Black Dragon Pearl Tea

So I was out at the King of Prussia Mall with my friend shopping for fancy dresses since she's my date to chaperone the prom this year.  She see's the store and says "We have to go in!  I need more S'Mores Tea!" which peaked my interest.

So the store is TEAVANA and it's very appropriately named.  They had neat looking Asian Tea Pots and all these cool tea accessories!  And their wall of teas is just...more than I've seen before.  My friend was just going to get her S'Mores tea and we would be on our way, but the extremely friendly girl at the counter asked her if she had everything she needed and then showed us the Perfect Tea Maker.  Even better, it comes as a Starter Kit!  Comes with the Perfect Tea Maker of course, the Grey or Gold Teavana Tea Tin for keeping your tea extra fresh, and either a pound of Rock Sugar or the Perfect Tea Spoon.

I was sold!  Sign me up for some tea, too!  I bought the starter kit and chose the spoon for measuring loose tea.  Now to choose my tea!  They're all individually priced per 2 ounces, which says will make 20-25 cups.  I know I like Black Tea but I didn't want to go with something as ordinary as Earl Grey so when I saw the Black Dragon Pearl on the shelf I knew I wanted to try it.  The friendly associate even let me smell it and I couldn't wait to get home and try some.

She labeled my tin and said two or three of the little balls would be enough in my tea maker and she explained how the little balls are actually a whole lot of leaves all condensed together.  I was really surprised after making my first cup!

These little balls of leaves expanded so much!

And I made two cups without needing any more tea leaves.

The Perfect Tea Maker really is perfect!  So easy to use and with no mess.  It comes with it's own little tray to sit on in case of any leaks (which there were none), then sits right on top of your cup to dispense the tea from the bottom.  No leaves in my cup!  Yay!  It says the lid and strainer can be removed carefully for cleaning, but the strainer wasn't coming easily so I just rinsed it as one piece.  I don't want to break it the first time I use it!

I won't say I wasn't a little shocked with myself when I had to slide my credit card for sixty-something dollars, but most of that was the tea which I think will last a while since my tin is about half full.  I did see a negative review for the tin on their website, but the customer said that the lid came right off.  I did a flip test and mine stayed on just fine.  I agree that the inner seal is not as tight as it could be so maybe I'll throw some plastic wrap on to make sure the tea doesn't get stale.

All in all I'm very excited for my delicious tea which I'm drinking while I post!!! :)