Phoenix Pearl

Ok how is this even the same tea I rated earlier? I drank it and immediately thought that this was amazing and my new favorite tea! I brewed it Western Style, and this is very smooth, delicate and lightly sweet. There are some really tasty flavors that I love but can’t quite narrow down, except cocoa and honey!

I will have to order some!!!

Thx ozli!

Are yunnan teas normally like this?

Oh… this is so nice! Rich and sweet and wonderful!

The sweet notes here are profound, deeply chocolate-y, with notes of caramel. It’s one of those types of teas that are incredibly cozy … the kind you want to curl up with and just drink with joyful abandon.

Yum yum yum!

This tea is delicious hot, but also very good cold, something that I learned because I had to step away from the computer for a while and came back to a cold cup (I haven’t yet turned the heat on in the house, I don’t know why I haven’t. And I really don’t know why I’m sitting here, complaining about not doing it instead of getting up and doing it right now) and it is still really delicious! Sweet, earthy, and just plain good. REALLY good.

My first sipdown of the month, leaving me at 217 teas in my collection.
This one was from Cavorcorax. The name of the tea brings to mind those pearl teas that so many of us love, but this is really more of a black bilochun “spring snail” style. I made a 16 oz pot of it, followed by a resteep. Excellent with breakfast, & now I feel a little more energy.

I really need to get moving! I’ve been slacking all morning, which Ms Theresa is grumbling about in my head. So much to do, & yet I have basically done nothing, save feeding myself, drinking tea, & goofing off on FB, Steepster, the NNWM site, & a few other places. Time to get a move on!

This smells wonderfully grain-like when dry and amazingly cocoa when brewed. This is an exceptional Yunnan. My lengthy review can be found here:
http://theeverdayteablog.blogspot.com/2012/11/zen-tea-phoenix-pearl.html

T&C Box 18/18

Well darn, I oversteeped this. I got distracted and it got too dark. This claims to resteep, though, so I’ll keep the leaves and try again. If it doesn’t resteep well I may sneak another teaspoon out before I send the box off to Kat_Maria, there was plenty in the bag.

Even oversteeped this is good. I think I love Yunnan teas after this teabox! It’s a little bitter but there are intense chocolate notes mixing in with the woody, smoky flavor I’m starting to love. The fact that I’m giving this the highest rating possible despite my own errors says it all, I think.

Another free sample from Zen tea! Thank you so much!

I have to say that this is a pretty nice tea. It’s much less subtle than other blacks that I typically enjoy but that doesn’t take away from the tea. Although it’s not a strong tea, it’s got plenty of flavour! There’s a sweetness to it, but not in the sense of say biting into a chocolate bar. I drank this down without even realising it and had to go make more :)

Sipdown!

I have to admit I’m sad to see this one go. This company no longer sells tea, though they do sell beautiful tea accessories. This was a favorite tea of mine for a long, long time. It was rich and malty and full of decadent cocoa notes. So good. This one’s going to be missed.

I threw 1/4 tsp of these into my 14 oz “timolino” and sipped on it all day at work.

I still like this tea, especially for the versatility. Being able to let it steep all day without any funky flavours is awesome!

This tea is really amazing…as a blind test, one could never tell 100g sells for under $10! For real, what a bargain ratio.

It’s a sweet Yunnan, full bodied. It offers plenty of cocoa and honey, with earhty undertones, vague smoky notes emerge here and there. It reminds me of a milder keemun from Teavivre.

The leaves are more curls than what we usually call pearls. Cute nuggets that you can steep at least three times Western style. I made a gigantic pot tonight using my new Scandinavian pot and matching cup (Shelley if you’re reading, you know what I mean, lol)

I treated myself with so many good teas today, I feel fully satisfied!

This tea is getting a little old but is still very nice. The dry tea is a dark bilochun style nugget with some lighter brown notes and a few golden tips present. It smells very sweet of honey and cocoa. This tea remains quite sweet and retains it’s honey cocoa grainy malt notes throughout its steeping. Like others have noted it is quite a forgiving tea.

After a rinse and a one minute steep I had a deep maple colour brew with a scent of cocoa, honey and grainy malt. It tastes of honey, cocoa, a barley grain note, and aslfalfa with malt more present as it cools.

I steeped it again for 80, 110, 180, and 300s. The tea became slightly sweeter in the later brews with the malt rising in the early ones than blending more evenly with the other flavours a slightly nutty note appeared as well. Altogether a nice honeyed, cocoa tea with grainy, nutty notes. Quite enjoyable.