Twelfth tea for March Mad(Hatter)ness! This is for the white tea round, going against Tea Chai Te’s Peach Blossom White. Both of these 2018 teas are ones I’ve reviewed before (original review for this tea can be found here: https://steepster.com/mastressalita/posts/376601 ), but considering how long ago they were, I’m going to do a proper revisit.
The dry leaf of this blend isn’t nearly as pretty as the Peach Blossom White, which had nice full leaves and wad decorated with jasmine blossoms, while this tea has very broken leaf material, including the rose petals. But the smell, to a rose-tea fanatic like me, is divine. It’s super strong and smells just like walking through a rose garden, without any hints of aroma of the actual white leaf. For those less inclined to rose, I’d imagine this aroma would probably be abrasive, the sort of thing described as “perfume” or “soap” by others. To me, it is invigorating and lovely!
Steeped 2g for 3 minutes in 350ml 185F water. The brewed tea continues to have that strong rose aroma. The flavor is all rose, without really any of the base shining through, except in mouthfeel; it provides much more body than a straight herbal rose petal/bud tea, providing a smooth, silky, and coating feeling over the tongue. Those rose is strong and lingering, and I definitely can see “perfumy” qualities in it; I’m just not personally bothered by them. There is also that very subtle, somewhat herbaceous “peppery” note I typically taste with rose as well.
This is hard, because objectively, I feel Tea Chai Te’s Peach Blossom White is a better white tea; the leaf looks better, qualities of the base add notes to the tea, the flavoring concept is there. This one has much worse-looking leaf, the white tea is only adding body but no flavor, and the flavor concept isn’t just there, but steamrolling it. Yet… I like how this one tastes better, which is an entirely personal preference. I doubt very many people would enjoy rose tea at this sort of intensity… I just happen to be one of them.
I feel conflicted about it, but Rose White moves on!
Flavors: Floral, Pepper, Perfume, Rose, Smooth, Sweet
