The Zomba Pearls are an African-grown white tea. Like Jasmine Pearls, they come rolled up. Zomba Pearls don’t so much as come in balls as little tubes.

After hitting the water, they begin to unfurl a bit from their initial state. Each infusion pulls it apart a bit more. It’s expected as part of the brewing process.

I won’t go into my brewing process. Everyone has their own way. If you make the tea, taste it, get flavor, and enjoy it, then who cares how you did it? I don’t! I’m not here to get dogmatic on the process. Just to talk about the Zomba Pearls as it relates to my tea-drinking process and enjoyment.

Enjoyment is what I got from the Zomba Pearls, despite initial hesitation. When I read the flavor description ‘buttery, citrusy, and vegetal’ I wasn’t sure if I’d like it. Citrusy sounds good, I like that sometimes in my tea. Buttery, sure, that means it’s smooth, not a problem at all. Vegetal…huh. I heard that and thought…is it going to taste bitter like Kale or Arugula? If so…do I want to drink that?

The Zomba Pearls were not like that, thankfully. I didn’t really get the citrusy bit out of it, but what did was clean and pleasant. So the buttery and vegetal notes are more like earthy tones that come through sort of grassy or ‘hay’ like. Barley comes to mind as a decent comparison point. It is smooth, flavorful, and not overpowering. I tend to drink tea throughout the day and with meals, so having a tea that can stand on its own and not be a poor pair is always good to find and this fits that well.

So I recommend the Zomba Pearls for people that like an honest tea that has a ‘grassy’ taste to it. Which I know, isn’t for everyone,but it is for me and I imagine someone else.