Jasmine Black Pearls (Organic)

Having this late in the day. I’ve felt sleepy all day and I’m going out dancing tonight so it’s fine if this tea keeps me up a little later than I’d normally like. I added a little oat milk in this because I love a good creamy jasmine, but the jasmine flavor is a little light and the milk seems to wash it out a bit. I love the idea of jasmine on a black base since I so often find it on green or white AND I love the extra large pearls, but the flavor of the tea isn’t as strong as I’d hoped. I’m glad I used my frequent steeper points to try this because it was one of David’s pricier teas and I’d be extra bummed if I paid top dollar for this.

Sip down was sometime last week or maybe the week before. I’m so behind on any notes due to a move at work.

Other than that first horribly harsh try, I’ve had really good results out of this. I actually suspect its more related to amount of tea and not as much the steep time. Use more pearls than you think you should.

I will likely reorder again come spring.

Really enjoying this black tea with a jasmine flavor. I’m not a huge green tea fan, but I love black tea and with the added jasmine, it’s just great! I use only one pearl to brew a little Bodum teapot, and sometimes I resteep!

I got two drinks for the price of one today for Valentine’s Day! So I got Jasmine Black Pearls and Sheng Pu’erh (bad choise that one was). The Jasmine Black Pearls tastes like a black tea with a hint of jasmine. A very earthy/malty taste to it. I was happy to try it but would not purchase again.

Even though it is cold outside, the sunlight streaming through the windows is golden. I woke up feeling the need for a cup of something floral. I suppose that started with Lychee black the other day. Today, my first choice was lavender, but I talked myself out of that option for the sake of a cup of something from my focus pile. And now this.

If I recall correctly, I picked these up with my last frequent steeper points some months ago. Just trying them now.

I used two sizeable pearls in 12 ounces for several steeps The jasmine flavour is clear and true. The base is earthy and feisty and substantial. Even on steep five, the jasmine is still delicately present.

Ok…my first tasting did not go well but the fault was mine. I used too many pearls and steeped it too long so it got bitter.
*I later tried using only 2 pearls, used a lower water temp and a much shorter steep time…amazing difference. I enjoyed re-steeping this one too.
Side note: I think a thinner rimmed glass mug or a delicate tea cup is the way to go with this delicious jasmine tea.

This smells lovely even before I steeped it. I steeped it for 4 minutes and I really enjoyed watching the little balls unfurl. I like the jasmine taste with the black tea base. Overall a very good tea, which I even got a second steep out of, which was just as tasty.

These look great, and a quite a novelty, not to mention that they don’t taste too bad either.

I steeped 2 of these (2.4g) in a relatively small mug (300ml?) for four minutes. The resulting tea came out very dark.

The dominant smell and taste was the jasmine, this was compounded by the fact that the black tea base had a light smooth flavor. Overall it was thick, smooth, floral, a bit chocolate-ish. There was no bitterness or astringency, it was really a light black in every way (except color).

My favourite DT tea! So expensive but I use only 4-5 pearls in a 2-3 cup pot. Plus we reuse the teaball the next day. Sounds cheap but it still tastes beautiful and hey, this isn’t a cheap one. But it’s beautiful.

Thanks Evol!

I was interested to see how these turned out because I have not been a huge fan of jasmine blacks previously. Then I try Shangs Tangerine Blossom Black and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now for this one.

I brewed three balls in my glass gaiwan to see how the leaves opened up. The first steep was a long five and a half minutes to get the balls to open. When I tried it, there was a amber candy sweetness to the black tea with the jasmine being oh so heady. Malt rounded off the taste overall in each steep.

The subsequent brews were much shorter, beginning at 50 sec and adding 15 sec increments to each later steep. The jasmine went back and forth, but the black tea itself really evolved going from sweet, to woodsy, to malty. There were some definite cocoa notes that faded in and out as well.

So I enjoyed this tea, but sometimes the black tea contrasted too much with the jasmine. I think that the black tea was high quality and that the scenting was high quality, but sometimes the two tastes didn’t always meld together. Sometimes I got girly jasmi-MALT-Oh-sweetness in the taste. If that makes any sense whatsoever. In comparison, the Tangerine Blossom’s citrus/orange peel helped balance the heady florals with the rich black tea. Essentially, I am biased to an orange or tangerine blossom over a jasmine for the florals of the black tea.

This is definitely a tea to try if you have never had a jasmine black, and I could see this tea on the full spectrum of hit, great, okay, meh, miss, and ew. You just have to know what jasmine tastes like and maybe what a Dragon Black Tea ball tastes like. If not, these pearls give you a good idea of how they taste and how other Yunnan blacks taste.

But like I said, I did enjoy this tea. I could easily see myself drinking the black base on its own. I also would not mind trying a jasmine black more often. I think the remaining two balls will do well in my tumbler too.