Rose de Mai

Sipdown! I think that brings me down to 33? That’s insane. Yesterday, a co-worker mentioned a new perfume that came out with Rose de Mai so that reminded me that I had one more cup of this left. A day off means being able to drink tea so this was first on my list. I absolutely love the fresh rose note in this but have grown a little tired of oolong bases over the past year. Don’t know why. Maybe I just over oolong’d myself. Would I buy more? No, but I would most definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of rose and/or green oolongs.

Sad sipaway… it seems that my actions have caused this tea to cease to exist in my cupboard :(

This was one wonderful rose tea and it was different than other rose flavors/blends I’ve ever had.

I drank this with smile on my face.

For my 100th note, I wanted to review something I’ve been excited about. even though I’ve drank several new teas in the mean time! Dinosara left me a bunch of samples from her collection, and this is one I knew I’d love. I think I’ve had it once before back when I was less tea obsessed, but a second try on a better palate is always a good idea.
It smells so fresh and delicious as it is brewing! If all rose scented perfumes smelled like this, I’d be wearing them! It’s fresh light, juicy spring rose, and it leaves a sweet taste in your mouth like candied petals.
I image the sweetness is bumped by the oolong base, which adds a touch of greener florals to the backbone of the tea. There is a very slight butteriness that I’m detecting,a s well, though I have to search for it, and it’s stronger as it cools. The one negative note I have about this tea is that the base tastes a little like I added the brewed out steep to the first or second steep of a decent oolong. I wonder if it isn’t my insistence on gong fu style brewing everything these days that is swaying my tastes, since I just brewed this tea western style.
Still, this tea is intensely scented and flavored, but the flavoring is light and refreshing. I love it, and I am definitely on the next DF group order with this one!

Sipdown (132)!

Thanks for the sample Liquid Proust, I had it today at work!

Since I haven’t done one in a while, I decided that I’d do a blind tasting with this blend! Obviously it’s got rose in it, but I wanted to see what I noticed by drinking my cold brew prior to do any reading on it. I actually had some interesting results this time around:

My immediate observation was that this was a highly floral from the rose but also from the natural floral notes of the greener oolong base; specifically I thought I picked up notes of both orchid and sweet jasmine. There were a few sips where the intensity of all the floral elements felt a little overwhelming and I definitely think those wary of floral teas in general will find this too much, but overall I think they were all pretty well balanced/in check.

The big surprised was that throughout the entire cold brew I kept tasting the same juicy fruit note that I thought tasted pretty obviously of lychee. I was quite surprised when I finally did look up the tea ingredients only to see that there’s no added lychee flavouring. For me, that flavour was unmistakably present. I suppose, since lychee is quite a floral fruit, all of the other floral components of this tea could have contributed to the flavour, though.

Regardless, I thought this was a really pleasant cold brew; quite refreshing and thankfully with flavours other than a flat, monotone rose note. I’d definitely revisit this one, perhaps trying it hot instead of cold brewed.

I cannot tell you how I excited I am to get to this part of my cupboard, my Dammann order from last fall. Full of teas that are some of my faves. This one (#18) is delicious, full of rosy-ness and oolong goodness. A nice, relaxing tea for this afternoon.