A few Kunming signs

Middle frame, big characters in red, if I'm reading that correctly it's 醇香宫廷. Doesn't 醇 mean "alcohol"? So it's saying it has the flavor / fragrance of alcohol?

@jbradfor, that part is a backwards reading: 廷宮香醇

香醇 ＝ 香味醇厚 (mellow and rich flavor) ;)

Ah, thanks.

In my defense, I did think of a right-to-left reading, but eliminated it because

1. 宮廷 is a word listed in MDBG (meaning "court", which might be appropriate here), while 廷宮 is not listed as a word. [bTW, what does 廷宮 mean?]
2. I thought that when 香 is used to mean flavor, the 香 comes second, in parallel to 魚香.
3. "醇香宫廷" has 7,000 hits on google, most/all related to tea, while "廷宮香醇" has zero

Like jbradfor I think it is 醇香宫廷.

I'd think of 醇 in this context meaning wine, mellow wine in particular, not just alcohol as such.

A large dictionary also shows that 醇 as an adjective has the secondary meaning of "pure" or "unmixed" (纯一，不杂).

Ah, well maybe you are supposed to read the first part backward and the last part forward ;)

I don't see anything wrong with 醇香宫廷. 醇香 just means that the fragrance is pure.

Thanks @889 and @xiaocai, I think that's the answer I wanted. I wasn't aware of the other meanings for 醇. Next time I'll look it up, 'cause there it is in MDBG: "alcohol / wine with high alcohol content / rich / pure / good wine / sterols".

Back to 醇香宫廷, if "醇香" here means "pure/clear fragrance", what does "宫廷" mean? MDBG lists it as "court (of king or emperor)", baidu agrees with "帝王居住和处理朝政的处所", so does this mean the tea is fit for an emperor?

"Imperial" makes a nice translation; for example, those pricey restaurants that specialise in Imperial Cuisine are said to serve 宫廷菜.

Sometimes it can mean that the product used to be a 贡品, or of the similar quality of a 贡品, I think.

Connoisseurs sometimes talk about the "liquor" produced by a certain tea when it is steeped or brewed. It's a specialized term.