I went to David’s Tea today specifically for a tin of this and guess what? They were essentially all out! I still managed to get 92 grams worth but only in the result of emptying the wall tin of all its tea dust and white chocolate crumbs…uhh… Maybe I should have forgone all of the “special bits”, as my server put it, and saved myself a few extra dollars. I was hoping to be in the position to ask for extra rose buds too. I really love this tea.
That love appears to be a very subjective feeling for this tea, however. It makes sense, but I hadn’t realized the emotions that the strong floral notes rouse up in people would be so “strong” as well. Personally, the aroma alone is enough to make me skip in happiness. It makes me nostalgic too and reminds me of the rose flavoured Turkish Delights that my dad and I both enjoy around Christmas. I actually bought a box of Turkish Delights the other day but there were no lemon ones and too many crème de menthe ones. Disappointing
The first time I had this I liked it so much that I re-steeped it three times! Tonight’s cup isn’t as good as that. The excessive white chocolate residue made this particular steep rather scummy. It’s also slightly bitter which is probably due to me over-steeping it and the tea powder. It’s still has the ideal creamy, floral, and sweet profile so I will do second steep.
The white chocolate helps to offset what would otherwise be a very perfume-like drink; flowers cutting through cream. The fragrance’s sweetness is doubled, I feel, from that same chocolate, however. English Rose has a very dominant personality and, while I’m on the ‘pro’ end of the spectrum the sheer decadence and richness of it prevents this tea from being a drink I have on hand 24/7- just like how Turkish Delights are not a food to eat all day, every day. It’s more like something I want once every couple days
I’ve noticed that all the teas I went for today (Banana Dream, Ceylon Star, and English Rose) have white chocolate as an ingredient. I guess I like white chocolate.
The bitterness has actually nearly vanished after cooling down for a few minutes. Success!
