Romance Tea

[rob7]

Tonight I went to a Japanese restaurant. At their bar was a container holding a very interesting looking tea. The owner said that this was called Romance Tea. We tried it and we really enjoyed it. Although I can't say exactly what is in the blend, there are rose buds and violets. It definitely had floral notes in the taste but I also tasted notes of honey.

On my way out I asked the owner about the tea and she said that I will not be able to find this tea anywhere. I asked, "even online", and she said that she doesn't think so. She said that they get this tea directly from Taiwan.

I'm not even sure if the proper name of this is Romance Tea or if this is a rough translation. Has anyone ever heard of this? If so, any one know a supplier? Or, can you suggest a tea that may be similar? Again, I'm not sure of the entire blend, but there were clearly rose buds and violet. Maybe some lavender. It had a light floral taste.

Appreciate your help. Thanks very much.

[Jenni]

I've drank herbal teas from teabag with a similar blend of flowers. Here is one example from Pukka, a British company. Personally I find it rather floral for my taste, but I know some people who like it a lot.

[liuzhou]

I don't understand why the owner made such a mystery of it, unless she meant that that particular blend was not commercially available (unlikely). "Romance tea" is widely available on the internet through Chinese companies such as this one. In Chinese it is 浪漫茶; Pinyin (Mandarin) làng màn chá; Cantonese: long6 maan6 caa4). Chinatown stores should also know it under this name, if they don't know the English. All my local supermarkets have it, but then I'm in China!

There is no fixed recipe, but it is basically green tea with added dried flowers such as rose, chrysanthemum, jasmine, violet, osmanthus, etc. in whatever combination takes the producer's fancy.

[rob7]

Jenni and Liuzhou, thanks for getting me started in the right direction.

Liuzhou, thank you for letting me know what the typical composition of this tea may be. Googling Romance Tea didn't produce any results (based on US location) before I made this post. I then used the term for this tea that you provided and still no results. But, googling "green tea with flowers" brought up some potential results (at least for suppliers in the US).

I also go to the Washington DC area a bit and there are some good asian markets there, so, I'll be on the hunt for this tea there as well. Your input will surely help me explain what I'm looking for.

Jenni...I undertsand what you mean by some teas being too floral. There are some jasmine teas that I've had which are just way too floral for my taste. This blend of tea was actually quite subtle and very light. It was also different from anything I've had before which also added to the experience. Whenever I took a sip, the thought of fine honey came into my mind. The tea wasn't sweet, but the light floral note seemed to match the the light floral note that can be present in honey...if that makes any sense.

[heidih]

You said it was interesting looking - did you mean a blooming tea as described here. I used to get a peach blossom one in Chinatown that was lovely and subtle as you described.

[andiesenji]

I've got a very old (empty) tea tin that is identified as Osmanthus Romance Tea -

an oolong tea with osmanthus flowers.

From WiseGeek comes the following quote:

The Osmanthus fragrans species, also known as sweet osmanthus, the tea olive, sweet olive, or kinmokusei in Japan, is known for its strong, sweet scent. It produces a popular flower that is a traditional symbol of love and romance in Asian countries and often is used in wedding ceremonies.

And this.

[liuzhou]

More on osmanthus here.

[rob7]

Last week I went to one of the larger asian markets in the DC area and asked for the tea by the names give here, by description, and by listing out the possible blends. They did not have anything that came close. But I did just google Osmanthus tea and there are numerous results and places where to buy. It seems like the Osmanthus flower is blended either with green or oolong tea. At this point, as it was previously said that the blends of this team are often sujective to the vendor, I'm thinking of maybe trying to get all the ingredients seperately and try blending them myself.

[andiesenji]

Last week I went to one of the larger asian markets in the DC area and asked for the tea by the names give here, by description, and by listing out the possible blends. They did not have anything that came close. But I did just google Osmanthus tea and there are numerous results and places where to buy. It seems like the Osmanthus flower is blended either with green or oolong tea. At this point, as it was previously said that the blends of this team are often sujective to the vendor, I'm thinking of maybe trying to get all the ingredients seperately and try blending them myself.

Make sure you get the flowers that are specifically "edible" because it is also used in potpourri and those flowers can be treated with pesticides.

A local candle-craft shop carries osmanthus flowers but they have a warning on all their flower products that they are not for culinary use.