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Heritage Rougui, 2010 from Red Blossom Tea Company

Steepster Score 2 Ratings Rate This Tea

83/100

Heritage Rougui, 2010

Oolong Tea by Red Blossom Tea Company

Our Heritage Rougui has a century long history. First cultivated during the first half of the Qing Dynasty, the tea quickly gained a reputation as one of the most intensely aromatic and intensely flavorful amongst the Wuyi oolongs.

With a dense leaf structure and thick, robust leaves, Rougui takes especially well to traditional Wuyi crafting. Our Heritage Rougui was gathered mid-May 2010. After gathering, the leaves were sun-withered, wilted, bruised, oxidized and pan-roasted using only traditional Wuyi crafting techniques. The final roasting is no less traditional: the mao cha is carefully sorted then given several layers of charcoal roasting, a rare process in this day of electric, thermometer controlled roasting.

The reason for Rougui’s fame is in the name itself. Meaning “cinnamon” in Chinese, Rougui is so named because its aroma and flavor is reminiscent of cinnamon bark, with a hint of creaminess and a persistent floral & fruit aroma and finish that extends through even a fifth steeping.

7 Tasting Notes

Bonnie

Thank you to Eric for this lovely tea gift!

Eric from Happy Lucky’s (like he has no other life than that) went to San Francisco after Christmas and brought back a tea gift to me! What a nice young man he is!

I’m going to review ERIC! (Hahahah)

Eric is a Scientist! He only works part time at Happy Lucky’s but his main job is as Science Instructor at Frontrange Jr. College, until he get’s his Ph.D.

Eric is SUCH a great fellow tea nerd! One of the most endearing things about him is how much he knows about tea and how off-hand he is about it. He knows so much about the science of tea and the history of how tea has been produced and spews out information as though the rest of us know what he knows. Uh, no we don’t Eric!

What he brought me as a gift, was one of his favorite tea’s, which made me feel special.

I prepared the tea in my Gaiwan, just the way Eric would have done.
A short 30 second steep created the scent of flowers and Chinese food. (Something you might smell in the Summer walking by an outside cafe)

The flavor was sweet roasty stonefruit, water on granite rocks and very clean.
I decided to lengthen the steeps which made the flavor more roasty and woody than before with persimmon, peach and apricot sweetened with honey.Cinnamon spice punctuated the finish.

Those were a lot of flavors packed together, but this was a smooth tea. The flavors blended together like an old fashioned stone-fruit pie (my stone-fruit pie) with only the best ingredients, packed full of fruit and dripping with natural juices and a little spice kick.

(This tea is supposed to have an orange flavor but I didn’t taste any orange. I smelled the aroma of orange wafting around the cup.)

Delightful tea made more special by the giver! No wonder this is a favorite of Eric’s!

Charles Thomas Draper
97
Charles Thomas Draper 2 tasting notes

I received this as a sample with my order. I was not bashful with the steep times and the result was very good. Dense fruit and very flavorful. Truly a very enjoyable tea. I was getting a burnt orange cinnamon spice flavor. A lovely aroma. The taste lingers in my mouth….

I had a touch left of my sample so I cold brewed it in a Mason Jar that was half full. I let it steep for 2 days. I am getting this citrus-burnt- orange- cinnamon- wood flavor that is really wild. Very refreshing and very exotic.

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Amy oh
96
Amy oh 5 tasting notes

The Red Blossom Tea Company is a fabulous place to go in San Francisco’s Chinatown for tea tasting. The staff is extremely knowledgeable and friendly. I knew when I went in that I wanted to try an oolong that was more oxidized than the ones I have been trying. We sampled two wuyi oolongs which were both very good, the Tie Luo Han and this Heritage Rougui.

This is a nice woody tea with hints of cinnamon. It is very creamy and has a smooth finish. The spicy flavor comes out a little bit better with the second steeping here. The tea “liquor” is light and amber-like with a hint of smoke. This is a very nice tea for fall!

I am having a good tea day. I’m at home relaxing so why skimp on the quality stuff – lol. It’s been a while since I had this so I decided to have some today. I really think the xi ying teapot is the perfect way to make wuyi oolongs.

I decided to steep this up at 180 F for 2 minutes. It’s very roasty and woody with cinnamon notes and dried fruit. Someday I need to go back to Red Blossom and get another of their Wuyi teas. I seem to remember the Tie Luo Han as also being very good.

A guy at another local tea shop told me that the darker style oolongs don’t really go stale and might even improve with age. I wonder if that is true.

see my previous notes on this if you are interested. :)

Upped my rating of this one today. A VERY short steeping time of 45 seconds or so seems to do the trick with this one. Smooth minerality with stone fruit flavors… yum yum

I have two Wu Yi teas but it took me a while to get my brewing methods down. If steeped too long they can turn bitter very quickly…

and if you are interested in the history of Wu Yi Tea check out this documentary.
http://teamasters.blogspot.com/2011/11/wu-yi-tea-documentary.html

Still very delicious…. my favorite wuyi tea to date

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