Rose Tea

The general description of the above pictures would be 'rose tea'. I suppose, since there is an infusion process in the brewing method, using the word 'tea' would be more logical and commercially acceptable than 'rose drink or essence'. I myself use the general 'rose tea' label even though there is no single tea leaf used throughout the brewing process.

You will noticed by now only unopened dried rosebuds are used for rose tea. I had purchased this rose tea from Guangzhou, China last December. The rose tea, which I had purchased was imported from Iran, which I was told, produced the best rose tea.

The scent of these dried rose buds was very pleasant. Brewing the rose tea was also pretty simple; just use about 6-8 buds in a 150-200ml vessel, pour hot water and your tea is ready in about a minute. The aroma of the infused rose tea was like a subtle floral perfume. My daughter thought we had fresh flowers in the house when I brewed a pot of this tea.

I found the taste of the rose tea to be subtly sweet. It was a pleasant surprise that there was a creamy finish to the tea. Very light and refreshing. The color of the tea is light yellow. I could also managed a 2nd infusion of the rose tea but found the taste weak.

But I digress - Add one rosebud in your next ripe pu erh brew and you get a very mild floral hint to your pu erh brew. Quite nice actually. Haiwan Tea Co. had sold a production of mini ripe pu erh tuos that incorporated rose tea in the tea some years ago.