May Flowers! This is another Adagio custom blend, and ultimately the one I restocked after drinking Padme because I loved the rose and cream flavors that came out in that tea from the Summer Rose/Cream combination. Since the Rooibos Jasmine component of that tea was completely missing, I saw little reason to get more of that tea when these were the two teas that left an impression, and a repeat blend might actually have enough Rooibos Jasmine to change the flavor profile. So I hunted around on Adagio until I found a custom blend that was simply a mix of Summer Rose and Cream, and found one, titled White Rose… which I’ll admit, is a bit of a confusing name. I have a white tea in my collection mixed with roses with the same name. A black tea called “White Rose” just sounds misleading to me… I guess the cream component made them think of white-colored roses. Whenever I see “white” in the title of a tea I always think of “white tea,” heh.
Confusing name aside, this is a tea for rose lovers! You open the bag and it has such a thick, rosey scent. I’ll admit, it has a lot of rose oil flavoring, and it may be overpowering or obnoxious to some, but since I really love this flavor note and sometimes find the rose in my teas too subdued, I really enjoy that I have a really strong rose tea option. Usually strong flavorings in my teas are really off-putting to me, but this is just a rare exception for me. The rose comes out as a strong top note, but mid-sip to the finish there is a notable sweet cream flavor beneath the rose, and I just love the way the two flavors pair. It adds a sweetness to the strong black base, which is — admittedly — a bit more on the bitter and astringent side than I typically care for in blacks (the one thing Padme had over this is that despite the Jasmine Rooibos carrying no noticeable flavor, it did mellow out the black tea so there was no bitterness or astringency in that blend). I tend to add some vanilla almond milk; it helps take some of the edge off the black tea, but doesn’t affect the creamy rose flavor at all. It also adds some nice creaminess to the cuppa. This is definitely one to take British-style!
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Cream, Floral, Malt, Rose, Sweet
