Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Pearls’

Well, these pearls certainly are downy…I felt one of the little balls of tea and it was soft and fuzzy. The jasmine smell is sharp and sweet in the dry leaf, and makes me wonder if the taste will be the same.

I used approximately two teaspoons of pearls, in two cups of water, for three minutes (give or take ten seconds, as I initially forgot to start my timer, oops). At the end of three minutes, the brew was very watery, so I let it sit for two minutes more. At this point, I’d like to take a moment to say that while I enjoy the challenge of matching up just the right steeping time with just the right amount of leaf and water to make a delectable cup, I do wish that more companies would give what they believe the ideal steeping conditions to be, even if it’s a rough estimate, since not all teas are created equally, and generalizing conditions does not always work out. Regardless, the extra two minutes seems to have helped immensely, as there is greater unfurl to the leaves and more colour to the liquor.

The jasmine scent is just as sharp in the completed cup as it was in the dry leaf. And the taste….Wow…that’s incredibly…mediocre. Thankfully, the sharpness of the jasmine hasn’t come through in the taste of the liquor, yet everything about it is very average. The flavour is smooth, and light, and has a nice jasmine scent and taste, but, all in all, it just seems to be lacking something in a big way.

I enjoyed drinking it, but Jasmine Pearls are one of my favourites, so that could bias me a bit. I give it a 65 out of 100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the Downy Pearl Jasmine directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company website.

Jasmine has been scenting and flavoring tea for almost as long as tea has been grown in China. The aromatic qualities of the jasmine bloom and the aromatic qualities of the tea plant are one of nature’s perfect matches.

As you may be able to guess, I’m very fond of jasmine pearls – it’s my favorite way to have jasmine in tea. And I’ve had jasmine pearls that were amazing, and some that were downright icky. The jasmine pearls from Golden Moon tea were at neither extreme – but much closer to awesome than icky. They’ve got a lovely, balanced aroma, and a good flavor.

The package directions say to brew for 2-4 minutes at water slightly below boiling. My first infusion I tried at approximately 170 degrees for 2 minutes. The aroma of the liquor was fairly light, and the flavor was very delicate. But it was a little too delicate for me. So I tried the next at 185 for 4 minutes. And it was just about where I wanted it, a good balance of the jasmine and green tea, both flavorful and perfumed. I was also able to get a third steep out of the leaves without much loss of flavor.

The problem I have with this tea is that while balanced and nice, it’s lacking a “wow” factor. I wouldn’t tell anyone not to have this tea; it’s a good tea. But I wouldn’t send anyone specifically looking for it.

You can purchase the Jasmine Pearls directly from the Golden Moon Tea website.

For this review I decided to brew this tea using a two-cup glass teapot. Canton Tea Co’s website suggests using 1 tsp of pearls per cup, which is difficult to estimate using pearls, so I believe I added about 35-40 of the small pearls to the teapot. Continuing to follow the directions, I steeped the pearls about three minutes, stopping to taste the tea after two minutes (the website had recommended 2-3 minutes).At two minutes, the taste really wasn’t very far developed, but I could already tell that this was one very sweet tea.

With the dry pearls, one could very much smell the jasmine, yet the scent was not overpowering, nor was it almost sickly-sweet, as some teas are that contain jasmine. The aroma of the brewed tea was even less bold and had an even softer nose, with only faint hints of jasmine.

Upon taking the first big sip, the tea flow smooth and thick across the tongue, and the fruity sweet taste of jasmine infiltrated my entire mouth. If a flower could be described as being delicious, this would be the epitome of such a description. The amount of jasmine is enough to lend great character to the tea, while not completely dominating it.

The website recommends steeping this for at least three separate infusions. I most certainly shall.

On my personal enjoyment scale, I rate this tea an 85/100.

You can purchase the Jasmine Pearls directly from the Canton Tea Co. website. Save 15% right now when you use the code LEAF at checkout!

My favorite type of tea (thus far) is white tea, more specifically, silver needle, so I was crazy excited to try this one. The only thing that made me hesitate was the fact that it was jasmine flavored. I like the smell of Jasmine but I don’t like teas that taste like perfume. other Jasmine teas made me feel like I was back in the elevator with that lady who was wearing cheap jasmine perfume (ended up having the taste from it in my mouth all day).

So I sat down and brewed this tea, anticipating that funky taste. As soon as I opened the package, I could tell that this Jasmine was different. The pearls are really pretty and the tea smells like a dream. Steeped it for five minutes, though they recommend only a few, watched the pearls come to life and unravel in my cup. The color was really light as you’d expect from a silver needle. The smell was very calming, soothing and not even slightly artificial. Yes, I was pleasantly surprised – made me feel like I was in a spa. The silver needle is high grade and you can tell that it was harvested at just the right time. The Jasmine scent was infused naturally which explains why I was spared the aftertaste. Steeped it three times and it did really well. The scent was milder by the third brew but the silver needle carried it through perfectly.

You can purchase the Jasmine Pearls directly from the Canton Tea Co. website. Save 15% right now when you use the code LEAF at checkout!