72 Tasting Notes
Lately I’ve been trying to finish off some of my samples, and avoid buying tons of new tea for a little while, but I’ll definitely get this when the opportunity appears. I’m finding I really love teas from the Fuijan region, because they seem to have that chocolatey/sweet profile I like so much. I expected this one to be smokey, since I think I’ve only ever had smoked lapsang souchong, but it’s instead a soft, toasty flavor. I loved it utterly.
My feelings about teas sometimes shift, and I think that happened here. There was a time when this one was a little assertive for my taste, but now it’s becoming one of my primary breakfast teas. Lately, I like the smokiness, and slight astringency.
I’ve also been really into putting milk in my tea, for my first cup of the morning, and this tea lends itself beautifully to that.
Long ago, I bought a huge amount of this as loose-leaf. I had just gotten into loose-leaf, and was awed by low per-unit pricing. Anyway, I’ve still got like a quarter pound of it sitting around, because, as it turns out, I don’t feel the need to have rose tea every day.
This tea is…a very, very, rosey tea. It doesn’t work for me as a general drinking hot tea, because the tea flavor is secondary to the rose flavor. That said, it makes a wonderful base for a sweet milk tea with boba, and is a perennial crowd-pleaser iced. As it’s getting warmer, I’ve been keeping a bottle of it on hand for social teatime. It’s pretty perfect as a sugary treat for warm afternoons, sitting outside and enjoying a book. I won’t be sad if I ever manage to sipdown my piles and piles of Gypsy Rose, but it’s a respectable flowery tea, when I’m in the mood.
I ran out of this tea about a week ago, so won’t be writing a super-detailed review, but it’s a favorite black tea for me right now. I love the low-astringency blacks, and this one was rich and kind of sweet and starchy and its memory haunts me. I am definitely buying more in my next order (once I’ve tried my other TTC samples)!
