Flavour: Mild black tea in the American idiom. Not complex. When served sweetened, notes of date and carrot cake are the order of the day.
Aroma: Moderately aromatic. Notes of date, sweet spice, pastry, and snapdragon blossoms greet the nose.
Mouthfeel: Moderate in body. Just barely stout enough to satisfy.
Appearance of brewed tea: Rich caramel brown tea topped by an appealing thin oily lacing. A good looking cuppa, I’d say.
Caffeine: Below average caffeination for black tea.
Virtues: I find the aroma and appearance of this tea to be quite inviting. Moderately intense flavour lacks distracting off-notes. Inexpensive and readily available in US supermarkets.
Faults: Intolerant of indifferent preparation—tastes soapy and grassy if brew water is insufficiently hot. Flavour and aromatic intensity of this tea seems to vary from year to year; the American-market Red Rose I recall from the 1980s was a more robust tea than the Red Rose of today.
The Verdict: This is my favourite inexpensive and widely available tea sold in US supermarkets. Careful brewing will reveal some unexpected rewards. I find American-market Red Rose entirely serviceable for drinking when I’ve run out of finer teas. Cheap and cheerful.
