eastkyteaguy Send Message

Alright, it’s time for another review from the backlog. This was yet another November sipdown, this one coming from towards the end of the month. Even though I normally do not go for flavored or scented oolongs, this one was excellent.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of the rolled tea and rose petal mix in 4 ounces of 185 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I detected aromas of rose, cream, butter, and vanilla. After the rinse, the rose scent was still present, though I also noted subtle scents of grass and custard. The first infusion introduced a faint sugarcane scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of rose, cream, butter, and grass that were chased by hints of vanilla and sugarcane. The subsequent infusions introduced scents of apricot, steamed milk, daylily, and honeydew. New impressions of apricot, steamed milk, minerals, green apple, cantaloupe, seaweed, pear, honeydew, daylily, and daylily shoots appeared in the mouth along with belatedly emerging hints of custard. As I ended my review session, I could still note fairly clear impressions of minerals, cream, butter, rose, and vanilla that were backed by hints of sugarcane, pear, daylily shoots, honeydew, and grass.

I love both roses and Taiwanese oolongs, so I guess it should not have come as a shock that I enjoyed this offering so much. I was especially impressed by how clean and clear the aroma and flavor of rose remained throughout the session, and I was also shocked by the ridiculous longevity of this blend. I am pretty certain that I gave up before it did. Even if you are not a big fan of rose-scented teas, at least consider giving this one a try. The rose and the jade Zhu Shan Jin Xuan worked almost unbelievably well together.