Jasmine Dragon Pearls Long Zhu Green Tea

May Sipdown Prompt – drink a floral green tea

Sample Sipdown

I am sorry to say that I have had this sample sitting around for a long time. Best before date was May 16, 2023, so we are nearly a year past that. My sample and swap box used to be absolutely packed, but during these two years of doing the sipdown challenges I can see the bottom quite easily!

I am happy to say that it is still wonderful and does not seem to have suffered from the neglect, although I have never tasted it fresh. The leaves are mostly whole, very long, and thin. I followed their parameters of 185F and five to eight minutes, choosing five for steep one and six for steep two.

As always, the jasmine is brilliant. My jasmine vines that sprawl on two sides of the house are in full bloom and had me wanting jasmine tea. Teavivre’s jasmine flavored teas beat all others I have tried, including Harney’s. (Sorry, Harney and Sons, I love you dearly but it is true.)

This is slightly cheaper than my favorite, which is Premium Jasmine Dragon Pearls. The biggest different I notice is that this one is leaving a minty tingle from the green tea that is very long lasting. With food, this would not be noticeable. It may even be nicely palate clearing. By itself, I still prefer the Premium, which is slightly cheaper than the Downy Pearls (also very good but Premium still holds number one spot for me) but this one is an economical choice for serving with food.

Very nice! I got the 2022 harvest of this tea from my recent Teavivre order, and I don’t really drink scented teas at all, but I gave it a shot here, and it was a nice surprise. Great leaves with a good bud proportion but slightly broken. Rich, rich, extremely rich jasmine aroma both in the scent and in the cup, with a decently delicate liquor to go with it. Flavour is delicate yet potent with jasmine, texture is decent, smooth and slight juiciness. Character is decent enough, not a lot of steep variability but it’s okay. Finish & aftertaste is very decent, great jasmine aftertaste with a light airy finish to it. Cha-qi is non-existent, and steep longevity is decent, with the tea lasting up to steep 6-8.

Sipdown! (74)

Oh no, I’m almost out of jasmine samples from Teavivre! Hopefully the jasmine teas in my stash are still decent, because I’ve been enjoying sipping on these in the evening…

This is lovely as usual – sweet, creamy jasmine with some lovely light peach notes over a smooth and mineral, slightly vegetal base. The creaminess is really quite lovely – it tastes as though some milk has been added to my cup. Very slight pleasant astringency at the end that reminds me of a peach’s fuzzy skin.

Quite scrumptious. I’m not sure I would be able to distinguish it from their other jasmine pearls… Maybe sometime in the future I’ll have to order a sample of each and do a tasting. Although really, if there’s no noticeable difference I should just order the cheapest ones I suppose! :P

Looks like no one else has written up this one yet on Steepster! I bought samples of this quite a while ago now, so please consider this is not a fresh harvest I’m reviewing.  It does taste the same as it did a while ago when I tried it though.  The jasmine is lovely, as almost always with Teavivre’s jasmine teas.  It’s also very hard to taste anything of the tea itself.  These are larger green pearls that are slow to unravel.  I’m really only tasting jasmine, but that is why I drink these types of tea anyway: JASMINE.  Jasmine is divine in summer.  If I had to choose one Teavivre jasmine tea, it probably wouldn’t be this one, as I notice more of the tea fuzzies in the cup.  I’d rather have a smooth jasmine tea, without that aspect.  But possibly others wouldn’t notice that as much.
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 35 minutes after boiling  // 1 minute steep
Steep #2  // 28 minutes after boiling //  2 1/2 minute steep
Harvest: 2018
2020 Sipdowns: 56 (Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe – Green Cucumber Melon + Lupicia’s Assam Calcutta Auction)