Dragon Pearl Jasmine

Here’s my celebratory Year of the Dragon tea! I have to remember not to over-tea myself on this one, which is hard not to do because it lasts for so many steeps. And it’s so delicious it’s hard to stop drinking it!

This is a sample I received in my latest Harney and Sons order.
I am going take a second to thank all the tea companies for giving out samples.
I just think it is awesome.
It seems like 10-15 years ago when my Father first got into teas, it was not a common thing, so I am always pleasantly surprised when I do get some in a box.
Okay!
On to Dragon Pearl Jasmine.
Which is my VERY first introduction to a Dragon Pearl Jasmine.
I must say when I opened the box, and saw this sample, I was so excited!
I have been wanting to try it since I came onto Steepster.
It seems to be a tea that either you really like it or you don’t.
Well, from the moment I opened the little sachet packet, it was like I bumped into a dear old friend.
I wore Jasmine perfume when I was younger and used a LUSH soap that smelled just like this tea.
I felt like I was young again!
Which is quite a feat since yesterday was my birthday and I am suffering from slight heat stroke today (playing too much in the sun on the water) and general feelings of ancient-ness creeping up on me.
If the smell was not enough to win you on this tea, the taste will.
Imagine a Jasmine flower with honey dripping off it…Yeah, thats how it tastes.
So, Harney and Sons, Thank you for the sample.
So, Steepster Friends, Thank you for introducing me to a tea that I had not even heard of before.
And thank you,Dragon Pearl Jasmine Tea, for making me feel young again…if not for a few minutes:)
P.S.
I used SimplyJen’s recommendations for brewing this tea, since my little packet did not have any on it.
I think it was spot on Jen!

I say go big or go home.

So, when I decided that I wanted to do a little Harney & Sons vs. Samovar match up of course it turned into a much bigger ordeal than heating up a couple of cups of tea. I pulled out some of my camera equipment and set up a makeshift lighting situation. Not the best, but I think they came out decently enough.

For the sake of comparison purposes, I’m going to try to do this list style. Both teas are relatively giving in terms of steep time and temperature, so I used the same for both of them. I should also point out at this time that even after direct comparison, these two are neck-and-neck. I’m really splitting hairs at this point and obviously, since I’m no expert, this should really be taken for what it’s worth [like maybe a small animal]. In the absence of oyster crackers [since I believe those are supposed to be good palate cleansers] I used original flavored goldfish. It seemed official enough for my purposes. And HERE WE GO.

Scent
Perfumed to perfection. It smells decadently of jasmine – both the dry pearls and the steaming drink. It could be cloying, but since I only participate in moderation it’s simply intoxicating. There are no major differences between the scent of this tea and Samovar’s, but H+S is SLIGHTLY stronger.

Round Scent goes to Harney & Sons.

Texture
At the start, Dragon Pearl echoes a tingly sensation. Not tingly in a ticklish, bubbly sort of way, tingly like somewhere between your foot falling asleep and when you intake air quickly and suddenly and the air is REALLY COLD and it does a number on your lungs for a second. As it cooled slightly, it evened out. It’s weightier than Samovar’s, and it was also a little more textured. I’d call it grittier, though it really isn’t a gritty tea.

Round Texture goes to Samovar.

Things I Don’t Know Enough About
I’m not going to bother attempting to comment on the leaves because I really know nothing. As for things I simply observed, H+S seemed to have more leaves attached at the stem. They were bigger, but they also didn’t seem to unfurl as completely as Samovar’s. See for yourself. [Disregard coloring as I took some liberties there, except for the final leaf shot. That’s pretty true to what I see in real life.]
1 | http://twitpic.com/nfmev
2 | http://twitpic.com/nfml7
3 | http://twitpic.com/nfmug
leaf | http://twitpic.com/ng5r2
cup | http://twitpic.com/ng61c
all | http://twitpic.com/photos/takgoti

Taste
The main event! Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! Dragon Pearl doesn’t exhibit that jasmine sweetness for me until it has cooled somewhat significantly. In the beginning, most of the taste is in the aftertaste. I get a taste of something relatively bland in the liquid when held in the mouth, but there’s a that delicate jasmine taste towards the back of the mouth that makes itself present when air sweeps in. It remains, pleasantly, for quite some time.

I prefer to drink jasmine tea when it’s between hot and warm, and because the taste in this doesn’t begin to really kick in for me until it’s rapidly approaching warm, it leaves me a smallish window in which to enjoy it. Perfectly fine if I’m concentrating on the tea like today and can pace myself accordingly. However, I can see myself getting it annoyed if I waited, got distracted, and then missed the window. Overall, it’s a very good tea. However…

Round Taste goes to Samovar.

Price
Not to be ignored. In the smaller quantity, the difference is negligible. If you like buying things in large quantities, however, H+S wins [Samovar also doesn’t go above 5.5 oz. for this particular tea]. I like to buy teas in small to medium quantities because I have a lot of them and I’d rather drink them while they’re awesome. For loose tea only at the time of this log, H+S’ pricing is…
$20 for 4 oz. | $5/oz.
$39 for 8 oz. | $4.88/oz.
$69 for 1 lb. | $4.31/oz.
And everything said and done, unless you’re buying Samovar’s small quantity [which runs much higher at $7.50/oz.] I’d base the overall decision on who typically supplies more tea for you.

I have been meaning to try this for a while. Thanks to Russel Allyn and Harney and Sons I can! They sent a free sample of the loose leaf version.

I have only had one other Jasmine Dragon Pearl tea and that is the one from Teavivre. I will try to compare and contrast the two teas as best I can. I gave some of the Teavivre pearls to a Teavana employee, and he said that the Teavivre ones seemed more earthy than Teavana’s. Let’s see how these two stack up.

Appearance: the pearls are very similar. Teavivre’s pearls are ever so slightly larger overall. I notice that the Harney and Sons says green and white blend on this page. I had not noticed that before.

Steeping: both smell great! Neither has a sickening, artificial perfume aroma, and that is important because my first jasmine tea experience was somewhat traumatizing.

Color: the liquor is very similar. Both are golden, but there is a tiny peach colored cast to the Teavivre when the level is low in the cup. When the cup is filled completely, the Teavivre tea is slightly darker. H&S remains golden.

Wet leaves: though the Harney pearls were smaller, the unfurled leaves are larger, especially in width. They are a bit lighter in color than Teavivre’s, which have more…stem?…attached. They are long and wiry.

Taste: wow, I feel so spoiled. Both are these are very good. The Teavivre tea is softer and smoother, the jasmine perhaps a tiny bit more pronounced up front with the tea flavor following, and it gains astringency as it cools.

The Harney and Sons tea tastes more like the greens I have been drinking for the past six months with just a hint of sour astringency at the front, and the jasmine following at the end. This is not a bad astringency I am referring to, but the palate cleansing property. I am getting that sweet, late rising aftertaste that comes with many greens, and I suspect the Harney and Sons tea is the source of that as I haven’t noticed it before drinking Teavivre’s, and the Harney tea has the sort of taste up front that I associate with teas that do that.

Summary: both are great. Teavivre’s version is jasmine followed by green tea flavor until it starts to cool. Harney’s is the opposite – green tea flavor that says, “Here I am!” followed by soft jasmine.

Different people and different tastes mean some will prefer one, some the other. I hope this review helps!

If you love jasmine tea, also try Harney’s tea just called Jasmine. It is incredibly inexpensive, you can drink it every day at the price, and very, very good. I actually preferred it over one of their more expensive jasmine loose leaf offerings.

Tea of the evening…..
…..And a little experiment. I may be sorry for drinking a tea even with just a little caffeine this late, but it is the weekend. I am hoping my system can tolerate a jasmine pearl this late at night and not suffer insomnia from too much caffeine too late at night…..

I am really liking jasmine tea, lately. I have one that is a straight jasmine green and a few that are pearl jasmine like this one. I love the light floral notes in this type of tea as they are very relaxing. This example is very good. It definitely ranks up with the best I have tried (which really is only about three…..) I would consider purchasing when I cannot find a comparable tea on the market at a better price. This one comes out to about $5 an ounce. It resteeps very well. My second pot full (yes, I am incredibly hydrated after two 24 oz. pots of this!) was just as good as the first.

24 oz. teapot, just over 4 actual tsp tea, 175ish water, 3 minutes steep #1, 4 minutes steep #2. No additions.

This tea was one of mu first from my foray into good-quality loose-leaf tea. I love the little pearls and, unlike Adagio’s Black Dragon Pearls which are more like balls (insert joke here), these actually are dainty little pearls of tea.

I wanted to watch the pearls expand properly so I cut open the sachet and dumped the contents into my strainer. I love watching this tea of tea unfurl – it’s almost like a work of art right in my mug. The jasmine is delicately-fragrant but not overpowering (ie. I don’t feel like I’m drinking perfume). I got two good infusions out of these leaves and I think I could easily get one or two more.

When I think of nauseating, overpowering jasmine teas this is one of them.

This pretty pink tin of twenty tea bags was given to me as a birthday gift last year. It was an incredibly sweet thought and I had never seen pearls before this. The individual sachet bags are gorgeous; the leaves themselves look like delicately rolled bits of green and white cloth. At the time, the jasmine aroma reminded me of root beer.

This tea is consistent. The jasmine is exuberantly floral. Sometimes, I pick up a pleasant “salty” sweet finish. The flavours have a tendency to overwhelm and I can’t imagine following the suggested four minute steep.

Unfortunately, this isn’t one of those teas I find myself reaching for. I still have twenty tea bags. They must have given me extra because I’ve had this at least three times in the last year.. just did a count on my gifted Paris tin and, although it says “twenty sachets”, I counted twenty-one. Lucky me!

Another goodie from QuiltGuppy! Jasmine is one of my favorite flavors and scents, and dragon pearl is one of my favorite varieTeas. ;) This one delivers! This is the bagged tea version but with the nylon bags the tea smells and tastes like the fresh, loose version! As it brews the fragrance of jasmine is so strong, which is nice. A coworker stopped by my office to see my new “jasmine candle” and left with a bag of the tea herself.

Thanks again, QG!

Had this as the sachet – they state that brew up to 12 oz of water – but I think that’s a little light. Overall it seems like a decent pearl jasmine. Very light color, nice aroma.

made a very tepid cup of this to make up for my overbrewed kwazulu. Basically I just put a tbsp in some warmish water and let it sit in the “warming” area of the stove while I did 3other things. Eventually the pearls unfurled all the way. I had a few sips and its delicate – not the strongest I’ve ever made it, surely. Decided to have grapefruit soda with lunch, so I put most of this mug in the fridge to drink cold later.