Zomba Pearls

TeaTiff TTB. David’s Tea is the new Teavana. Great for people breaking into the tea world but for others … idk. I just haven’t been too thrilled. Rinsing once because I am not sure of the age of this tea. I really wish tea companies would add the year to their packages. And also because I want to help these leaves open a bit more. Apricot on the wet leaf. Quite nice actually. More apricot notes mixed with compost leaf pile when steeped for about a minute. Soft mouth feel. As you steep longer the compost notes coincide with some bready/toasty notes. The second infusion is less stellar with more astringency.

TeaTiff TTB #9

The dry leaf of this one has such a unique look! I’ve never seen oblong “pearls” like this. Steeped, the flavor is also quite unique…kind of like a mix between white tea and black tea. It’s richer and maltier than a white tea, but has that distinctive white tea flavor that always reminds me of hay. It also seems like it would resteep quite a few times! This isn’t necessarily my cup of tea, but I can tell it’s high quality and I hope someone else loves it.

Oh wow, I’m almost finished with the pouch and I’ve yet to actually write a review. Another that came during the frantic few months of the office move and I just completely forgot.

Amazing enough this is a white I’ve actually enjoyed. Its not 100% my thing, but there is a lot of flavor and its not heavy hitting on the flavors that I usually dislike with white teas. This feels much more robust but not harsh even at my normal steeping parameters (boiling for a couple minutes). Resteeps well.

That said, I don’t see this as a regular drinker or something I would strive to keep in my drawer, but its still nice to have once in a while. I won’t mourn it being finished, but I’ll enjoy what I have.

Strange VariaTEA TTB – Tea #12

So there’s a whole unopened (well, previously unopened) 50g pouch of this in the TTB. I remember seeing this type of tea at What-cha before, but I’ve never tried it, or any Malawi tea that I can recall. So here we are!

I used 5 “pearls” for a 16-ounce pot. I’m really bad about overestimating the amount of tea to use when it’s compressed or rolled, so I probably could’ve used less. They didn’t actually unfurl much during the 3-minute steep, so they could probably take quite a few steeps.

Anyway, on to the tea. It’s very flavorful for a white tea, with a combination of green, black, and white tea flavors. The texture is smooth and slightly thick, and there’s a black-tea-like malty note and body. But it also reminds me of a nutty green tea, such as Long Jing. Smooth and buttery with a pronounced nutty flavor, reminiscent of cashews, and also a light vegetal note. Also picking up on the hay and oats flavors I usually find in white teas, and a lovely natural sweetness. There’s an interesting astringency that sort of tickles the back of my throat.

I’m a bit torn on whether to keep this one, as I’m not a resteeper and that seems wasteful for a tea that barely unfurls on the first steep. Plus this tea is extremely pricey…

Result: Tried?

Not to brag or anything, but I think I have a pretty good memory when it comes to tea. Like I basically can remember purchasing every tea that’s in my cupboard, or opening up the present or opening up the TTB. I can look at a tea and go “Oh, I remember I got this from so and so from the teeny tiny tea box!” or something like that (I cheat and write who I got the tea from and which TTB but I remember physically opening the TTB itself ahaha)

But THIS tea?? I organized my tea stash the other day and came across this tea and NOTHING. I either got this tea myself or had my parents get it for me one year since there’s nothing written on the package itself.

I was looking at the description and saw that it was a white tea from Malawi, Africa. I saw that and got real excited and sent it to my boyfriend! He works in an African themed restaurant and is constantly looking to up their food and beverage game. To be honest, I’ve only ever had Rooibos or Honeybush so I didn’t think that Africa really made any other “full leaf” style teas. I looked at the tea and immediately thought China.

It is a beautiful looking tea but it is very weak. I didn’t know how to treat this so I just followed the pacakge. It said 1-2 pieces in 16oz water for 4-7 minutes. No temp on in, so I erred on the side of caution and just went 10 degrees below my safety net and used 160* water…. yeah not a good idea. The tea ended up being a bit too watered down! It’s delicious and I’m enjoying it right now, but I feel like I’d enjoy it more with hotter water and a stronger taste. I weighed the pearls and it looks like each medium sized pear is just under 1g so I probably used like 1.6g of tea for my 12oz mug. I’m definitely going to tweak it the next time!

At this time I’m not going to rate it, but I’ll definitely give this another go next time!

Light but flavorful, smooth, a very good tea.

(DavidsTea 2022: 88)

I actually recently just re-added this tea to my collection… and also have an old bag of it that I need to finish… but I couldn’t resist a cup yesterday. First infusion was nice and light, but I oversteeped the rest and they were a bit strong. I think I need to use fewer pearls.

Bought it as part of the Summer Sale from the DT website (1/2 price + additional 20% off). Enjoying the different characteristics from each infusion. Not sure I catch the “buttery” but feel"honey suckle" represents the finish for each sip. I use about 6 tea rolls for each 16 oz cup and steeping 4 minutes per cup in a Perfect Tea Maker (so that the leaves are not soaking between brews). So far, three steeps of an easy & drinkable green tea without the need to add anything..

feb 16/18

i probably need to be doing this more. i like these zomba pearls quite a lot. a decent thickness to the tea, and im getting bassier notes than i usually get from white tea, more hay, and vegetal than the bai hao yin zen my wife, son and i shared last night while my oldest son was at kickboxing. this is the second time ive had this one since buying it a month or so ago. im 2 steeps in, and from what i remember the rolled leaves give it a good longevity. zomba pearls is my 3rd gongfu of the day after having a white2tea raw flapjack for breakfast, and finishing off my 2017 spring wu yi rou gui, seriously just rambling now waiting on my water. steep 3 and 4 are giving me some good mouth watering and something like a honey mustard note that is really quite nice. also a bit of that tongue numbing thing going on. im going to hammer this for a couple more steeps. i went probably 2 minutes of so for steep 5. the flavour has pretty much left, but still a decent body (im still not prepared to say “mouthfeel” yet), and doubleing down on the tongue numbing. a bit of astringency. if i didnt have steep 6 in the gaiwan already i wouldnt bother at this point, but since its there i might as well. i steeped it about 6 minutes or so on the killshot, and a tiny bit of flavour came back, but i will probably go 4 good steeps here as a rule. after all this the pearls were still more or less intact.

A very pretty tea with undertones of honey, soft lemon, toast and hay-like, golden, vegetal flavors. I don’t find it to be very buttery (more bright and honeyed), and certainly nothing like Butter Sencha’s intensely buttery, creamy sweetness. I think that Zomba Pearls has a toasty, delightful, hay-like taste to it. Pleasant and warming. I originally said I wouldn’t repurchase this, because I like Tie Kwan Yin for a bold, warm, toasty tea and Butter Sencha for a buttery, sweet tea, but I like Zomba Pearls for exactly when those two blends are too much. This has a bright, light, happy taste to it that’s just easy to enjoy. Tastes like sunshine and happiness.