Rou Gui Cinnamon Oolong

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Nutty, Roasted, Almond, Caramel, Cinnamon, Cloves, Dried Fruit, Fruity, Ginger, Mineral, Nuts, Plum, Roasted Nuts, Vanilla, Brown Toast, Spices, Toast, Smooth, Apple, Autumn Leaf Pile, Butter, Cream, Earth, Floral, Honey, Honeysuckle, Milk, Raisins, Wet Earth, Wet Rocks
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by kimquat
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 30 sec 7 g 9 oz / 273 ml

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15 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I’m trying to make room in my cupboard, so I’m going back and drinking down teas that are close to finished! I’d like to make this a Saturday sipdown; I’ve only got one TB of this left. Yeesh, my...” Read full tasting note
  • “Wow. This oolong sample has overcome old age, sloppy storage, and ham-handed western steeping in a bag with an office kettle, and still shines. Roasty, toasty, with a classy hint of spice. I should...” Read full tasting note
  • “Got this one as a sample. It was roasty and smooth, not anything to make it stand out from other Wuyi Oolongs. I bet this would go well with grandpa style brewing. I might stick with big red robe...” Read full tasting note
    79
  • “Busy day and I have more so hopefully I can add to this review. Preliminary thoughts: Nice almond notes, as well as the spices, such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger. Stays true to the Wuyi oolong rock...” Read full tasting note
    85

From Mandala Tea

First flush spring leaves are picked and roasted for this classic “rock” or “cliff” style tea which comes from the Wu Yi Mountains in Fujian Province, China. This stunning area has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the abundance of different species and cultural importance of its tea growing tradition.

Rou Gui translates literally to cinnamon or cassia. The dry leaves give a distant impression of the spice and once they are rinsed it becomes more apparent. Short gong fu-style steepings produce a clear and peach-hued liquor. This oolong earns its nick name with magnificent almond milk, toast, and cinnamon flavors that persist in the mouth after each sip. We find ourselves picking up the gaiwan again and again to behold this mesmerizing tea.

Basic Brewing Instructions:
-Do a 5-10 second rinse with the same temperature water as used for brewing.
-195˚ F water temperature.
-Use 1 generously heaping tablespoon per 8oz. of filtered water.
-Recommended early steepings of 30 seconds, adding time as desired.

About Mandala Tea View company

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15 Tasting Notes

157 tasting notes

I’m trying to make room in my cupboard, so I’m going back and drinking down teas that are close to finished! I’d like to make this a Saturday sipdown; I’ve only got one TB of this left. Yeesh, my other note on this is so vague!

Method:
Nearly 2TB/10oz
Pre-boiling
Rinse: 15sec
First steep: 55 seconds
Second steep: 1min 15
Third steep: 1min 40
Fourth steep: 2min 10

(Aroma from the rinse: apple, cinnamon, damp earth, mineral, raisin.)

1. At the front of each sip I’m getting strong mineral notes and a wet, dark earthiness. It’s clean and tastes like spring water. River stones. Rocks. Midway through sipping it takes on a roasted flavor, then notes of cinnamon and cream appear. The finish is smooth and buttery. Silky! It’s not heavy at all. It’s very light on the tongue. Maybe medium-bodied, since I used SO much leaf. As the liquid cools the mineral and earth notes step back. It tastes like lightly buttered, slightly charred cinnamon raisin bread. Very darkly toasted but not quite burnt.

2. There is much less mineral in this cup. It’s slightly earthy with a taste like autumn leaves. The dominant flavors are cream, butter, cinnamon and honey. The roastiness is still present, but it’s toned down a bit as well. The buttery cream taste coats my mouth as I continue sipping. At the bottom of the cup, the lukewarm liquid brings back the mineral/spring water flavors I was getting earlier. Now my tongue is coated with honey sweetness and a touch of malt.

3. Earthiness and mineral notes have all but dissipated. This steep is very soft, creamy, and slightly floral. There is a fruity undertone: it’s like raisins or maybe plums. A little tart. (Just a little.) Finish is long: notes of butter, cream, honey, and flowers. Lingering cream/floral flavor. Cinnamon spice is barely present in the background. Impressions: Dairy. Lightly sweetened whipped cream. Fleece. Light peach/coral color. Greek yogurt. (From the thickness of the dairy flavor.)

4. Stronger honey taste. It’s at the beginning of each sip. Rocky, mineral notes are back but rather than being dark, they’re light and sparkling. Like gray stones splashed with spring water, glistening in the sun. There is honeysuckle and cream at the end of each sip. Honey persists throughout. I think I taste a golden delicious apple somewhere in there…but I can’t tell if I’m imagining it or not. Long finish, again. A lot of dairy. And honeysuckle flowers.

There is a lot more complexity to this tea than I remembered. Holy crap. I’m glad I came back to it. This could be a sign of me getting back into oolongs! GREAT for gong fu, or bastardized western versions of gong fu. (Which is usually what I do.)

Leaves are still going strong…but after drinking this all afternoon, I’m in the mood for something different. I’ll probably throw this into a mason jar in the fridge overnight. We’ll see what happens. (:

Flavors: Apple, Autumn Leaf Pile, Butter, Cinnamon, Cream, Earth, Floral, Honey, Honeysuckle, Milk, Mineral, Raisins, Roasted, Toast, Wet Earth, Wet Rocks

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2890 tasting notes

Wow. This oolong sample has overcome old age, sloppy storage, and ham-handed western steeping in a bag with an office kettle, and still shines. Roasty, toasty, with a classy hint of spice. I should save the rest to drink properly, outdoors, watching some leaves fall.

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79
438 tasting notes

Got this one as a sample. It was roasty and smooth, not anything to make it stand out from other Wuyi Oolongs. I bet this would go well with grandpa style brewing. I might stick with big red robe which is usually my Oolong of choice and was in my order from Mandala. This tea was just ok for me. The third steep was a lot less flavorful than the first two.

Flavors: Nutty, Roasted

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85
379 tasting notes

Busy day and I have more so hopefully I can add to this review.

Preliminary thoughts: Nice almond notes, as well as the spices, such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger. Stays true to the Wuyi oolong rock teas… Minerals. It says lightly roasted but I would classify it more medium to heavy. Not charcoal-smoky flavor but more roasted flavors and notes. There were caramel notes, some warm vanilla notes. Nice mineral finish.

Roasted, nutty, fruity plum goodness.

Gaiwan, 110ml, 205°F, 9 steeps: rinse, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 35s,40s, 60s, 120s

I hope you are all having a great and productive day. ^^

Flavors: Almond, Caramel, Cinnamon, Cloves, Dried Fruit, Fruity, Ginger, Mineral, Nuts, Plum, Roasted Nuts, Vanilla

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 4 OZ / 110 ML
derk

Likewise to you, too. I’m done for the long weekend. Gonna try to put out 3 tea notes a day S/U/M. Only then will I feel truly productive and fulfilled :P

Kawaii433

hehe derk :D That would be productive! And I love your reviews so I completely approve! haha

Roswell Strange

Sounds so good! I’ve debated picking this up from Mandala a few times, and now I’m kicking myself for not having done so…

Kawaii433

Roswell, I hope you enjoy it when you do get to try it. Many noticed peach and apple… I got plum or prune (go figure lol) but it was definitely good. :D

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533 tasting notes

Sipdown. This was one of my older teas. Bought it just after I discovered Steepster. Cinnamon and mineral. I didn’t mind the medium roast, but it calmed down since I bought it.

Flavors: Cinnamon, Mineral, Smooth

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80
21 tasting notes

Dark roasted oolong. I didn’t get the cinnamon notes, felt more toasty and charcoal.

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694 tasting notes

Yesterday was intense. My brain was running 100pmh all day long and when I got home, kids in bed, husband out of the house for man night it was still running at top speeds. It was running so fast I was making myself overwhelmed. So to shut the damn thing off I decided to take 30 mins. I just sat and enjoyed this lovely tea. It did the trick! Calming, cozy and so very tasty.

This tea was a very nice medium roast oolong. The first few steeps were roasty with hints of mineral. As the leaves opened up a bit I got quite a juicy flavor from this tea. I will be honest I had a hard time detecting the cinnamon note that many others have found, but it was still a very enjoyable tea. Yum.

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84
1113 tasting notes

Thanks for the sample TeaTiff

I’m not usually into these darker Wuyi oolongs but I’ve always been curious about this one! This is very complex, sort of spicy, and has a nice floral characteristic on top of the darker roastiness. Very nice!!!

boychik

I love Wuyi oolongs. Every steep is different.

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85
4167 tasting notes

Thank you for this one, TeaTiff! The name is a little promising, but it’s kind of tough to live up to…

Steep #1 // rinse // 15 min after boiling // 50 second steep
I used what looked like a tablespoon of these very long, dark, twisty leaves. Dark oolongs aren’t usually my thing but this one is lovely. There are only hints of that charcoal flavor rather than being the main note. It doesn’t scream cinnamon but how could any tea without actual cinnamon? Mainly I find peaches in this pale yellow brew.

Steep #2 // 10 min after boiling // 60 second steep
This one definitely rewards with shorter steeps. A little longer and this would have been too much. As it is, it’s a lovely peach nectar! Even fuller flavor with a syrupy texture and somehow even the charcoal that was there is missing now.

Steep #3 // 10 min after boiling // 60 sec
Another delicious cup. Much like the flavor of the second steep. I think this one could keep going without getting an oversteeped leaves flavor.

Kittenna

Very interesting. Anything like Gui Fei?

tea-sipper

I don’t think I’ve had Gui Fei before…

Kittenna

Oops, sorry, I think I confused you with someone else :D The version I had was a Butiki tea that I thought tasted like ice wine – was thinking maybe the “cinnamon” was the same sort of flavour.

tea-sipper

I haven’t had ice wine before either :)

Kittenna

:o you should fix that!

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3294 tasting notes

Funny, I know I’ve reviewed this tea before, & yet, there is no review from me in the database. Oh well….
This was my friend Lisa’s next selection. I showed her how to man the yixing, gave her suggested parameters, & she did a great job! We drank cup after cup of this medium roast tea, & I don’t really have any tasting notes to offer, as I was restringing a harp for one of my students, while Lisa supplied me with lovely tea & great conversation.
It doesn’t get much better than that!

Sil

90% sure steepster is eating things again

NofarS

I’ve just noticed that at least two reviews that I posted (one on Old Silver Tea Pot and one on Silver Dragon Beard) are gone. Don’t feel like going over the list and checking each review, but it looks like Steepster is having database problems :(

Sil

It’s been doing this for a while now…there was a post on it but I can’t find that post and I don’t recall seeing Jason respond to it.

Terri HarpLady

The Bermuda Triangle of Steepster :)

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