47 Tasting Notes

50

While this isn’t a bad black tea, I was disappointed. By far not as good as other dragon balls I’ve had from Yunnan Sourcing. At first it was beautifully floral and sweet tasting, but after a mere 3 brews gong fu style the flavour dropped off to a dull grassy-ness reminiscent of a tea at the end of a long brew session or cardboard. The only redeeming quality I found is that there is a very pleasant aftertaste of sweetness that lingers from the first couple brews. Perhaps I got an off ball? Won’t be purchasing again.

Flavors: Cardboard, Chocolate, Flowers, Sweet

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 OZ / 175 ML

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90

Based on the description I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I hoped this would be a nice blend between a milky and roasted flavour oolong. I was pleasantly surprised to find my hopes satisfied, with a happy addition of extremely floral notes! This is truly a unique oolong, but I will say that it’s probably not for everyone. The flavour is very difficult to describe. I think this is up there with milky oolong for me.

Flavors: Flowers, Honey, Nuts, Perfume, Roasted, Sweet, Umami

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 8 g 6 OZ / 175 ML

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85

This is everything I’ve ever wanted out of a jasmine green tea. The jasmine is balanced and not perfume-y like many cheaper jasmine teas on the market. The pearls are a very decent, uniform size and have clearly been rolled with love.

This green tea is as light and refreshing as a white tea, it steeps very well both Western and Gong Fu style (I prefer the latter as you can taste the layers of flavour as they devlop). The leaves are incredibly pungent with a strong, true jasmine scent. More umami flavour arises in later steeps, but it never goes overboard. Almost no astringency or bitterness, just sweet floral notes and a light but calming cha qi.

I should also say that I have the 2018 batch.

Flavors: Flowers, Jasmine, Umami

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 6 OZ / 175 ML

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90

What a glorious surprise this tea is! I purchased 50g somewhat blindly and I’m so happy that I did. It has such a unique smell, flavour profile, and energy about it. It tastes sweet and almost floral/fruity (like a wildflower honey), has a beautiful reddish-brown liquor that gives off a hint of the taste to come, and the cha qi is serene yet invigorating. You can’t go wrong with this bold black tea.

Flavors: Caramel, Cherry, Eucalyptus, Flowers, Honey, Malt, Sugarcane, Toffee

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 240 ML

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80

Not quite as nice as the other dragon ball I tried recently, but delicious nonetheless. Floral notes are most prominent, I did not note anything extra special about the black tea though.

Flavors: Flowers, Fruity, Peach, Sweet

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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85

This lovely tea is refreshing, sweet, and yet still robust in flavour. The chrysanthemum takes an already great black tea to new depths, the two ingredients dance together to produce a rich flower and chocolate flavour that ends off with the most pleasant notes of wildflower honey. I would give this tea a higher score if it were easier to brew, I find the dragon balls are too large and are probably meant for making a whole pot of tea or gong fu brews (not really my brewing style for black tea). This is hands down one of the nicer black tea blends I’ve tried.

Flavors: Chocolate, Flowers, Honey

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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74

Upon first sip a bold and earthy flavour hit my palette, followed by some pleasant woodiness and a semi-sweet aftertaste. What I didn’t enjoy is that it has a pungent compost smell which unfortunately was present through most of the steeps. If you can get past that this is a decent aged ripe pu-erh.

Flavors: Compost, Earth, Smoke, Wheat, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 6 OZ / 177 ML

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Profile

Bio

World traveller, musician, tea lover.

Tea scoring criteria:

85 to 100 | Exceptional and unique. These teas are an unequivocal delight with every sip. The way they make me feel and the journey they take me on is incomparable.

70 to 84 | Delicious teas that are worth the price, albeit more common in quality and flavour. Still very good teas.

60 to 69 | Somewhat palatable teas that fail to deliver an experience at a level that would make me drink or buy more.

Under 60 | Just no…

Location

Based in Toronto, Canada

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