Premium Jasmine Dragon Pearls Green Tea

I have been sick all this week. When you’re sick, your tastebuds aren’t up to par, and so I’ve been drinking a lot of mediocre teas since I don’t want to waste all my good teas. Since Teavivre is having an upcoming sale on these jasmine pearls, though, I decided to try them to see what I think. I don’t need more tea, and I’ll probably resist buying them, but if they were absolutely amazing I wanted to know.

They are definitely very good. Jasmine pearls are one of my favorite teas, and this is very nice. The flavor is subtle, but I only steeped it for a minute, so we’ll have to see what happens when I steep it for a whopping 2 minutes next time.

I do feel a little bad giving this tea a rating when I’m sick and I’m not 100%, but I suppose it’s all right.

Free sample provided by Teavivre for review

I don’t have Jasmine tea often, but when I do, I want good stuff. This, my friends, is the good stuff. After putting up with lousy bags in Asian restaurants, I bought some loose leaf from Ten Ren tea-which was okay, but it went very bitter in just a couple of months. I had a good experience with Imperial Republic pearls from RoT and I was hoping to build on that with this tea.

The pearls are very tightly rolled and a little bigger than RoT’s (which are BB-sized), but smaller than say, Fenqing Dragon Pearls (which are closer to marble-sized). The aroma is a wonderful and natural jasmine. The liquor is very pale with more yellow than green hues. The jasmine is pronounced, but it does not seem like you are smelling or drinking perfume. The tea and the jasmine fuse very well together in the flavor. I have had two delicious steeps so far and may go for a third.

I know that I will never compromise with inferior Jasmine tea again and I consider Teavivre’s Jasmine Pearls one of my very top choices for quality Jasmine tea.

Okay, so I may have steeped this one a little too short (or so said my husband), but I am always horridly afraid of oversteeping green tea, because all it takes is a few seconds for green teas to turn from perfect to omgbitternastywhatdidIjustputinmymouth.

Sue me. I planned to resteep anyway. xP

Leaf (or in this case, pearl) description: A good size, rolled a little more loosely than I’ve seen in the past. Good distribution of the jasmine leaves and the silver tips throughout all of the pearls, as far as I can tell. Very pleasant smell!
Brew description: After steeping (see time below), the liquor was a pale spring green color, with a hint of butter color, which became more like an amber near the bottom of the pot. I didn’t stir like my husband and I usually do—I wanted to see what would happen.

No sweeteners were added or necessary.

First steep: WOW! This was so much different than most other green teas I have ever tried. The first sip put me in this extremely (pardon the expression, there’s really no better word for it) zen kind of mood, vigorously awake and yet calm as still water. It was almost as if I’d been put under a spell. The jasmine is so delicious, not bitter at all, and the ‘green tea’ flavor was simply sublime!

My review on the second steep will have to wait until next post; I haven’t had the time yet, but I will definitely make the time! I will have to consider this one for my favorite jasmine tea of all time. (Teavana’s Thousand Mountain Jasmine, which I’m not entirely sure if they stole from one of those companies they absorbed, is my current favorite, but we’ll see.)

A surprising tea. Especially for a girl that isn’t particularly big on jasmine teas.

Video Review: http://iheartteas.teatra.de/2012/01/video-tea-review-jasmine-dragon-pearls-green-tea-teavivre/

I was really surprised by the scent of this tea, opening the package. I’ve had a fair number of very nice jasmine teas and dragon pearls at this point, and my previous aversion to what I thought of as a soapy flavour has been overturned. With slight variances, they largely smell and taste the same. This one, though, instantly came across very markedly sweet. Very floral, but with a candy-like sweetness. It translated into the flavour in what is probably the freshest-tasting, least perfumey jasmine tea I’ve had to date.

I still don’t find this the most exciting type of tea, personally, but Teavivre’s is the nicest dragon pearls I’ve had. Several pearls yielded three great big flavourful infusions, too.

Since I just had Teavivre’s other jasmine tea yesterday, I’m going to compare the two.

First impression, yum! These are quite similar teas, but I’m detecting a heavier sweetness to these pearls. The jasmine is again very nice and very well executed, but the pearls seem a little less floral than the Mo Li Yin Hao. The green tea is also more absent.

With both teas, I started out with a 1.5 minute steep and increased subsequent steeps by 30 seconds. They both held up to multiple infusions equally well. However, I am detecting a tad more astringency. I remember the Mo Li Yin Hao getting astringent at the end of the third cup. But the astringency appeared in the pearls halfway through the first cup.

I don’t want to be too critical. It’s still a delicious cup of tea. I think I just prefer the other one. The Mo Li Yin Hao was just so perfectly balanced. Still, this tea wins out on cuteness.

How adorable are these little tiny pearls??! I’ve never had jasmine pearls before, so I’m glad I finally got to see what all the hype is about. They’re much smaller than I expected, but they unfurl really beautifully. I’m not sure what pearls have to do with dragons though…Perhaps they hoard them?

Overall, a very nice tea experience tonight. Very relaxing after an incredibly stressful couple of days.

Like Liz, I’m always amazed at the work that goes into preparing dry teas like this one.

The dry “pearls” are redolent with the scent of the flowers. It is like being in a flower shop, blooming meadow or a perfume counter — if you’re into that kind of thing.

The steeped cup is no less floral. In a way, more so. Fresh flowers instead of dried flowers.

The liqueur is a delicate pale.

Happily, the cup is far less floral in the mouth than on the nose — less room to move around or something. There is a big, thick sweetness to this tea.

Jasmine teas are never going to be my thing. But this is a very good one and I’m glad I tried it so that I can confirm that the issue really just is the flowers, not the quality of the tea hiding under them.

I haven’t always been a fan of floral teas. Over time, I’ve begun to develop a fondness for jasmine, osmanthus, and orchid scented teas. I still don’t care much for rose scented teas because rose tea tastes like the smell of old lady perfume… blerg.

Jasmine “Dragon Pearls” Green Tea is a damn fine jasmine scented tea. The green tea is very high quality and the jasmine flavor is distinct but subtle. I thoroughly enjoyed my sample and I’m very grateful to Angel for sending it to me.

A review of Jasmine “Dragon Pearls”by Teavivre

Date: 11/13/2012
Company: Teavivre
Tea Name: Jasmine Dragon Pearls
Tea Type/ Green
Region: Fujian China
Steeping Vessel/Amt. Leaf: cup/ loose leaf
Plucking Season:
Liquor Color: light amber/yellowish orange
Leaf Characteristics: very tight buds / pellets like and when immerse in water the leave unfold to become string like or small ropes.

1st Steeping:
Water temperature: 176 Fahrenheit
Time: 2 minutes

I received this tea with several other teas from Teavivre and I am finally taking the time to sample some of their teas. I am not a fan of Jasmine tea; so with this in mind, I cut open the tea sample and scoop out 1 teaspoon of the small pearl like buds and put this is my tea mug and add the boiling water to the cup. I cover and leave it to steep for two minutes.

After the allotted time I remove the saucer and find that the leaves are now: fine, small loose strings; more like coils of rope, short ones. It is kind of scary when looking at this in my cup. So I am imagining more bad things to come my way since I seem to be paying back or time to give back pass dues. The story by Steinbeck “The Pearl” comes to mind.

My in-laws enjoy dispensing justice of me since I am hardest of hearing.

Anyhow, I sip this tea reluctantly since the jasmine fragrant is strong and over powering. It is heady and must be left alone, perhaps for another time.

Thank you, Teavivre, for sending this tea along for me to sample. It is a lovely and very famous tea, I am just sorry that I cannot find enjoyment in the tasting and smelling of this tea.

Whenever I see dragon pearls tea I marvel at the labor that goes into hand rolling tea leaves into little balls in such quantity. It makes me appreciate my cupful even more.
I actually was so surprised by the pale tan color of this tea that I thought I’d not followed the directions correctly. The 1-2 minute recommended steep time could be extended a wee bit more without creating a bitter cup of tea, I think- but I’ve been mostly conservative about brewing this.

I find myself reaching for cups of this one more than any of the other Teavivre ones, much to my surprise. The jasmine taste is really pleasant and mellow. The tea feels surprisingly refreshing, and might be good iced when it’s not so cool out. I keep thinking of great food pairings for this one, but again I associate jasmine tea with particular Chinese restaurants in my area… mmm salt baked tofu, cold glass noodles with sesame.

I need to back off- it’s not time for lunch :)
Anyway, a relaxing, mellow cup of jasmine tea. Yum.

Edited to add that I am just learning about multiple steepings and I tried the technique on this one. The second steeping was actually the best because the pearls opened up fully. So give that a try!

Also, if you think you hate jasmine teas this one might win you over. It’s really mild and almost pretty.