Fengqing Dragon Pearl Black Tea

Tea of the morning. This is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. It’s wonderfully malty and has rich, dark chocolate notes and a hint of sweetness. The second steep is sweeter than the first with notes of raw honey playing against the chocolate. Delicious.

The generous sample Angel at Teavivire sent me is almost gone. Another one I need to order!

Now this is a sad, sad sipdown if I ever did see one. Unfortunately, this last cup wasn’t quite as good as past ones, definitely due to the fact that I’ve been hoarding this one for over a year. The malt and chocolate notes were nearly non-existant but I’m still pining for more. Let’s cross those fingers that Teavivre will be able to get a hold of more sooner than later. :(

And I’m at 67 teas now? Wow!

Sipping on this right now :D It’s not something I would order but it is tasty :D

Pardon my absence from the Steepsterverse. Work schedule has been kinda nutty as of late. Has a nice malty cocoa like flavor. Reminds me a lot of the Gonfu black from Teavivre. Very smooth. Somewhat grainy like whole wheat bread. Another great offering from Teavivre

A big thank you to Teavivre for sending out these samples! I don’t know what it is about black tea pearls, but I love them, and I had to try Teavivre’s. And I had to try them today because of other tasting notes on the dashboard today! Maybe the flavor stays wrapped up in the pearls making the flavor stronger, rather than with a loose leaf, I don’t know. Teavivre’s site told me to brew ten pearls at a time but one sample had seven in it, so I went with that. These pearls are pretty big though! I rinsed the pearls with just boiled water, just covering the pearls for a few seconds, then dumped that water out.

Steep #1// boiled // 2 min
I just love the dark chocolate flavor of pearls. It’s like melted chocolate. So so good. With only seven pearls, I can imagine how ten would be even more delicious. But some might not like the flavor that strong! There is a bit of a tanginess but in the best way possible. It makes the sweetness even sweeter. Like semi-sweet dark chocolate chips! (Is that even a thing?) This is why I love black pearls!

Steep #2 // boiled // 2 min
This cup is also super divine.. though not as burned dark chocolatey as the first cup. A little bit oaky, but I didn’t really follow Teavivre’s parameters of 1,2,3 minute steeps. It’s still very good though. I’ll have to have my Zen pearls again soon to see how they compare to these, but I think those need a longer steep time anyway.

Steep #3 // boiled // 2 min
Also very good but the first cup is the best. Overall, these are amazing. Chocolate-like tea at its finest. I’m so glad I started drinking tea because at this point, I don’t know how I could live without it!

Many, many thanks to ashmanra for this tea!!!!!!

These are very, very delicious black dragon pearls, particularly if you prefer the more leathery/slightly smoky side of things. There’s chocolate and sweetness and grain, but a distinct Queen Catherine-esque type light smoke. It’s distinctive enough to even come through on the second steep.

It was yummy and a great wake up this morning, but boy is it delicious with my red beans and rice with andouille sausage and smoked paprika leftovers I brought for lunch!

I love my uberchocolatey thepuriTea dragon pearls, but these are different enough, believe it or not, that I would stock them both!

Thanks once again, ashmanra!

I’m emotionally and physically exhausted. It’s time to sit back and relax with a nice cup of tea. Lots of people have given these dragon pearls high marks, so I thought it would be an easy winner.

I used 5 pearls instead of the recommended 3-4 because I prefer strong tea to weak tea. Last thing I want is to brew up a new tea and then find that it tastes like barely flavored water. I’m really glad I added that extra pearl! The first cup was pretty calm. Light cocoa notes playing in a sunny field of Yunnan. Anything lighter than this and it probably would be barely flavored water.

The second steep was for 2 minutes, and it has a much richer and more developed flavor. There’s an added component of spiciness to this cup too. This is a much better tasting cuppa than the first. Let’s go for a third steep for 3 minutes. The spiciness has dissipated, but the Yunnan flavor is still going strong.

This is truly an excellent tea. It’s not bitter or astringent, and it’s put me in a better mood. The world just doesn’t seem as dreary when you’ve got a nice cup of tea in your hand.

This tea is rich and thick and oddly reminds me of coffee. Not the particularly great stuff but the instant aircraft stuff that is slightly stale and requires cream. I know not a raving endorsement, but I actually did enjoy this tea. Maybe it comes from fond memories of drinking way to much of that stuff.

I used 4 balls in 200ml of water.

1 min
Scent. Smoke, cocoa,honey, leathery tone, spice hint of nicotiana

Taste. Spicy leathery tones over smoky cocoa with dried fruit almost date like note. Smoky coffeeish tone. Pretty smooth and robust.

80s. Spice, cocoa, smoke,, coffee note, leather, honey.
Smoky coffee tone, cocoa, leather, slight tobacco note, date.

110s. Spice,leather,cocoa,fading smoke tone,light tobacco note.

Nice balance of above flavours, creamy mouth feel.

130s fading fragrance and taste but much the same in scent and flavour.

160s. Leathery tabacco notes some cocoa with a sweetness underneath.

This was a nice sweet, smooth, vaguely chocolatey cup! Had a little floral thing going on in the front too, always lovely when it’s light like that. It’s also fun to watch the balls unfurl and fall to the bottom of my glass teapot (also from Teavivre). Good morning treat. Resteeps ok for the most part too.

Thanks to Dexter3657 for these ones.

I smell sweet maltiness as I wait for the tea to cool to a drinkable temperature.

The flavour is about what I expected. I think these ones are nicer than the ones I got from Tealux, but they aren’t really to my taste. I think I should revisit this style of tea in a year or 6 months to see how my preferences have changed. :)