Monday, November 18, 2013

Rougui







Rougui is a name of a chinese cooking herb that taste like cinnamon.  I do not know why this particular oolong is called Rougui.  It is however amusing to note that a couple of online teashops describing their Rougui in their store as 'taste and smell like spicy cinnamon'.

Rougui oolong does not taste spicy or has any cinnamon aroma.  It however has a very pleasant highly aromatic floral scent that stays in the mouth for some time after you had drank a cup of Rougui.  I could detect some woody notes that nicely complemented the floral scent of the tea.   

Rougui is a very popular oolong in China and the better rougui teas are known to be expensive.  Rougui oolong is primarily called Wuyi Rougui as the tea leaves are primarily harvested from the Wuyi region in Fujian, China.  

Pix 1-3 shows a tin of Rougui produced by Fujian Tea Import & Export Co Ltd.  This 125g tea locally retails around US$25.  I have a Rougui tea drinker that recommended me to buy this tin as he felt that the Rougui was of good quality for its price. While brewing this tea, my daughter could detect this sweet floral scent from quite a distance and even asked for a cup of tea.   

Pix 4-5 showed a gift I had received from a Guangzhou tea friend. This Rougui was produced in the 90s, is based on a 1989 Rougui processing method. I have no idea of the taste.  Must be good, I suppose.  But....I am keeping this 50g pack of tea, unopened in its original factory sealed wrapper.

1 comment:

Nicole Wilson said...

The spice in Rou gui is extremely subtle so the claims of cinnamon are pretty silly. I wasn't ever able to identify it until I did a side by side tasting with Tie Luo Han.