Rose Congou Emperor

It has been a strange week so far… To start off, on Monday I assisted in my boyfriend’s endoscopy (I studied medicine…) and the Doctor found a huge hernia (it was the biggest I have ever seen…). So we now have an operation that needs to be programmed… Tuesday and Wednesday bunched together in my mind and I am glad that it is almost Friday… I can’t wait for the weekend… Thankfully I get to go the Roxette concert tomorrow which should make Thursday easier to digest… Now to actually review this tea.

I love rose flavored things so when I received this from Indigobloom in a swap I was super happy. The black leaves had a few rose petals scattered amongst them. The scent of the dry leaves wasn’t very rosey… It reminded me of a Pu Erh without the fishiness. I got a pleasnt leather note in the scent.

Brewed for 3 minutes it was a bit weak, so I brewed it for an extra minute. It smelled of new leather with a hint of rose. Somehow this appealed to me. The extra minute of brewing made it a tad bit bitter, but it wasn’t bad at all. A touch of sweetener fixed it all up. The flavor was leathery with the perfect amount of astringency. The after taste was a mouthful of delicate rose. Sweetened the after taste was enhanced for a delicious tea experience. It really was like a Pu Erh with all the fishiness removed leaving behind leather and sweet smootheness. I really enjoyed this.

I would recomend this to anyone who is looking for a lightly flavored rose tea. Yum… I wish I had more. : )

Why oh why did I splurge on this? I certainly do not regret my purchase, it was ahhhhmazing!!!!! but really, my wallet sighs every time I enter that shop!
Maybe this tea was calling to me. It smells like a rose garden in heaven, intensely floral and sweet and mmmmmmmm.
I was a little worried that it’d turn me off the way bergamot does, so I’m very grateful that it didn’t!
Steeped, it’s still incredibly floral. The taste is less so. I do wish that there was more rose but I also over-steeped it, and thus it’s possible I drowned the rosey part.
Besides the rose, I’m getting a strong chocolate note. Given that this is a Chinese black tea, I understand why!
Next time I brew it, hopefully the chocolate will be less dominant but it seems to me that it’d have a stronger profile than something floral in most any tea (except maybe bergamot which I can’t indulge anyhow)
The second steep of this was even less floral, but smoother and milder in the chocolate sense as well.
It reminds me of the Golden Monkey I have from Tao of Tea, only less harsh. Also, I’m tempted to see how this would fare iced. I suspect the cocoa would do nicely there, and that’s coming from a tea-freak who generally dislikes iced drinks.
and the rating? I’m tempted to lower the score from the 95 I want to give it, because the rose isn’t all that strong in the flavour… but then, I need to give it a few steeps and play around with it first. Either way, I’m in love. Fitting isn’t it? Roses, and love… this should be my Valentines tea, if I have any left by then!