Originally shared in our Tasting Journal Newsletter
This article is excerpted from our Daily Deal Newsletter.
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With spring really coming along, flowers pushing up and birdsong in the air, I was in the mood for fresh floral teas this weekend.
What does floral mean in tea? It means big aromatics that blossom (pun intended!) on the palate and linger long after every sip. These can range from tropical orchid to deep rose and marigold, or sweet honey and vanilla, or even saffron. Florals are always some of the most interesting teas to taste because the intensity of aroma leads straight into texture, almost always playing up juicy qualities or creating a beautiful showcase of creamy velvety goodness.
If you are in the mood for some aroma-focused teas to ring in the springtime, here’s a roundup of my top picks.
The obvious choice - this is one of the finest jasmine teas I’ve ever tasted. I feels like it gets richer and more nuanced every year as the traditional jasmine scenting is dialed in. Too often, jasmine florals are paired with overly earthy green teas. Not so here! This is a rich buddy silver needle white tea from Yunnan, already creamy and leaning towards juicy strawberry on its own. The addition of jasmine through traditional scenting makes it sing. This is a tea you can resteep all day, and it never gives up the jasmine flavor. It feels like dessert in a gaiwan, and smells like the tropics. We have trouble keeping this in stock, but we just got in a few dozen more bags.
You may have seen Master Zhang’s newest beautiful dark roast Ruan Zhi and Rou Gui just released yesterday. While those are cooling, smoldering and tingling textural experiences, Master Zhang can also deliver perfectly sweet saffron-laden creamy juicy Tieguanyin. His Tieguanyin is what made him a community leader and continues to bring fame to Daping Village (along with Mao Xie). These florals are mouthwatering, and with Tieguanyin, half the fun is seeing how the tea evolves over each steeping. This autumn harvest balances florals with sweet green undertones - perfect to capture the early spring spirit.
This tea is decadence. If we are talking spring, this is full bloom in a conservatory, steamy and humid, tropical and enveloping. Qilan is all about orchid aromatics, and the labor-intensive yaoqing process and hand-firing are finely honed to bring out those florals. Qilan captures florals like a jasmine and sandalwood incense blend - deep and dark, yet luscious at the same time.
Mi Lan literally translates to “honey orchid” which sums up the experience of this tea quite well. This is juicy and tropical, but much brighter and sunnier than Qilan. It feels like being outside in early spring and catching that first scent of flowers in the wind, feeling the sun hit your face after a long winter. Huang Ruiguang’s incredibly labor-intensive finishing process locks in this nuance and depth, and winds it up to practically jump out of your gaiwan the moment it is in hot water.
That’s my floral celebration “to-brew” list.
If you’re ready for a little springtime flavor, we even have the jasmine in 250g bags if you want to stock up.
Happy sipping,
David
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