Using filtered water with a TDS of 27, I brewed 8 oz. of Fengqing Dragon Pearl Black Tea western style with 10 pearls per TeaVivre’s Brewing guide. Ten pearls equaled 16.8 grams per a My Weigh Durascale D2 660 scale.
Per brewing guide: 3 steeps: rinse, 1m, 2m, 3m at 212*F.
Fragrance: Cocoa
Liquor: Amber brown
Aroma: Cocoa with a caramel-like sweetness
I enjoyed the rich, moderately strong dark cocoa flavor and caramel-like sweetness of this tea medium-bodied tea. All three infusions were enjoyable and very consistent. In fact, with this much leaf, I was also able to produce 4m & 5m infusions for a total of 5 infusions. There was no hint of bitterness or astringency.
Impression: A high-quality, rich, smooth, medium-bodied black tea with a moderately strong dark cocoa flavor and a caramel-like sweetness. I agree with Ashmanra, I consider this to be an excellent afternoon tea.
Thank you to Angel Chen and TeaVivre for their gracious free sample of this high-quality tea.
Correction due to new scale: What I thought was 16.8 grams was actually 168 grains. I was in the incorrect weight mode due to the very small font used for the grain abbreviation (gn). Using a Grains-to-Grams conversion, the actual weight was 10.9 grams.
