Mantra Tea

March 4, 2013

I have been tasting this teas for years, yet not put into a written review. Taking photos is much easier! ; ) I hope there is a sharing machine to describe the smell and taste, so that work of writing can be saved and I believe the real smell and taste sharing mechanism is more precise than writing. I hope my writing can capture 100% of what I feel about teas I have been drinking.

Starting from this Rose High Mountain oolong- one of my favorite for these years.
【Occasion】I drink it especially when I feel I’m falling in love with myself or somebody, feeling happy and charming. =)
【Tea info】 This Rose High Mountain oolong is made from both top grade of materials- organic Shan Xing Rose and mid-high altitude high mountain oolong from famous tea plantation in Nantou, Taiwan. The rose has been used as one wine ingredient and won twice international wine award in Brussels. Also, the rose is used as one material by a Taiwanese chef and won first prize in a bakery contest in France. As for tea itself, the tea farmer does not choose high mountain oolong from tea farms above 1800m altitude, instead he chooses teas from 1200m because teas from really high tea farms(above 1500m) should keep its best high mountain floral smell and taste, which is outstanding itself. If scented with other flowers, it would be a waste. The tea farmer experiments many kinds of oolong from various cultivars and tea farms. He found the best taste to scent with this special cultivar of rose is mid-high altitude high mountain oolong.
【Appreciation】
Once I open the foil bag, a mix of rose and refreshing tea scent spreads to my nose, very relaxing. Ummm…. take a deep breath and indulge the fragrance! : ) The petals are huge and with beautiful natural velvet purple red. The tea leaves are forest green, tightly rolled into big semi-balls, one of high mountain oolong characteristic, because tea leaves from high altitude grow bigger than from lower altitude. Judge from the appearance, she is truly stunning beautiful!

I pre-warm the porcelain tea pot, and put tea to 1/5 of the pot volume. Close the lid while preparing for the water to 85 Celsius. When the water is almost ready, I open the lid and smell the “pre-infusion scent”. Incredibly rosy smell with fruity lychee sweetness in combination of floral scent from tea itself. Truly pleasant, natural, not like over scented and artificial scented rose teas in the market.

1st brew, 1 min 20 sec. Beautiful gold yellow liquor, clear, shining, and bright. First, smell the liquor and taste it when it gets colder to 45 Celsius. The smell has more fragrance from the tea. Its taste embeds enchanting depth, perfect ratio of scent and tea flavor, which is one to nine. The later steeps, the more you can taste from the high mountain oolong. I brew it 7 times, and still with great flavor. I usually save the rest of tea leaves and put into a bigger mug for more infusion. It can be brewed till the next day. Still with graceful smell and mild taste.