Berry Pink Rosé

Happy National Red Rose Day! Today the prompt was to drink a rose tea or a tea with floral flavor notes. My first choice was actually a dragon ball containing rose that Derk gifted me ages ago, but I feel like that is better suited to gong fu, and I have to work this Saturday (boo!) so I needed something to brew-and-go. So I opted for this, which I put in my cold brew bottle last night (this time, I remembered to actually put it back in the fridge, too!)

The dry tea looks very pretty, with an abundance of rose buds, but I’m personally not much of a fan of rose buds and prefer just petals because the buds take up so much space and it’s hard to get a good mix in the scoop that isn’t a few rose buds filling the spoon. So I purposefully tried overleafing a bit, and tried to get more raspberry leaf in the final scoop. My tea this morning is a quite pretty champagne color… like a goldenrod and cotton candy pink sunset. The aroma is that of a rose garden freshly in bloom.

Honestly, despite my best efforts to diversify the leaf, all I taste is rose. Not the sweet herbal taste of raspberry leaf or any of the freeze-dried berries. As I often get with rose floral, there is a light peppery note left on the tongue, and I actually do taste a bit of an effervescent note that is alcohol-like, but that flavor is pretty mellow compared to the strength of the floral. While I have no problem with ice cold rose water, it’s something easy enough to make by just buying some rose petals from an herbal store. In a tea blend, I expect more, so even though it isn’t a flavor I dislike, I’m disappointed in it. I’m getting a little of the rosé and a whole lot of just rose… and absolutely no berry.

I’ll probably end up using up the rest of my packet making rose-flavored lemonade or steeping in milk to add rose-flavored milk to my smoothies.

Martin Advent Day 19
Oh this is one that I almost bought, but decided against due to the price, so I’m happy to see it here! The leaf consists of mostly roses. I thought it would be pretty evenly balanced between the berry and the rose, but that is clearly not the case. I dislike floral teas less than I used to, but I’m still not their #1 fan. I’m having this warm, and it’s roses all the way. I sort of like it. Basically, I’m enjoying this cup, but I don’t need to have it again. If it were more balanced with the berry, then maybe I would.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Saturday, June 12th: National Red Rose Day Tea #3

additional notes:  Started steep #1 last night, to do steep #2 tonight!  Like Mastress Alita’s note for this mentioned, the flavor here is fading fast.  Sadly these bright magenta raspberries aren’t imparting much raspberry flavor anymore and I’m mainly just tasting a hint of rose.  But the blend idea is so nice and visually, it looks amazing.  I wish the flavors were better.

The “leaf” for this was huge which leads me to think that I underleafed it with my usual 4 perfect spoons in my cold brew bottle. Also leading me to believe that I underleafed this is that it is very subtle. I get some rose and not much else. Next time I will need to add a whole lot more leaf to try to coax out some flavors.

June 2020 subscription

Interesting tea. Their small pouch for 20 grams, which is usually full to half, sometimes little bit more than half is now completely full.

So in my DIY tea bag is in: two rose buds, two big pieces of strawberry and raspberry, some raspberry leaf, lots of rose petals. Fuller than usual.

After 5 minutes of steeping it is bright and pink. Naturally it is very strong in rose aroma and beneath of it there are fruit notes, probably mosty strawberries. When sipped, it is actually rather fruity. There are raspberries and strawberries and in the background there are roses. Purpose of raspberry leaf is probably giving some “depth” of flavour.

I have to try this one iced, after all night steep. That would suit this tea better I think. But it is tasty nevertheless.