Fengqing Dragon Pearl Black Tea

Smoked wood and chocolate. Honey aroma

5 steeps: rinse, 20s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 60s

Larger than usual pearl balls. Pretty to look at, dark and gold mix.

110ml Gaiwan, 212℉, 5 steeps: rinse, 10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 60s. The wet leaves smelled heavenly, like a dark chocolate fruit bar. The balls unraveled fairly quickly. A strong aroma of a mixture of dark malted cocoa, strawberries, dried berries, and honey.

The taste is lighter than the aroma but with the same aroma notes. Dark chocolate, malt, honey, and fruit notes. The taste lingers for a long time after the sip. I think this would go wonderful with a dessert. It’s always so yummy to take a bite of cake or donut and then chase it down with a great tasting tea as the taste mixes with the dessert. Every sip, I thought about that. lol I don’t have any sweets in the house but I’ll have to get some to try it sometime with this tea. I don’t recall thinking that particular thought with any other black tea. I really like it, and recommend it for a great daily drinker.

Hope you are all doing well. Me… It’s always same ol’ same ol’ and working on sipdowns, trying to behave and not buying too much of any new tea for now.

Huzzah. another black tea. This time, it’s the Fengqing Dragon Pearls from Tevivre.
Starting out by saying I love how the “sample” packs from tevivre are exactly one serving. Yes you get two individually wrapped single serving packs per sample, and yes I ordered two of almost every sample in my order. Still- nice touch.

(NOTE) I should add that for a small, 6oz cup of tea, the amount per sample package is probably closer to two servings. But for my large 12oz cup, it is a single serving.

Ok, western style, 195F Water at 6 min per steeping instructions.
Flavor is… different. It’s not as cocoa-y as my golden blacks, although that flavor is still present. Strong malt flavor and I now know what that flavor tag “Autumn Leaf Pile” means because holy cow is that here. I’m not sure if I like this or not. It kinda tastes… dirty. Not earthy, DIRTY. There’s a bit of bread flavor here too. I’ve let it sit a bit and it really doesn’t taste good once it’s cooled. I think it was much tastier when hot. I mean, if you like a really woodsy black tea, then this would definitely be for you. I personally, however, think I will stick to my regular golden blacks.

Well, I’m only using one pearl/ball, because I don’t have many in this sample, and didn’t want to waste any. So far, it’s got a woodsy aroma. It’s a familiar scent, subtle yet present.

Taste…crap. I mean, crap, I should have used two balls here. I can vaguely detect some of the chocolate that others have mentioned, but I just didn’t give it enough oomph here. As I sip through to the bottom of the cup, it is a naturally sweet tea, and not too bad. Next time, for my 6 oz. cup, I’m going with the standard 2 ball steep.

Sample pouch of this I had over two days. I was originally interested in this as a possible replacement for Teavana’s Black Dragon Pearls, but wasn’t willing to order it because of the large ounce order size (2oz).
Good but not great, a bit malty and fruity. More of a daily drinker – work tea for me. I still might get some for that reason if I end up ordering from Teavivre at some point.
Sipdown.

Leaf: Huge tightly rolled balls, approximately the size of a small marble.

Water: I let the water get really hot, just under a full boil.

Amount: I used 4 balls for 8 oz of water.

First steeping:
5 minutes: The balls have completely unfurled. The tea is a medium shade of amber. This tea is hot! Sipping on it, there is nothing that special about it. It tastes very similar to the black tea that they have at a lot of the Chinese restaurants on my college campus. However, I let it cool for a few minutes, so I could actually drink a full mouthfull, and the flavor is much more complex. It is very malty, with just a hint of a sweet, caramel-like flavor. It’s very rich and thick.

Second steeping:
10 minutes: The tea is a lighter, caramel color. It has exuded most of its nuance in the previous steeping, unfortunately.

I used 4 balls…so good. I am on a roll today and wish I was home having a cozy/lazy day sipping down delicious teas. I get notes of chocolate, mineral, autumn leaves, leather, and sweet potatoes. Definitely a good buy. Thank you Teavivre!

I have been drinking this tea for a while and it has been steadily growing on me. It has a very appealing sweet smell and taste (chocolate, honey, some indeterminate flowers). The taste is not very complicated but consistently pleasant and warming. In addition, it holds extremely well across for multiple gaiwan infusions.

This is not the tea that wows you and stops in your tracks but rather the one you can rely on to cheer you up. A bit of a trusted daily drinker.

This morning, I had Planet Jingmai raw puerh from Crimson Lotus, so this afternoon I decided to have some small moons from Teavivre. Most people seem to be using 3 or 4 balls of Fengqing Dragon Pearl Black Tea, but I went for a full 4 grams, which came out to be 6 balls in a 110ml gaiwan. I did a rinse, then started with a 30 second infusion to open the balls, then went back to 10 secs for the next infusion and began adding seconds from there. Compared to a Laoshan Black, this tea doesn’t have as strong of a chocolate note, and for me it is less of a chocolate taste and more of a faint chocolate smell. There is also that malty note that others have reviewed, and I find that it fades by about the fourth infusion. I get some sweet potato taste. In fact, this dragon pearl tasted a lot of like a more delicate version of Laoshan Black. I never experienced any bitterness or astringency. I could drink this tea as a daily, though I would go with Laoshan Black for the more pronounced chocolate note. I happened to have an Oreo nearby, and I have to say, this tea goes great with an Oreo. As most probably know, this tea is shipped directly from China. Packaging was excellent with sealed foil smaller bags inside sealed foil larger bags, the larger bags being wrapped in bubble wrap and packaged with more bubble wrap inside of the box.

I have 4 balls in my mouth and I like it.

Most people tend to go with 4 balls, and I like a large cup of tea anyway, so that’s what I did. It brews up the most beautiful amber colour. The smell is rich and inviting, and you can just tell that it’s going to be a little malty.

The first sips don’t disappoint. You get the richness and the maltiness that your nose contractually informed you that your tongue would be getting, but we’re also getting subtle chocolate notes and a very, very faint smokiness. When I say faint I really do mean that – it’s hardly noticeable (to me, anyway).

This is a fantastic cuppa, basically. I still prefer my Golden Monkeys and my Assams as my “every day” teas, but one or two of these a week will go down just fine, thankyouvery much.

Thanks once again, Angel… once these sample packs run I’m seriously tempted to get a 100g pouch.

UPDATE: I ordered a 100g pouch, and wow, I’m glad that I did. I’m now down to 3 balls for 2 minutes on the first steep and this give satisfying cup of tea. I’m also picking up a little bit of sweetness now. Can’t wait to try this gong-fu style.