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| Photo: Adagio Teas |
Country of Origin: China
Leaf Appearance: mottled browns and blacks, tightly rolled
Ingredients: black tea
Steep time: 5 minutes
Water Temperature: 212 degrees
Preparation Method: glass teapot
Liquor: deep reddish brown
I thought this tea was really interesting because nearly all pearl style teas that I’ve tried were white or green teas that have been scented with jasmine. The pearls were quite large as well. I steeped them in my glass teapot because I love watching them unfurl. This is the ideal way to make this tea because the leaves really need leg room. The taste was sweet, earthy and malty with big notes of dark chocolate. There was also a mild fruitiness in the finish. Being a Yunnan, it was quite tannic but not so much so as to be unpleasant. I’ll often leave lighter pearl teas steeping for a long time but in this case you’ll want to make sure that you strain the leaves completely. I left them in just to test it out and my second cup was pretty mouth puckering. Multiple infusions will work well with this tea, especially if your brewing vessel is fairly small. Once fully opened, the leaves are quite large. I’m always amazed at how the leaves are rolled into the compact balls without being torn or damaged. I’ve been trying a lot of Adagio Teas’ Chinese offerings lately and so far I’ve been very impressed.
You can find out more about this tea here.