Pearls II

OK, so I'm still trying these pearls from Darjeeling, and I'm very caffeinated! Ordinarily pearls are easy like tea-bags -- that's part of their appeal since they tend to hang together in the bottom of your cup. You can just toss them in there and enjoy. Also ordinarily, pearls tend to be non-threatening jasmine scented green tea so it doesn't matter that they steep forever. These guys, however, are really potent and I've just discovered that the drop & ignore brewing method results in strong as hell tea, then bitter tea, and eventually makes you (me, in this instance) have to scoop out the tea leaves with a spoon to salvage the cup. But it's OK. I also, apparently, have no idea how to gauge how much tea I'm using.