Black Dragon Pearl

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Chocolate, Malt, Cocoa, Molasses, Honey, Smooth, Cacao, Earth, Scotch, Cedar
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
High
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by nerditea
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec 4 g 13 oz / 393 ml

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116 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Oh look, black dragon pearl is finally back at Teavana!! Of course, I have to add it back into my collection, as theirs was the first black pearl I ever had, and loved. After yesterday’s gig, I...” Read full tasting note
  • “So I tested the guy helping me out at Teavana yesterday as I asked for this tea. I asked about the flavor of this tea waiting to see if he’d mention the chocolate and malty notes…no he told me...” Read full tasting note
    95
  • “SIPDOWN! and backlog – another from yesterday. This one was not only packed in a travel mug for the drive home but i also shared a few of the steeps and re-steeps with my parents before i left. ...” Read full tasting note
    83
  • “Asked for tea for Christmas; my mother and her posse happened to walk into a Teavana store in Chicago (Lady’s “Lets Go Shopping” roadtrip). After a hour’s guided tour through the intracies of tea...” Read full tasting note
    85

From Teavana

This fragrant and rare hand-rolled tippy black tea from the Yunnan province unfurls to release a smooth-bodied taste with sweet, chocolaty, and malty undertones. Good for multiple infusions. This is a perfect morning and afternoon tea.

How to Prepare

Use 1 teaspoon of tea per 8 ounces of water. Heat water to just before boiling (195 degrees) and steep for 3-4 minutes. 2oz of tea equals 25-30 teaspoons.

Ingredients:

Hand-rolled, pure black tea.

About Teavana View company

Company description not available.

116 Tasting Notes

92

Praised be the astute and venerable person who originated the aphorism “good things come in small packages!” This satisfyingly rich mixture is indeed a small gustatory marvel! When I began to open the package, I could at once sense that this tea would be so. As my heart rate began to reach a seemingly inordinately rapid pace for the opening of a tea package, and as my agèd nerves once again felt the brisk and exhilarating quickness of youthful anticipation, I knew that this could be no common tea. And yea, I did experience this innate awareness again as I watched the small dainty balls of lightly compressed tea, each their own microcosms of a world of fantastic taste, fall with a supernatural grace into the seething water of my humble teapot. And oh, how right I was. The fine globes of tea slowly unfurled themselves, as does the dragon unfurl his long and noble body after a century’s worth of the most profound slumber, and as does the ivory-petal’d lily unfurl its soft beauty upon a bright world in glorious springtime. When Father Time did turn his hourglass at three and a half minutes to signal the completion of the tea’s deeply moving steeping process, I rushed to grab my cup to taste and behold this sweet and velvety chocolate wonder. The water in the pot had turned a shade of amber rich enough to surpass that of the jewels of Baltic princesses from the days of empires, and beautiful enough to rival the ethereal splendour of the wide Jordanian deserts.

This tea was such a warming, rich, sweet delight that I utterly neglected to pause Lawrence of Arabia when it automatically resumed on my television. It is no matter however; I own the film, but I only own a finite amount of this exquisite and aptly named Black Dragon Pearl tea. [My deepest apologies to the distinguished Mr. O’Toole…]

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 30 sec
Angrboda

Non-native english speaker question of curiousness: What does ‘gustatory’ mean?
(I have a funny feeling I’m going to be learning a lot of words from your posts…)

Sock Monk

“relating to or associated with eating or the sense of taste” :)

Winston H. A. Remmington III

‘Gustatory’ describes things that relate to the sense of taste, or that affect it/are associated with it.

I am most glad to be of help to you! and thank you for liking the review!

Winston H. A. Remmington III

Ah, I see the honorable Sock Monk got here first!

Hello there, my fine chap!

Angrboda

Thanks both. :)

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90
102 tasting notes

I can’t believe I haven’t already reviewed this. I love this tea. It’s one of my favorite strong, robust black teas which is not bitter. The fact that it’s shaped into balls just adds to the fun — and I love that the tea isn’t all black; there is quite a bit of gold.

It is easy to measure. I use 6-8 balls for every 8 oz. of water. This brews a nice, strong cup. The liquor is dark. The taste is powerful, strong, and full of cocoa and malty notes. In fact, when I brew this as a tea latte (16 oz mug filled with 8 oz steamed milk, 8 oz. double-strength brewed tea, one packet of Truvia), it is so chocolately that I could almost swear I am drinking hot chocolate.

As much as I love this, it isn’t a tea for sipping when you want something that has subtle, sophisticated flavors. This is serious black tea. It will wake you up and start your day on the right note. If you like Keemuns or Assams, I feel confident saying you will probably like Black Dragon Pearls.

(As a side note, I visited Teavana today and saw they had a Black Dragon Pearls candle! I almost bought it, but like most Teavana products, it was a bit overpriced. It smelled lovely, although it didn’t capture the rich chocolate-y-ness of this tea.)

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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83
50 tasting notes

This is my second tasting of this tea, and I have to say, out of all of my teavana teas I have (about 12 of them) I like their unflavoured teas the best. This black tea has a nice earthy taste to it, but I am pretty sure I added too much tea for the amount of water I used, I would use less next time. It’s a very warm comforting black tea, and it’s even better when you add milk to it.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 30 sec
TeaBrat

I agree their unflavored teas are better IMO as well.

ScottTeaMan

This is one of the few from Teavana I would buy. Any other suggestions?

Erin

The Gyokuro Imperial is pretty nice.

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87
14 tasting notes

Another day, another cup.
Using my clear glass Teavana tumbler; I am enjoying my day until it is time to hit the books hard and then get to bed. Helping me wake up though is this moderately strong black tea! Two pearls with around 12 fl.oz.

So I tend to enjoy the pearl teas almost just as much as blooming teas due to their unfurling process that takes place during steep time. It is a beautiful thing how people can craft the blooming teas. My favorite blooming tea has been and probably will always be Peach Momotaro Artisan Tea. I will post this up on my cupboard after this tasting note…

One more thing is that I enjoy the Black Dragon Pearl because of it’s taste, watching the pearls unfurl, and the name of the tea. I always liked dragons for some reason.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 6 min, 30 sec

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94
377 tasting notes

Celebrating the new year with bowling, delicious food, and some good tea. My wife and I are co-chairs with another couple for our church’s capital campaign, and a few weeks ago we were talking about tea at one of the meetings. So after a game of bowling we head back to their house to enjoy some great food. This is what Les had received from his wife for Christmas asked if I would like some. How could I turn down such an offer :) Les is fairly new to loose leaf tea and I said the great part about teas like this are that you can get more than one steep out of the leaves(to his surprise since he had been tossing the leaves after a steep). No surprise this is a great tea. It may be the first time I’ve had Teavana’s Black Dragon. I have had Teavivre’s offering of this tea. Same quality and flavor. I love the chocolaty and malty notes of the tea. The better value….well that’s not for me to decide ;)

Bonnie

Ah capitol campaigns. I had a visit yesterday to begin the New Year on this very subject because we aim for 100% participation in our community (it’s about 60% now). Time, talent, treasure… a pleasure not a curse to give.
Good for you! Happy New Year and God Grant You Many Blessings!

The DJBooth

Amen Bonnie. Blessings to you in the New Year as well.

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83
115 tasting notes

My first tea of 2010 is this one. Three balls in the mug and 3 min steep. Brew comes out a deep golden amber. With a little sweetener this is a great cup. Flavoring is bold and reminds me of a Golden Monkey with a little malty, woody, and caramel-y notes. There’s no bitterness or astringency and makes for a great morning tea or anytime.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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193 tasting notes

Good morning cup…getting a lot of malty-ness with this steep. I love Saturday mornings!!!

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73
58 tasting notes

So, what, I went to a new tea monger and you didn’t think I would get a little bit of everything? Sure, it was hard to find the tea among the the “delightful mixtures” at Teavana, and it’s pretty clear they want to sell you with their accouterments, but they have some good teas. This tea, this one is okay.

The pearls have an almost cloying sweet raisin, leather, barnyard smell to them. A smell and taste profile those of you who’ve read my reviews before know that I like quite well in my black teas. The pearls themselves have a really nice feel in the hand and are very attractive in appearance.

The brew is kinda okay. The scent profile didn’t transfer over quite true, but it has a nice natural sweetness with some of the barnyard leather. Almost a dry hay smell, but only the kind you get from a hayloft. A little bitter at the end, a little sediment on the tongue, but definitely an enjoyable tea. Also a light mouth feel.

I’m just now taking my last sips from my mug and I swear I taste cinnamon or clove, something in that kind of range.

Good for a midday cup.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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96
19 tasting notes

After trying BDP batches from both Adagio and Teavana, my suspicions have been confirmed true — they taste exactly the same. As much as I love Teavana, you can get BDP for cheaper over at Adagio.

I did notice that the batch I just bought from Teavana has more malty notes than in the past, but that’s probably just a variation on this year’s harvest.

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100
7 tasting notes

exquisito, un suave sabor amargo.

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