Golden Emperor Chrysanthemum Dragon Ball Black Tea

Sipdown!

This is a (long overdue) sample from Kawaii433. I miss her! I heard she’s locked out of her account, I hope that gets resolved soon! She sent me a single piece of this and the rose version in our last swap. I love the cute star-printed plastic wrappers! :3

I figured I would steep this grandpa-style as the dragon ball would like take a bit to unfurl and I don’t generally do a lot of resteeps with my usual Western style. Using one piece for a 12-ounce glass tumbler so I can look upon the loveliness as this unfurls! Starting with 175-degree water for now.

I was surprised that the chrysanthemum blossoms softened and lifted off almost immediately! They floated to the top and settled there, being lovely and fluffy and pretty. Unfortunately I don’t think I taste them at all due to the enormous amount of tea here and the fact that it’s a rather robust Dian Hong variety.

The tea itself is rather intense (due to the concentration vs. amount of water) with strong, dark earth and leather notes. There’s a powerful maltiness here as well, and some softer wet wood flavors in the background. I get perhaps a hint of a very dark wheat bread. The wood increases a bit in prominence at the end of the sip, and lingers on the palate. I think I taste a very slight menthol note among all the deeper flavors.

Overall, it’s not my favorite. The tea itself isn’t terribly complex, and I tend to prefer the slightly lighter, more sweet potato-y Dian Hong teas. Unfortunately I didn’t taste the chrysanthemum at all, which honestly doesn’t surprise me given there are four small blossoms for such a large amount of black tea.

Still, perfectly pleasant to sip on at my desk while I work. :)

additional notes:  So I finished two Yunnan teas today. One a black. One a white.  One with chrysanthemum.  One with jasmine.  I thought they paired well!  This one is so oddly tasting like cinnamon and cardamom, which I also noticed in the past.  It’s just the oddest thing.  There was so many chrysanthemums in this dragon ball, one a huge full flower.  I wouldn’t mind having this in the cupboard again (especially if other harvests have these cinnamon cardamom notes) but for now this tea is a sipdown. (The other was Verdant’s Yunnan Jasmine white.)  
2021 sipdowns: 116

There’s something pleasant in regards to its light and floral flavors, but this is no prized experience. I had hoped that after the first few infusions, the tea would take on new heights, but it remained quite underwhelming to say the least. I tried to consider examples in which I would find myself drawn into this style of tea, but only one came to mind: if there I stood calloused by the mid July heat praying to quench an ungodly thirst. Being that it’s mid November, I am in no need to prepare for such an experience. This one is a pass for me.

Recently, I tried a yellow chrysanthemum flower tisane and found it to be a pleasant evening sipper, so I gave this dragon ball a try the following morning. I had not yet brewed a dragon ball in a teapot large enough to accommodate that volume of leaf, so into the family pot it plopped.

This tea was pleasant enough as I drank it, but it was very dull for my tastes. The dry leaf smelled good with malt, leather, spice, brown sugar and rose and chrysanthemum notes. Light chrysanthemum aroma wafted from the cup. In the mouth, the tea was thick but rather flat with sweet potato, leather and floral notes. It seemed to taste much more herbaceous-vegetal than any black tea I’ve had from Yunnan. The info about his tea on Teavivre’s site states the tea leaf is from Jinggu county (thanks for providing that info Teavivre!). In my experience with a white tea and several puerh that have been explicitly stated as originating from Jinggu, I’ve had little luck. They don’t seem to work with my palate — too vegetal, herbaceous and floral. Strangely, when I poked through the spent leaf, some of the leaves appeared to be only partially oxidized, reminding me of some lesser oxidized Wuyi oolong.

Rating is a reflection of personal preference, as usual, not based on any faults the tea might have but the fact that Jinggu teas don’t mix well with me. I’ll stick to plain chrysanthemum tisanes.

Thanks for the sample, Kawaii433.

This not-so-little ball has a bomb dry leaf aroma: it’s malty but also sweet, warm and a bit spicy. It’s like smelling really old books or dried flowers as mementos. I kept smelling this ball for a looong time, it was almost addictive.

Unfortunately, the taste is a bit of a step-down. The chrysanthemum is understated, which is good and the tea itself – a very solid dianhong – takes the leading role. It’s bitter-sweet, malty and spicy, with a bit of medicinal herbal teas taste. While the same dragon balls with roses blends together seamlessly and compliments each other, this dianhong with chrysanthemum i s not such a perfect match.

You also have to make sure you find the right balance between the steeping times since the taste of the tea tends to overpower the chrysanthemum if you are not careful. The aftertaste is pretty forgettable.I steeped it Western but it’s certainly well-suited for a gaiwan. The saving grace for me with this tea was its enchanting dry leaf aroma and the good quality of the base.

Hmmmm…Ok. Full disclosure. I’m a rookie, a noob, a novice, a padawan…whatever. I’ve just started to drink teas that are not bagged and sold by Lipton. So, with a grain of salt, believe me when I say this is good, fancy tea! It steeps really dark (bag recommends 5-8 min., so I went for about a 6.5 minute steep), and smells like a chrysanthemum, mixed in with some very sweet smells…a little floral, on top of the chrysanthemum. The taste, at first, was a bit generic. But as I let it coat my tongue and go down the hatch…wow. It is really lively. Not spicy or overly strong, but just…bright? It’s kind of heavy, as I finish the cup, so it’s not something I’d drink 4 cups of in a setting. But, this is a delicious tea. I may have to get some more for me and my Jedi tea master friend.

Yikes. I selected the wrong Dragon Ball Black Tea. haha Sorry! I deleted it, and am putting here where it belongs. It wasn’t the rose one I tried but the Chrysanthemum. Doh.

Little hand rolled Dianhong Tea balls with a few golden colors and you can see the dried yellow chrysanthemum flowers. The colorful little ball weighed ~7 grams. The aroma was floral, a little apple, maybe a little rose. The liquor is an orange-reddish color, very bright looking. It was a complex tea. Would really like to see a thorough review of this. I love reading the reviews of teas while sipping on it. hehe

It was rich, full-bodied, thick, comforting, warm mouthfeel. It was floral but not perfumey. Sweet potatoes, spices, slight sweetness of yellow chrysanthemum, malt, some bittersweet aftertaste lingers. Very flavorful. On the 2nd steep everything opened up (flower, tea), it became slightly astringent and moderately bitter. It was like eating a delicious yam with cinnamon and butter on it, but with a bitter finish. The 3rd steep was more intense and you could see the yellow flower floating about. Malt, molasses, yams, sweetness, spices, chrysanthemum, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter but still a bitter finish. It wasn’t till the 4th steep that the bitterness subsided. The 5th, 6th and on, the yam notes delightfully continued, and it became more sweet, mellow, silky. I didn’t like the bitter long finish in the earlier steeps but that went away.

1 pc, gaiwan, 110ml, 194℉, 9 steeps: rinse,25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 35s,, 35s, 35s, 50s, 60s

Sipdown (340)

Thank you Angel from Teavivre for sending me a sample of this tea. Unfortunately, this just isn’t for me since it is tasting mostly of floral and leather. It was really nice to watch brew though.

I was quite excited to receive more samples from Teavivre. I have sampled and purchased their teas from the very beginning of the company’s existence (five years). I have found their teas to be consistently superior quality, smooth, and tasty. Will this new offering keep that tradition alive? Stay tuned…

When I opened the silver sample package, inside was a dark, tightly rolled ball of tea and flower buds, about the size of a jawbreaker (candy). Its aroma was so faint that I had to press the ball against my snout to get a reading. It was slightly sweet and a tad flowery.

I steeped the ball in my handy-dandy portable infuser that I use at the uptown Charlotte office for eight minutes at approximately 195 degrees (as prescribed on the package). The brewed liquor was the color of molasses. The smell was strong of tea with a flowery accent.

The brew tasted like tea with well-blended flower undertones. I’m not a big fan of flowery teas. Some are so overbearing that I wonder if I am drinking perfume. However, this selection is so perfectly blended that the flowers truly complement the fine tea flavor instead of stomping all over it. The taste was hearty yet amazingly smooth. It was also completely free of astringency.

The aftertaste was quite pleasant. It remained on my palate briefly and gently.

Teavivre has done it again! This is yet another superb blend from the Chinese tea company. Teavivre says it produces tea using traditional methods, proving that the old ways are often the best ways.

You can proudly serve this selection on your most special occasions. Or, just bring it out on an ordinary work day to start your morning off feeling good (like I did).

1 tea ball used

Dry leaf and brewed tea have a lovely dark chocolate-raisin aroma.

I will have to try to brew this for longer next time- I can taste some amazing flavours coming through but they are quite muted with my current preparation.