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“I won’t give this tea a rating because not sure if my taste/smell came back fully from my bout with Covid. I bought this mainly out of curiousity, wondering what one of these “dragon pearl” teas...” Read full tasting note
The Dragon Pearls Green Tea blend from English Tea Store is made from the top two leaves and the bud of new season growth. These delicate leaves are then hand rolled into the small pearls. When you infuse these pearls in your tea cup, you will see the top two leaves and the bud come to life. In fact you will see some small “hairy down” on the bud of the leaves – this denotes superb quality and very careful and delicate handling.
The extraordinary flavour of these Dragon Pearls is due to the time of plucking and manufacture. The new season starts in China in late March/early April and it is during the first 4 weeks that the best teas are manufactured. After this initial period the quality of the teas and green leaf start to deteriorate rapidly and the teas become quite plain. Dragon Pearls are only made from tea plucked in the first 3 weeks of the new season.
Tea aficionados know that Chinese green teas such as Dragon Pearls are among the finest green teas produced. Clear and rich, they often have substantial body and pungency that belie their pale liquors. The aroma is sweet and floral, or like spring meadows or cool forests – after all, green teas are only steamed before drying and it is not surprising that good China greens such as this posses an ethereal but appetizing vegetative fragrance and flavor.
This tea is from Wuyi district of Fujian Province, China, altitude 1500 feet. It is a steamed green tea, hand rolled, and produces a pale green tea.
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I won’t give this tea a rating because not sure if my taste/smell came back fully from my bout with Covid. I bought this mainly out of curiousity, wondering what one of these “dragon pearl” teas would be like on its own without the addition of the jasmine scenting. Honestly, I was expecting not to be too thrilled by it, as I suspect that maybe an unspectacular tea selection is perhaps why these pearls are usually jasmine-scented in the first place.
I guess I am pleasantly surprised, then, to find this a somewhat interesting and enjoyable tea. There is some sweetness, but I seem to notice this tea taking a bend towards some savory qualities. I even get some hints of bacon. For the price, I think I will continue to choose other teas I enjoy more at a lower price point. But good to have the experience.
While the leaves are impressive in their neatness and clearly higher quality based on their beautiful fuzzy buds and intact leafsets, on the other hand I suspect this style of tea is overvalued because there is also a lot of stem included when compared to other premium green teas. The intact stems are needed to make sure the leaves are lengthy enough to be rolled into the tight pearls. You pay more for the rolling process and end up with a lesser amount of leaf.
