China Arts City

I bought this tea in the Toronto China town South of Dundas at the store labelled China Arts City ( next to a tourist shop) that sells Bonsai. She had 4 or 5 greens and this rose conjou that she sold for about $5 for about 2 ounces.

This tea is quite nice though it is a bit heavier and fruitier than the Pure Aroma Rose Congou I’ve tried. It brews to a nice maple colour and smells of a spicy tea rose with a hint of smoke and a fruit mix of cherry and grape. It tastes of rose water (a spicy sweet floral with hint of a metallic tinge) similar to the PureAroma rose flavouring but slightly more fruity and not as crisp a floral. The base tea is very fruity tasting of plum and cherry and wine. It has a faint hint of charred crust from smoke that provides a hint of bitterness and becomes more prominent with more leaf or a longer steep time. There is a hint of chocolate. The tea is mildly astringent, leaving drying feeling on lower tongue. There is a hint of lemon. The tea re-steeps fabulously well. So far I have re-steeped it four times while retaining a pleasant rose overlaying fruity tea flavour while retaining a medium bodied texture. The body of this tea is slightly heavier than the Pure Aroma and it is not quite as smooth as a result of the astringency but the flavour is very nice and the tea is satisfying.