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I’ll be straight with y’all. I’ve never been a big fan of roses. I think they’re just a tinge too traditional for the modernist in me that clamors loudly in my head. For example, if I find myself in an antique store? Cowbells and kettle drums and GET ME OUT OF HERE. [I’m not saying you can’t find cool stuff in antique stores because you most certainly can – but I get an internal reaction not unlike when people who don’t like strong smells walk by an Abercrombie & Fitch. Speaking of which, do they drown that damn store in scent? Nightly?]

Anyhow, as a flower person, I’m much more of an orchid and gardenias kind of girl. As a tea person, I usually don’t like roses in my leaf, but I really like Samovar’s Bai Mudan, so when I got a sample of this I thought, “Ah hell, it won’t kill me.”

Before I get into the tea, I want to say that my stigma surrounding roses aside, this tea is very, very pretty. Lots of little rose buds with ombre’d hues of pink blushing their petals surrounded by pretty green leaves. On the flip side of that, it smells like roses, which is a smell I associate strongly with non-edible things like soap and perfume.

All of these thoughts bumping around in my head, I closed my eyes and drew a sip.

Seriously, I don’t know how Samovar freaking does it. There’s magic afoot in that place. They have freaking mind gnomes that get into my head and figure out what needs to happen to make me enjoy something and then they snap their fingers, do their step, they can do it all by theyself…

I’m sorry, where the heck was I? Right, the tea. The tea is a rather seamless blending of the two named components. The taste is lightly floral, backed with that distinct dark sweetness I get from bai mudan that quickly morphs into walnut. A slightly heady note of rose chases the liquid down the throat and what is left is a rather dimensional grassy sweetness.

Anyhow, this tea was good to me. Enjoyable, even. Is it going to edge out the many teas of theirs that are nipping at my wallet? No. But it’s the best rose tea I’ve had to date, and if I found myself planning a pinkies-up tea party I’d likely nab a tin because this tea just feels damn fancy. If you like roses, I’m going to say this tea will be a likely winner for you. If you love roses, then do yourself a favor and go buy a sample right now.