China Guangxi Gui-Hua Osmanthus Tea

I really hated this tea when I first tried it. It was bitter and awful, with the overwhelming flavor of burnt flower petals, like someone boiled away a generic Chinese restaurant tea until nothing but the bare kettle remained.
I realize now that I was just destroying a perfectly fine green tea with boiling hot water. Now that I have my fabulous fancy kettle, this is a decent osmanthus scented cup.
The osmathus is not terribly strong. It reminds me of a less perfume-y jasmine, much sweeter, but I still wound’t describe this tea as sweet like I would some oolongs. More like the memory of sweet, like how you can almost taste a sweet smelling flower without physically doing so. The flavor is also most prevalent on the sip. The aftertaste is slightly astringent but strongly reminiscent of steamed veggies. Like you ate stem of a steamed artichoke.
Pretty good overall, I’d like to find it at an upscale restaurant, but nothing I would buy quantity of. Now that I have the brewing temp right, I think I will enjoy the rest of this sample.

I don’t generally like flavored teas, but I’ll make a small exception for this one. The base tea is undistinguished, but the osmanthus would overwhelm anything it was paired with anyhow. It makes me think of the huge osmanthus in Portland’s Classical Chinese Garden, which is so fragrant when it blooms that it scents the whole neighborhood.