"The flavors develop slowly on the tongue - starting with a deep, primal orange flavor, before transforming into a full flush jasmine taste." Cap & Kettle’s Teaview: 7/10 Other Teaviews: Shane gave it 7/10 Your Reviews: Add your review »

I think one of the most enlightening moments for the new tea aficionado is seeing his or her’s first handful of real, unfettered, pristine loose leaf tea. We spend our civilized lives never touching anything remotely affiliated with the picking and processing of tea. Sure, we get but a veiled glimpse at the final product. And I mean veiled literally. Most of us won’t take the effort to cut open the mutilated tea and free it from it’s paper chamber. That leaves the casual tea drinker with the mental image of one paper bag filled with dark “stuff”, like an Imperial courtesan behind a silk screen. And I don’t think that kind of mysterious obfuscation fits tea very well. We should see the real tea leaf, whole and uncovered.

That very first examination of loose leaf tea is a pivotal moment for every potential tea enthusiast. The sight of raw tea leaf can excite in them an inspiring, even vitriolic moment of appreciation. It loosely connects them to the connoisseurship of the legendary Sen no Rikyu who could take what appeared to be vapid staring and transform it into the proper observance and requisite admiration of tea; nigh spiritual. For me, this quasi-cosmic moment came with my first batch of Jasmine Pearl tea, so called for its spherical shape. Far more than being a botanic marble, Jasmine Pearl tea is a testament to the relentless efforts of tea manufacturers to produce a product laced with supererogatory care. To a man of such lethargy and laziness as myself, it is startling. And delicious too.

Dragon Pearl’s White Jasmine Pearl tea is, first, a terribly named tea. The company’s name includes the term “Pearl” and the tea itself is a Jasmine “Pearl” and whenever I try to type the two together I inevitable end up mashing the keyboard and scribbling out some poor perversion of the name like “Pearly Pearl Dragon Jasmine of Pearl Dragon White Pearl Tea”. Besides that, it produces a light straw color in the cup, faint as a delicate jasmine tea should be. Out of the corner of my eye the tea looks more like a white tea than an oolong, owing to its relatively short steep time.

The aroma attacks straight from the pour with the anticipated (and much vaunted) scent of exotic jasmine petals. I find that the floral side of this jasmine tea has been toned down to allow a better blending with the tea leaves, creating a well balanced scent familiar to anyone who’s walked through San Francisco’s famous China Town. Dragon Pearl’s version of jasmine pearl tea exudes a delightfully unique roasted scent quality not commonly found in Jasmine teas, bordering on sweet and burnt like a good stick of yakitori chicken. This is countered by a raw greenhouse smell of jasmine – the two together making a surreal aromatic experience. Chicken shwarma with perfume. Yum!

After such an invigorating fragrance the flavor at first seems to fall short, touching down on the tongue with hardly any perceptible impact, leaving the drinker swishing the tea around in a desperate bid to find any kind of taste. Yet no amount of gargling elicits the secrets of the jasmine pearl tea – at least, not before the tea itself is ready. A little patience and soon the flavor begins to blossom at a steady rate, yawning as it stretches from its curled sleep; not unlike the pearls as they twist and writhe in the hot water. As the flavor grows the complexity of those flavors intensify, starting with a deep, primal orange flavor, before transforming into a full flush jasmine taste. Each sip brings a new dimension. Sip one is grainy, almost wheat, like a beer. Sip two is fruitier, with the citrus coming into play. Sip three is dry and slightly bitter, paying fealty to the ignominious tea leaves. It is a very mutable tea. Also, one afflicted with multiple personality disorder.

But the real treat is the pearls themselves. Orthodox tea brewing demands a lid or top for brewing tea. But take one tea session out of the mandate of the tea Gods and brew this stuff with the top or lid off. Watch as the tea leaves crack open and let loose their jasmine goodness. It’s really moving, pun absolutely intended, and something one should watch in order to justify the premium for this impressive tea.

— To purchase Dragon Pearl Mountain Jasmine Dragon Pearl, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.

Cap & Kettle Teaviews.com Reviewer » Read more about this reviewer on Cap & Kettle's profile page. » Find a list of recent posts by Cap & Kettle.