Ahh… finally back to tea. My shipment arrived after the normal
struggles with the USPS and their inability to grasp the concept of
accepting the signed form *they* provide and the fact that most normal
people are not home at 11AM to personally accept packages. I wish I
was however. Regardless, I am now the happy owner of some teas in a
totally new direction for me… red/black tea. I also snagged some Rou
Gui because it is a tea I have heard a lot about but have never tried.
So, I started with it.

Rou Gui is often spoken about as having cassia/cinnamon-like qualities
which intrigued me, however the nose of the freshly opened packet was
more of red dates. I wasn’t getting anything resembling cinnamon at
all, in fact I wasn’t getting a whole lot of anything from the dry
leaf. In my gaiwan I began to brew the tea and the initial aromas from
my notes went like this: Citrus. Chamomile. Nestea Instant Iced Tea w/
Lemon. The last one might seem strange but it was the perfect
explanation of the scent, those pre-sweetened instant tea granules
that come in the can have the exact aroma of what I was getting. As it
brewed a bit longer the aroma changed abruptly to a green TGY and it
lost those former notes completely.

The first sip was purely green oolong. Thin, watery, not very complex,
not much of anything. Again, certainly no cinnamon. A bit of a
letdown. I moved on to a second brewing to see if anything new might
appear but unfortunately nothing did, more of the same. Pretty
disappointing. It is a good tea for what it is but nowhere near what I
had been expecting or hoping for, and since I’m not a big green oolong
fan there was little for me to get excited about. I’ve not given up
yet, though, and I will track down a more finely crafted version
before giving up on it.

- Dominic

Google never forgets so I must not have posted my Rou Gui notes from a
couple of months ago. I agree it is much to do about nothing. It is
pleasant enough as far as rock teas go. If you see a tea description
on the Internet it has been propagated by the lazy. The Chinese sense
of smell and taste are based on elements integrating the whole and not
differentiation like the West. I just made that up but something like
that. The dry leaf looks like husks of crawlers that dried on the
rock. The wet leaf is a dark green which I wouldnt let anywhere near
a salad. I like rock teas for shoveling snow or to tell if I am
getting better after being sick. When my sampler pack runs out Im not
looking for anymore perse.

Jim

On Aug 18, 9:17 am, "Dominic T." > wrote:
> Ahh… finally back to tea. My shipment arrived after the normal
> struggles with the USPS and their inability to grasp the concept of
> accepting the signed form *they* provide and the fact that most normal
> people are not home at 11AM to personally accept packages. I wish I
> was however. Regardless, I am now the happy owner of some teas in a
> totally new direction for me… red/black tea. I also snagged some Rou
> Gui because it is a tea I have heard a lot about but have never tried.
> So, I started with it.
>
> Rou Gui is often spoken about as having cassia/cinnamon-like qualities
> which intrigued me, however the nose of the freshly opened packet was
> more of red dates. I wasn’t getting anything resembling cinnamon at
> all, in fact I wasn’t getting a whole lot of anything from the dry
> leaf. In my gaiwan I began to brew the tea and the initial aromas from
> my notes went like this: Citrus. Chamomile. Nestea Instant Iced Tea w/
> Lemon. The last one might seem strange but it was the perfect
> explanation of the scent, those pre-sweetened instant tea granules
> that come in the can have the exact aroma of what I was getting. As it
> brewed a bit longer the aroma changed abruptly to a green TGY and it
> lost those former notes completely.
>
> The first sip was purely green oolong. Thin, watery, not very complex,
> not much of anything. Again, certainly no cinnamon. A bit of a
> letdown. I moved on to a second brewing to see if anything new might
> appear but unfortunately nothing did, more of the same. Pretty
> disappointing. It is a good tea for what it is but nowhere near what I
> had been expecting or hoping for, and since I’m not a big green oolong
> fan there was little for me to get excited about. I’ve not given up
> yet, though, and I will track down a more finely crafted version
> before giving up on it.
>
> - Dominic