80
drank Black Pearl by Mountain Tea
350 tasting notes

I got this in this month’s Tea Sparrow box – a neat change of pace from the flavoured teas! I spent a bit of time trying to decide where to leave this tasting note, since there are duplicate entries in the database, this one under “The Mountain Tea co” and the one under “Mountain Tea”. If you look at those two company listings, one has 25 teas listed under it and the other has 19, with a fair bit of duplication. What a mess! This one has a lot more tasting notes, which is why I chose it.

This is an interesting tea! With dark oolongs I tend to assume they’re going to be heavily roasted, but this one is actually just heavily oxidized – I don’t detect any roastiness at all. It is a neat blend of malty and floral, with a light, fruity note that I convinced myself was apple after reading the description. :) It’s like a light, surprisingly floral, black tea.

Flavors: Apple, Floral, Malt

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec 4 g 10 OZ / 295 ML
Fjellrev

Btw, are you enjoying Tea Sparrow?

Lindsay

Yes! It’s 4 teas per month, usually one each of black/green/rooibos/herbal, 15-20g of each. They get them from all over, so it’s a neat chance to try teas from various companies without having to pay for international shipping. Having said all that, I think I may have to put my subscription on hold while I focus on drinking down my crazy tea excess, lol.

Fjellrev

Sounds good! I’ve been considering them or Amoda but can’t make up my mind, so end up with neither haha. Both had a booth at a tea fest a couple years ago and the employees were really nice. You can tell they love what they do.

Lindsay

Just to make your decision harder, there’s also Postal Teas: https://postalteas.com/
3 bags of tea per month, all from the same producer, mostly small Canadian companies.

OMGsrsly

They say “producer” on the postal teas site, but I’ve been poking around and some of the places are Metropolitan resellers. Some of them do blend their own, but it’s always disappointing to me when companies talk about producing teas, but they only have a few of their own blends.

Lindsay

I wondered about that, since some of them seemed to be “tea shops” (mostly in Toronto) rather than tea blenders.

OMGsrsly

I have nothing against Metropolitan, but I can get them a lot cheaper in a visit to Victoria than ordering from a lot of these websites! :)

Lindsay

See, I don’t have a local (or even semi-local) tea shop, so it’s actually nice to get samples to try. I’m always hoping to find places that’ll sell Metropolitan tea online in small quantities – so many seem to be 50-100g only. :)

OMGsrsly

Yeah, even Georgie’s (my dealer is Bear With Me!) only sells “tin” sizes. The smallest tin is about 50g. (If you don’t buy a tin, he fills one up to the MAX then dumps it into a foil bag. SO MUCH TEA!) There’s a cafe out in Hope that carries most of the teas, so you can get a tea to go. I’ve done that a couple times, passing through.

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Fjellrev

Btw, are you enjoying Tea Sparrow?

Lindsay

Yes! It’s 4 teas per month, usually one each of black/green/rooibos/herbal, 15-20g of each. They get them from all over, so it’s a neat chance to try teas from various companies without having to pay for international shipping. Having said all that, I think I may have to put my subscription on hold while I focus on drinking down my crazy tea excess, lol.

Fjellrev

Sounds good! I’ve been considering them or Amoda but can’t make up my mind, so end up with neither haha. Both had a booth at a tea fest a couple years ago and the employees were really nice. You can tell they love what they do.

Lindsay

Just to make your decision harder, there’s also Postal Teas: https://postalteas.com/
3 bags of tea per month, all from the same producer, mostly small Canadian companies.

OMGsrsly

They say “producer” on the postal teas site, but I’ve been poking around and some of the places are Metropolitan resellers. Some of them do blend their own, but it’s always disappointing to me when companies talk about producing teas, but they only have a few of their own blends.

Lindsay

I wondered about that, since some of them seemed to be “tea shops” (mostly in Toronto) rather than tea blenders.

OMGsrsly

I have nothing against Metropolitan, but I can get them a lot cheaper in a visit to Victoria than ordering from a lot of these websites! :)

Lindsay

See, I don’t have a local (or even semi-local) tea shop, so it’s actually nice to get samples to try. I’m always hoping to find places that’ll sell Metropolitan tea online in small quantities – so many seem to be 50-100g only. :)

OMGsrsly

Yeah, even Georgie’s (my dealer is Bear With Me!) only sells “tin” sizes. The smallest tin is about 50g. (If you don’t buy a tin, he fills one up to the MAX then dumps it into a foil bag. SO MUCH TEA!) There’s a cafe out in Hope that carries most of the teas, so you can get a tea to go. I’ve done that a couple times, passing through.

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Bio

Well it has been over a year and everyone I know thinks my tea obsession is a bit out of hand, so… I guess I’m not a total newbie anymore. :)

I’m drinking a lot more pure tea these days, though I still love a good flavoured blend too. Current favourites: Chinese and Taiwanese blacks, fresh Chinese greens, oolongs both green and roasted, sheng puer.

I really love companies that buy directly from tea farmers, and have an emphasis on quality and sustainability. Favourites: Verdant, Whispering Pines, Eco Cha, White 2 Tea. I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere, so I buy almost all my tea online.

For hot tea, I’m usually brewing in either a 100ml gaiwan, or a 10oz mug with a steeping basket. For cold tea, I cold brew overnight in 500ml mason jars.

My cupboard on Steepster doesn’t include small samples, just the ones I have at least 15g of. So if you see something you’re interested in, I probably have enough to share. :)

Location

Northwestern Ontario, Canada

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