Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls

BLENDED w/Rooibos Tropico (Teavana)

This tea is amazing. To really enjoy the full flavor of the jasmine pearls, I highly recommend using a tea steeper like Tevana’s Perfectea Maker which allows the pearls to completely unfold. I love the sweetness of jasmine which doesn’t overpower the green tea.

Alright here we go. Sampling number 3 of 4 from Teavana’s Green tea Essentials box set. Jasmine is one of my favorite blends, one of the few blends I appreciate to the point of calling it “good and real tea”, so let’s see how Teavana’s version stacks up.

Using 2 tablespoons of pearls, after rinsing I poured 32 ounces of 175 degree water and let it all steep for 3 minutes, the recommended time on the box.

The color is a really nice, semi clear, darkish straw yellow., with an almost orange tint.

The fist smell that hit my nose was a pleasant surprise. The first two offerings from this set lacked a bit in the aroma category, but this one is different. The classic Jasmine scent is right up front, crisp and clean as day,but I still get a strong sense of a really good green tea base. The straw/hay/grass scent is still there with the hint of butter, and the Jasmine gets to set sail over the top of all of them.

The taste gives a little more liberties to the Jasmine, while the green tea base is not as prominent as in the scent. The Jasmine is definitely the defining aspect of this brew, that sweet floral taste takes over above everything else.

I would like to have a bit more of the Green Tea base in the taste, the Jasmine sweetness is nearly overwhelming, but not so much as to turn me off. This is still a great Jasmine Tea.

-E

I normally find jasmine too perfume-y or soapy for my taste, but I bought this one to mix with Teavana’s Strawberry Blush Rose to make their blend ‘First Blush’. I love them combined, but I’m not sure if this one would be okay on it’s own.

I like jasmine green tea every once in a while, but it’s not my favorite. This was in a green tea variety pack that I purchased, and I made it today because my sister really likes jasmine green tea. It’s a nice balance, the jasmine flavor is not overwhelming. I said that I would buy more of it after trying it initially 3 weeks ago, and I do like drinking it, but there are so many other teas that I love…I honestly can’t see myself choosing it regularly. I wouldn’t turn it down if it was offered to me, but I won’t be buying it. I generally prefer black and green teas that do not have added flavors. I do like a lychee black tea I bought a couple months ago, but, just like the jasmine green, I get tired of it after a while. I never get tired of the unflavored black and green teas. My sister will enjoy this one more, so she gets the rest!

Brews a nice, quality cup of jasmine tea. The jasmine flavour can be a bit strong at times, but you can adjust the quantity of pearls and figure it out. I use 4 pears for a 12oz mug and I get 2 nice infusions out of them.

I love this tea. It’s one of my all-time favourites. I first tried it as part of the Tea of the Month subscription that my mom gave me for Christmas last year, and have been hooked ever since. I keep trying to find replacements because of the steep price, but nothing quite compares. I love the lightly floral jasmine taste, and have never experienced the bitterness that you get with other green teas.

It’s made me sad recently to hear about some of the questionable business practices and poor customer service by Teavana. This isn’t something I’ve ever experienced in my local store, but it’s definitely made me reconsider how frequently I support the company. Now if only so many of my favourite, must-have teas weren’t from Teavana. Darn.

What a day! This was my first proper cup of tea, and I didn’t get to have it till 5pm.

I slept in today, then spent a bunch of time taking the cat to the vet to get some stuff checked – she needs dental work, which I knew, as well as a couple of other small things (why u so expensive cat??!? Not that it’s a surprise – she was rescued from a hoarder and had a lot of medical issues from the start.) Our vet is out of town, so it was over an hour of driving round trip. The roads kind of sucked, as did the wind, with my tiny Smart Car at highway speeds, but kitty is soooo good in the car. I used to do little road trips to visit family during holidays, and I’d have three cats in my truck for an eight hour drive with no troubles.

After the vet, I came home and my partner made me an awesome dinner (steak and potatoes with mushroom onion gravy), and then drove me across town to the university to guest lecture. It went really well, and I enjoy doing it so much, but I’m all exhausted and sweaty now. I don’t get at all nervous about public speaking any more – I feel very mentally relaxed doing it, but my body reacts like I’m stressed and anxious – sweating, back tension and all that. Which sucks, and I need to figure out how to make that stop.

Now I’m at home, in my robe.

So the tea! So delicious. I threw a teaspoon of pearls into my travel mug, filled it 3/4 of the way with 82C water, and then topped it up with cold water after a few min. The leaves unfurled quickly and the resulting brew was intensely jasmine – perfumey, but not at all in a negative way – with some really beautiful peach notes. After a couple of hours of sipping at this, there was a slight bit of astringency, and some more vegetal flavours emerging, but it was still delicious and drinkable.

This was a lot better than I remembered it being. I know Teavana is all about their fruit blends, but I feel like I’ve been pretty impressed with their teas that don’t contain any chunks of stuff.

I forgot that I own this one! Another old tea in my cupboard, from at least two years ago (probably more). So I thought I’d try it today to see how it’s holding up. I remember buying this tea because I wanted to try one with jasmine. I have to admit, I’m not much of a floral person when it comes to tea… Jasmine is especially difficult for me to appreciate, it seems.

This one still smells lovely when I steep it, like flowery perfume, but there’s something in the taste that I don’t like. Kind of a weird dairy flavor, like something creamy that’s gone a bit sour? It leaves an odd aftertaste, too. Strange. I don’t remember the flavor being there when I bought it. Either my tastes have changed, or this tea hasn’t aged well, for whatever reason. Too bad, since I still have a good amount of it left. I might try adjusting the steeping time on a second cup, but I suspect I may have to throw this one out. (Note to self: I should try another jasmine tea sometime, to see how it compares to what I remember of this one when it was fresh.)

I bought this tea awhile ago. It is probably 2.5 years old. So my tasting note will be based on old tea. I bought this tea when I fist started drinking loose leaf. At the time it didn’t hit me well. I gave it to a friend who said she enjoyed jasmine. Since then I started getting REALLY into tea and she knows it so she offered me some of her tea that she no longer wanted, thinking I could post it on here or drink it myself. This was one of the teas that came back to me:)

Lately I have been drinking lighter teas. At first it was a means to avoid caffeine, and now it is just a means of exploration. I feel like I haven’t given green and white teas a fighting chance since I had a few bad experiences. Jasmine has been another ingredient that didn’t get much of a chance. So here I sit today in front of a green jasmine, and I am enjoying it! This is sweet with a strongish jasmine thing going on. The smell itself is relaxing and I could see myself enjoying the rest of this 2oz. Thanks to my friend for sending my tea back:)