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Quintessential does not mean “really essential”, and does not make sense in this context.
You can’t really be quintessential “for” something; only quintessential of something.
Ethymologically you are right, I wasn’t really aware of the alchemical background of five rounds of destillation when I wrote my comment.
Nonetheless, “quintessential for” is not unheard (or rather unread?) of:
It will take another generation or two until this usage becomes normalized, so thank you for pointing me to a better style.
