Club (major rip off btw) and they sent me a few repeats, this being one of them. Now, I’m not too bummed they sent me extra of this because I would have wanted to buy it anyways! I REALLY like it.

I normally like the flavors of tea when they cool down rather than piping hot, but this is is better hot. It is much more mild when cold. I’ve been drinking more mild Teavana teas lately (Mind and Body, Monkey Picked Oolong) so it was great to finally get a tea with a little more punch! On my third mug and still brewing nice and dark, maybe a little less malty but still a wonderful smell!

This is quite different from other black teas; I think it blends nicely with vanilla and chocolate flavored black teas, especially vanilla. The “malty” flavor really comes through, and makes the black tea much less bitter, so it doesn’t get unpleasant when I accidentally steep too long. The pearls also last up to four steeps, which is a record for me. Teavana says you can steep most of their high end teas more than twice, but for me, the flavor pretty much goes by the third steep. It smells like other black tea, maybe faintly floral, with sort of vanilla earthy notes. It’s good hot and iced.

Brew as directed. Full-bodied chocolate-y and malty flavor. Makes stellar sweet tea!

Pours dark amber. A malty/earthy taste with mild sweetness that finishes with chocolate undertones. Nice. Been drinking this stuff for a little while, the stronger the better. I’ve found the best temp to drink this at is about 132F, perfect balance of flavor. Too hot and its watery, too cool and the flavors get muddled together (nasty).

This is my first balled teavana tea that i’ve tried and I used 6 balls for about one litre of water. I was worried it was going to be too strong but it is a wonderfully rich tea that’s not bitter. So far I can drink it black, but next time I may add milk to it. I can’t taste the “chocolate” taste people are talking about but i’m excited to steep it more than once.