Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: The Spice & Tea Exchange
Tea Description:
This fragrant white tea blend consists of all organic ingredients. Roses, jasmine, and lavender are combined with rejuvenating peppermint for a delicious and scented cup. Great for morning or evening enjoyment. Contains: green tea, rose petals, jasmine flowers, lavender flowers, peppermint leaves. Moderate Caffeine.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of the dry leaf is enchanting! It has a strong peppermint scent, but, because the rose is also quite strong, these two seem to contrast each other enough to offer a bouquet that is beautifully floral and yet, deliciously minty at the same time. In the background, I also smell notes of jasmine and lavender. It’s a very pleasing fragrance.
The infusion is also nicely fragrant, smelling a bit more of the rose than of the peppermint, which was what I was hoping for. But I purchased this tea based on the promise of a “White Rose Tea” … and not a peppermint one. I am glad that the rose is prominent, with notes of lavender and jasmine accenting the rose and a hint of peppermint in the background. It smells fresh and romantic, and evokes thoughts of summer when roses are in bloom.
With all these strong floral and peppermint notes, I expected the flavor of the white tea to be absent. But it is not. On the contrary, the flavor of the white tea is very well-defined with its sweet, slightly creamy attributes. It is a very nice base for the flavors of rose, lavender and jasmine – as well as the peppermint – to express themselves.
Not surprisingly, the rose is the strongest component of the cup. It actually starts out rather perfume-y, to the point of numbing the tip of the tongue with its sharp, perfumed quality. That being said, somehow, it is not an off-putting perfume-y taste. It doesn’t taste soapy, it is more reminiscent of rose water than of Aunt Bertha’s perfume. And once the tea has cooled slightly, the flavor tends to settle in, and allows the palate to explore the other notes with ease.
The jasmine and lavender are softer flavors, and I find they serve more as an accent to the rose rather than as individual floral notes. It becomes more of a medley of floral flavor with the rose as the main focus of that medley. The peppermint is also a softer flavor, and I found myself actually looking for it with the first few sips, it was that soft. Now that I am halfway through the cup, the peppermint is more apparent, although it is still not what I’d consider to be a strong flavor. This sometimes aggressive herb seems rather content to be a background note here, and allow the flowers to take center stage.
I find this to be a very enjoyable cup of tea. It offers a delightful sense of tranquility as well as romance, so pour two cups of this tea and sip it with someone special.
