Jasmine Black Pearls (Organic)

Wow… jasmine. So… much… jasmine. Tastes like I’m eating a bunch of flowers. Very floral and smells oh-so-pretty. The black tea is hidden a little by all the jasmine scent, but from what I can tell it’s a solid black tea base. The mouth feel is really nice, just dry enough. The leaves unfurl SO much and expand to surprising sizes… It’s fairly balanced though for a jasmine tea. Very yummy and relaxing for my hubby nerdswing and I to enjoy on our one-year wedding anniversary. :) Love you baby.

These pearls are beautiful and smell exquisite… I wish I liked them! :( I am already not a huge fan of black tea, and the flavor of this one was an overwhelmingly earthy and too bitter. (I’m not very good at describing it.) I was hoping the jasmine would soften the flavor, but the earthiness was too intense. I couldn’t finish the cup and gave it to my husband to drink instead. He said it was drinkable but not great (his taste buds and sense of smell are less sensitive than mine, so he can handle bitter tastes—like red wine—better than I can).

(Sample from silentrequiem! Thanks!)

This tea is so pretty to look at in the little spice jar I put them in. The pearls are large about as wide as my thumbnail, and patterned brown and black. The smell is lovely too. The jasmine comes right to the front.

Steeped three pearls in 16 oz of water for five minutes, per the instructions on the label.

This is amazingly smooth and mellow for a black tea. Jasmine taste first, and as it rolls over my tongue, I taste a little woodsy/earth, and then a hint of bitterness as I swallow. This is just a beautiful tea.

I’ve only tried a few jasmine teas before and was not impressed, so when the salesperson recommended me this tea (and I bought it, of course), I was apprehensive.

I have been drinking this tea for breakfast this past week and have fallen in love with it. It has a wonderful scent with a refreshing feel and taste. It’s not as floral as some oolongs and is a bit sweet. It holds its flavor for several steeps. The balls generally hold their shape even after being steeped several times.

I will most likely be re-buying this tea when I run out, it’s such a delicious basic.

So I am recently really into jasmine tea. A few weeks ago I walked into David’s to try the straight leaf promotion ( straight leaf teas for 1$), and thought there couldn’t be any loss to try jasmine black pearls. I thought that jamsmine + black would = a strong and bitter tea, but I was wrong. This tea is so tasteful and not overpowering whatsoever. It has the soothing and warming taste of black tea and that spark of Jasmine that I just love so much. So for me this tea is really meant to exist.

Steepster! It has been a while. I have been very busy, not having much time to blog about tea, and unfortunately that trend is likely to continue. I was, however, enticed in by David’s $1 straight teas deal for the month, so I decided to try something new.

I’m a big fan of jasmine green teas, though I’m picky and particular with how I like them brewed. Between this and the new Genmai Hojicha I went with Jasmine Black Pearls, both because I’ve never tried rolled pearl tea before and I’m attempted to expand my knowledge and experience in black teas.

I hate to be the first to give an average review, but I do think most of my ambivilance with this tea comes from the fact that the service I received from the David’s location I got this from was atrocious, but that’s a different story.

I should have asked how many pearls were used for this, but I forgot to and didn’t keep the teabag when I took it out. Steeped for 4-5 minutes, but I honestly would have done it a bit longer. The jasmine notes are wonderful in this, though I didn’t get much of the Hunnan notes. When I got home I tried adding a little bit of milk and honey to some of it and I would not recommend for that. The jasmine becomes completely lost under it, but, well, it was an experiment.

I might like to try this again if ever I get a chance to pop by David’s, but I don’t think I’ll be making this a large or regular purchase for me. On top of being fairly out of my budget, I prefer my jasmine greens. It is still a lovely tea though, and I enjoyed this rare treat.

I LOVE jasmine teas, so when a jasmine black tea was released, I jumped on it!

The black base is rich and slightly sweet and creamy, and the jasmine makes its presence known without tasting like a punch in the teeth. One or two pearls makes a great light cup, two or three for a stronger or larger mug.

It’s one of those days where my head is in a fuzz (too much christmas wine last night, oops!) and I just have NO idea what tea I want. I need to de-clutter my tea drawer, so opted for something I may not restock.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE anything with jasmine, and this tea is delicious! But I find that I’m not drinking as much black tea lately. It’s been mostly green & oolong.
I over steeped this. Just as I poured the water, the neighbors happy golden retriever wandered into my backyard, so I had to go out for some snuggles and puppy kisses.
I added some cream and agave to try to off set the bitterness from the over steep. It’s a bit better.
Going to refrain from rating. It’s bitterness is entirely my fault. I had it once before, and quite enjoyed it.

I always wanted to try this, but it was so expensive and I wasn’t sure if I would like the jasmine as I had never had it before, so I held off. Unfortunately, I waited too long as David’s is now phasing this one out. I gave it a shot recently as I had tried some floral teas and loved them and this was no exception. This is the first floral tea I’ve tried that I can actually taste floral notes (barely and I think it was because I over-steeped it), but I also taste….. GRAPE! Like grape candy, but it doesn’t taste at all artificial. I loved this tea so much that I was going to buy the 250g clearance bag from the website, but it sold out the day that I went to make the order. Our local David’s still has a bunch but it is full price. This tea is worth it though so I stocked up!

I used to have a strong aversion to jasmine; my first experience was some green Jasmine Pearls that had SUCH a strong scent that all I tasted was “grandma perfume” and it gave me a headache. When I tried jasmine-scented black tea, I found the aroma more subdued from that early experience and really liked the taste on the black base. I really love these pearls; both warm and iced, it is delicious. It’s smooth, with hints of malt and smoke, a nice florality, and a lovely grape candy flavor. I think I’ve adapted to jasmine from jasmine blacks, because I’ve started to take a liking to jasmine greens now, too (as long as they aren’t too strongly aromatic). Between the two, I still prefer jasmine black tea to green tea, though!