English Rose

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Tea, Natural And Artificial Flavouring, Rose Buds, White Chocolate
Flavors
Chocolate, Rose
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Kosher
Edit tea info Last updated by Michelle
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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33 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Tea and Mr. Gill A few years ago, a very old man came to my office asking for help… his wife Yollanda of 62 years had just past away and he needed help to sort her financial affairs… I remember him...” Read full tasting note
    87
  • “Well I’m not doing any more sipdowns today, so I decided to go with one of the new teas I brought back from San Francisco. I stopped by one of the DavidsTea locations there specifically to get some...” Read full tasting note
    77
  • “I love rose teas. I mean, I really love them—if push came to shove, I’d probably pick rose as the one flavor to have every day. Not that I’ll ever be in a situation where that will happen, but...” Read full tasting note
    89
  • “Anticipating ickiness, I am trying this tea because I want to leave it for my mom and not feel like I missed out on trying something! Even though I know I’m unlikely to like it, since it smells...” Read full tasting note

From DAVIDsTEA

Rose to the occasion

Rose-scented teas are seriously steeped in tradition. Popular in China for hundreds of years, they’ve also been central to English teatime since the Victorian era. Our version combines black tea from Sri Lanka with pretty pink rosebuds and creamy white chocolate curls. Floral, sweet and delicate, it’s an elegant choice for any tea party – whether it’s an afternoon break at the office or high tea with the Queen. We love it with shortbread cookies or a hot buttered scone. Cheers! (MK Kosher Dairy)

Ingredients: Black tea, white chocolate pieces, rosebuds, natural and artificial flavouring*.

Allergens: Soy and dairy

About DAVIDsTEA View company

DavidsTea is a Canadian specialty tea and tea accessory retailer based in Montreal, Quebec. It is the largest Canadian-based specialty tea boutique in the country, with its first store having opened in 2008.

33 Tasting Notes

87
359 tasting notes

Tea and Mr. Gill

A few years ago, a very old man came to my office asking for help… his wife Yollanda of 62 years had just past away and he needed help to sort her financial affairs… I remember him standing in front of me, a tall and handsome 82 year old man, and all I could see was infinite sadness in his blue eyes, completely broken emotionally. At the time, financial advice was the only help he requested, but it quickly turned into much more than that…

I became his financial advisor… money was not a problem for him, he had been in his prime a successful business man. Unable to have children, him and his wife had nieces and nephews to pass their wealth to. There was one in particular he was very fond of, Mary, but she lived in the states and he would see her only once a year. Basically, he was a lonely man.

What’s the relation with tea you are asking? Well, Mr. Gill being lonely started to find reasons to schedule appointments every weeks. It didn’t take long for me to realize that what he was really seeking was someone to talk to about his dear wife…

She had been the love of his life, and it was obvious he had been struggling everyday since she was gone. One day, after our conversation, I realized I was getting quite fond of this old man and made an offer he could not refuse: Instead of finding reasons to come and see me at the office, why wouldn’t he just join me for lunch once a week?

And so we became friends and every thursday for almost three years, we would meet for lunch at a local restaurant. He once told me I was the highlight of his weeks! The thing is we had such a connexion that the gap of generation slowly disappeared. Our conversations were sometimes intellectual but sometimes, they were just fun and foolish! I never took him for less because of his age, and he never patronized me for being younger.

One day, he didn’t show up as planed. I got worried and called his house. He was sick with the flu and didn’t sound to good. I bought some soup and brought it over. It was the fist time I ever went to his place. I remember thinking that for a man of his age living alone, he was pretty neet!

After thanking me as if I was god’s given gift, he asked if I wanted some tea. I realized that we had never really discussed tea together!

I had no clue what kind of tea he was keeping around, thinking tea bags most probably. He showed me where the tea set was. There was a lovely wooden cabinet on one corner of the kitchen I had noticed. On the shelves, there were the most exquisite china bone collectable tea cup sets. They were Royal Albert for most. He told me some of them dated from the time he got married!

He explained to me that being from England, his wife was an accomplished tea drinker and they used to share a good cup together on a daily basis. His wife’s favorite tea was black rose tea. She was having it shipped directly from England every couple of months. He still had a large supply of that tea and kindly offered me to try it. I don’t remember the brand’s name, but the tin was black with pretty rose buds painted on it. The tea inside still smelled quite fresh. He ask me to pick one of the tea cup on display, I chose the Royal Albert with the pretty pink flowers, him the Aynsley yellow set. And we drank our rose tea in our vintage bone china!

It was super tasty and rose tea quickly became among my favorite teas.

When I left his house, I remember telling him that his wife had exquisite tastes and how privileged I felt that he chose to honour her memory in my company by sharing her favorite tea with me.

Sadly, his flu turned into a complex pneumonia. I went to visit him twice at the hospital and the last conversation I had with him was about that lovely lunch we shared together having Yollanda’s beloved rose tea.

He died a couple of weeks after…

About a month later, I had a visitor at work. Mary! The favorite niece! She brought me a box…said her uncle insisted that I should be given what was inside. We talked a little, she thanked me for looking after her uncle. I mentioned to her how special Mr. Gill was to me and how much I would miss him and our lunch dates.

I brought the box home that night, still not knowing what was inside. Mr. Gill had once brought up the fact that he intended on leaving me some money when he would pass. I had to explain to him that it would be highly unethical for me to accept, but mostly, it would put a shadow on the true meaning of our relationship. He understood and never brought it up again.

So I have to admit I was curious about what was inside…

What I found brought tears to my eyes, but also a smile on my face… The vintage china! He remembered the cups we used that day and wanted me to have them! To this day, they have a special display in my house, and I use them on a regular basis. In his own way, Mr. Gill made sure I would never forget him and his dear love Yollanda!

You may have a look at them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laafeevertee/sets/72157631994242094/

Now this tea:

Sorry for such a long story, and such a short review, but I felt only that story could truly explain why I love rose tea so much!

It’s one of those tea you either love or hate. Yes it’s typically rosy and soapy! I happen to love that smell, it’s an exquisite feminine tea, with plenty of almost too perfect pretty rose buds.

When I drink it, I see lace and pearls dancing all around me!

It tastes exactly what it smells like, floral, sweet and elegant! The black base is from Sri Lanka, it’s very tasty with just a tad of bitterness.

I will not pretend it’s the most refine tea you’ll ever drink, that’s not why I like it so much. I like it cause it makes me happy, that’s all. It reminds me of happy times.

Thank you Mr. Gill…

JacquelineM

Beautiful story, beautiful tea cups!

Azzrian

Okay now I am literally bawling. Thank you so much for sharing such a vivid and lovely person with us all. I think I just fell in love with him too. <3

softrevolution

What a lovely tasting note. Thanks so much for sharing the story, I really enjoyed reading it. Brought a smile to my face!

Michelle

I have chills. That was a beautiful story. Thank you so much for sharing.

Bonnie

This is the most beautiful story! What a good friend you were to this sweet Mr. Gill! Thank you for sharing, my eyes are full of tears!

CupofTree

Wow, what a beautiful story, thank you for sharing it.

ashmanra

Sniff. Sniff. I wish I had known him! Maybe there are Mr. or Mrs. Gills out there for all of us.

Ninavampi

Absolutely incredible and inspiring!

TheTeaFairy

Sharing that story was a must for me and what better place than Steepster for that? I hope he’s smiling tonight from above… Thanks everyone, I didn’t know if my writing would portray him as grand as he really was…the fact that it made you smile, brought tears in your eyes, and made you fall in love with him reassures me, cause that’s exactly what he was about, you Steepster friends got that, thank you :-)

Bonnie

I copied and pasted this in an email to my daughter. This sounds like the perfect true Hallmark movie!

Hesper June

Such a beautiful and heartwarming story,thank you for sharing.

TheTeaFairy

Bonnie, I never thought of it this way, but you’re right… we meet lots of people in a lifetime, but only a few will leave a mark. I knew him for only a couple of years, but he made me look at my life in a different way… real life has its own Hallmark moments!

Plunkybug

Wow! What an amazing story!!! Sadly, I cannot tolerate anything with rose…it sets my head up for a terrible migraine, so I stay away.

TheTeaFairy

Heather, this one SCREAMS roses, so don’t even come close to it!! luckily for you, there are so many other teas out there just for you :-)

Ysaurella

Monsieur Gill était un homme remarquable et sa femme avait beaucoup de goût comme tu le dis, les tasses sont superbes. Ce sont des objets rares qui malheureusement se perdent de nos jours où on nous fait boire dans des gobelets en plastique…
Très belle expérience , merci encore de l’avoir partagée avec nous

Ysaurella

when I turn too much sentimental I always write in French…(!)

TheTeaFairy

Comme tu es mignonne Ysaurella :-) Merci! Ce que tu décris est vrai, d’ailleurs j’adore ton avatar pour cette raison, très vintage! Ok, we have to stop communicating in French here, people will think we’re being rude…or that we are using french cause we’ve been hiding the fact that we are spies! Yes, we are Steepster spies, trying to infiltrate the mysterious world of tea…

Ysaurella

Especially for a “froggy” like me lost in the most famous typically English beverage world ;)

Bonnie

I knew you two were Spy’s! How Romantic! Are you both in the latest Bond movie?

Plunkybug

Yes, I was close to this one once, and had to pull away very quickly.

Invader Zim

Beautiful story! Thank you for sharing. It brought tears to my eyes and put a smile on my face.

Kittenna

Wow, what a touching story. Thanks for sharing! :)

Steven

Très belle histoire! Je crois que je vais faire mon tour au David’s Tea ce midi! :)

Crowkettle

This is truly moving. Thank you so much for sharing.

TheTeaFairy

thank you all, I had no idea this story would touch so many poeple…

MissSholia

Wow, what a sad and beautiful story

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77
2201 tasting notes

Well I’m not doing any more sipdowns today, so I decided to go with one of the new teas I brought back from San Francisco. I stopped by one of the DavidsTea locations there specifically to get some of this tea, which I had wanted to try but never remembered to buy at the NYC store before I moved. I have tried a number of rose congous and don’t really need another in my life right now, but the inclusion of white chocolate in this peaked my curiosity.

The dry leaf smells rosy and sweet and a touch creamy, mmm. Steeped it has a lovely rose scent and also a bit almondy, surprisingly… it reminds me of the scent of Teavana’s Amandine Rose. Hmm, interesting! This is like a rose, almond cookie. Not sure where I am getting almond from, but it’s not strong, but the cookie is definitely present for me. And it seems to just be me, but maybe it’s the association with Amandine Rose.

So anyway, I am enjoying this tea quite a bit, but not quite as much as I enjoy a straight rose congou OR Amandine Rose. Also, as typical with DavidsTeas, the black base is boring (more boring than the Teavana one, even). So it won’t be a restock, but I will happily drink up the ounce that I bought.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
Kashyap

I don’t know if your a carnivore or not…but I love cooking with tea and I found that rose/black combinations, steeped strong and allowed to cool, make great marinades for chicken. The tea stains the flesh to about a 1/4" depth and the rose flavor is soft and subtle, with a gentle fragrance. When cut the display with the tea stain is neat.

Dinosara

Mm, sounds good to me!

Terri HarpLady

sounds interesting to me too!

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89
470 tasting notes

I love rose teas. I mean, I really love them—if push came to shove, I’d probably pick rose as the one flavor to have every day. Not that I’ll ever be in a situation where that will happen, but hypothetically. Unless, you know, a genie comes down and will grant me one wish if I pick one flavor of tea to drink for all eternity. Actually… I love tea so darn much I might only take that offer up if it was for 3 wishes! Or if the first wish didn’t have an “I wish for infinite wishes” clause.

I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while, but I have so many rose teas I didn’t know if this would be worth a 50g purchase. Fortunately, I got a sample in a swap with Sare! It smells SO good, like rose perfume. Okay, I know most people don’t like perfume-y teas, but I do. They remind me of when I was a little girl and had fake tea parties. In my head, the imaginary tea I served smelled JUST like this. I made this iced, since I have enough to try it both hot and cold.

This reminds me a lot of Upton’s Rose Congou. It’s got that same pervasive rose taste, backed up by a strong but not overwhelming black base. However, this might be even more rosy, believe it or not! The white chocolate also adds a wonderful hint of sweetness. This is such a little girl tea—not, of course, in a bad way. But you know when you’re 5 and all dressed up for some party in a pink frock, with ribbons in your hair? That’s what that tea is. Simple, sweet, innocent, fresh, delicious! This is definitely one of the very best rose teas I’ve tried, thanks so much Sare!

Sare

I’m soo happy to hear you loved it!!!

Michelle

Ooh, that sounds fantastic! Adding to my shopping list!

gmathis

…and one of those swirly skirts that makes you want to spin around and around and around…

Michelle

Yessss those are still great even as an adult!

gmathis

Yeah, well, when you get as old as I am, you can’t swirl nearly as many times without losing your balance, your dignity, and your cookies ;)

Alphakitty

Noo, not the cookies! They are nearly (but not quite) as important as tea.

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6105 tasting notes

Anticipating ickiness, I am trying this tea because I want to leave it for my mom and not feel like I missed out on trying something! Even though I know I’m unlikely to like it, since it smells overwhelmingly of rose.

Surprisingly, either I brewed this well or the rose is not as strong as in other teas (or because I left out an actual rosebud from the infuser); I’m actually finding it to be bearable. And perhaps because of the white chocolate(?), there are other flavours taking away from the extreme floralness. That said, it’s not a tea I’d choose to drink if I had any choice. But it’s not drain-worthy. Thankfully, I’m leaving the remaining 8-9g for my dear mother. No rating because I went into this expecting it to be bad; it would probably rate in the low 60s for me.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Ninavampi

Now I really really want to try this…

tigress_al

Hmm, I wasn’t going to try this because I thought it would be super strong rose like you said, but maybe I will give it a try.

Fjellrev

I’ve been on the fence about this one too.

Kittenna

Well, it’s still very much ROSE, but less so than some others I’ve tried. Like I said though, I can’t say whether it’s because I used less tea/brewed it properly this time or what exactly, but I did feel like I was tasting other yummy flavours in there. If you like rose, it will probably be good. If you can get a small sample, I’d say go for it.

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300 tasting notes

Holy roses! This smells just like a Victorian gift shop! Not like a gift shop in Victorian London but a gift shop selling Victorian inspired things, perfumes, powders, lotions, lace and tea cups! Bit overwhelming actually…

This brews up golden orange and has little tiny white particles floating on the surface, must be the white chocolate, though the tea I got looks nothing like the picture, no white shavings or full rose petals, just a choppy blend. Again smell is much the same, the first sip is quite nice actually, its sweet and a little salty too, it tastes like cookies! Delicious black tea and rose infused snickerdoodles!

However as I swallow, in fact each and every time I swallow this, I want to cough, it’s irritating my throat. Yes it has a nice lingering aftertaste, but not worth it. Nope not for me, nice try, moving on, mine as well tackle another floral tea, coughs up perfume Hope someone likes this, it’s at least worth sniffing.

Autumn Hearth

It seems that I may be allergic to rose or something in this tea. My nose is on fire and my eyes are feeling dry. Huh.

Azzrian

Haha sounds like you need to add this tea to some oil and let it infuse! Then wear it! :)

Daniel Scott

Oh god, another sample in my sample bag I need to try. has a heart attack at how many samples he has

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1220 tasting notes

I have no idea why I wanted this so badly. I was afraid to try it at first because ROSE ROSE ROSE the smell is so pungent!

But apparently I am on a rose kick. I think it has to do with the amount of Doctor Who I’ve been watching lately.

Is it really a rose kick if it’s only been since 4pm and this is all the rose you have?

I steeped it for 3 1/2 minutes because I never trust DT’s black base with 4+ minutes. So far, so good. I took a sip of it without any additions, and it was surprisingly okay. This is really my first rose tea but I love them and have come to appreciate most floral flavors.

I added agave and milk anyway just to be on the safe side and I do like it a lot better this way. I think it helped bring the white chocolate out too. It really just reminds me of candied rose petals.

Now I want more rose teas, bad Amanda.

Only thing that’s really offputting is that it still smells like perfume when you hold the mug to your face, and the oil slick on the surface combined with that makes you want to think twice about drinking it, it could just be perfume.

Thankfully, it’s tasty.

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97
150 tasting notes

I have wanted to purchase this tea for quite some time. Earlier in 2013, I went to go purchase it and include it in my order to put my order over the 50.00 when I realised I couldn’t find it. I called DT customer service only to be told it had gone on web special and was gone. Discontinued… cast away in the wind.

I had never been partial to rose tea previously, but I do love it and it sends me back to a time almost Downton Abbey-esque, where gloves were required and bone china was a necessity. Not to mention that the blend itself was just so darn pretty. When I noticed it on Boxing Day web specials, I had to have it.

I have already drank this once, but it was amidst having the terrible cold I am just finally recovering from. Today I decided to brew it.

At first sniff: Indeed, this smells of sweet summer roses. The chocolate is an after note, but a very nice touch indeed. It doesn’t hover into the realm of potpourri or offensive perfumes and eau du toilettes, which is always a plus in my eyes. The chocolate brings out the sweet note in the rose aroma as well.

At first steep: The smell translates exactly as it smells dry. I added some cream and sugar to this brew and it enhances the notes of rose and chocolate beautifully. I feel I should be wearing a big “My Fair Lady” hat and reciting “The Rain and Spain” or some other sort of small talk. Simply delicious and one of my favourite DavidsTea. It is such a shame they have discontinued it, but at least I have 250g to enjoy. J’adore!!!

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 30 sec
keychange

Allow me to recommend rose scented by Harney & Sons. Also an excellent rose tea, great with cream and sugar.

Tuscanteal

Oh lala, more rose teas!!! When I finally put in my H&S order, it will make it into my shopping cart for sure :)

keychange

great! It’s really something else. Perhaps due to the sort of smoky base tea.

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1430 tasting notes

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!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 30 sec
TeaLady441

Interesting! I haven’t really had any floral teas, but maybe I’ll have to give this a shot! At the very least, get a take home cup of it!

Crowkettle

It’s definitely a neat thing to try once. If you can’t finish it I’m sure it would make a nice soap too! I’d be pretty happy with some Rose white chocolate soap, myself.
A side note: all of those high ideas about " ladylike gentle floral scents" is a lie. If you stick your head into this tea’s tin it will give you a smart face smacking. It’s not subtle at all.

TeaLady441

Thanks for the sidenote there. :P I always need some face-smacking teas! Especially mornings when the baby doesn’t let me sleep… :P

I do like white chocolate in tea so that sounds promising. I haven’t head any Earl Gray blends, but I’m not opposed to trying those either…

So many teas to try, so little time.

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812 tasting notes

i went to davidstea in chicago, bought an ounce of this, and then went back 5 hours later and bought 2 more ounces for my sister. it’s a tea that calls out her name. and she’s the one i owe my enjoyment of tea to (well, her and british television) so i LOVE sharing all of my tea with her and giving her tiny tea gifts.

ya know, i came to log this tea, and then i IMMEDIATELY got side tracked by TheTeaFairy’s post about it
so that probably means we should just go read that instead.
http://steepster.com/TheTeaFairy/posts/139171

besides, my nose is too congested right now to properly enjoy this tea. sad sad.
(it’s just that i have tiny scarred sinuses, it’s not a cold or anything, don’t worry.)
(i hate to think on how my sinus effect my enjoyment of tea. i’ll go irrigate i guess.)

TheTeaFairy

What a sweet thing to do for your sister Shmiracles! And what a sweet thing to say about my review :-) Can’t wait to read what you have to write about it yourself when your sinuses clear up! I’m alreay out of the 50 gr I bought, it’s one of those tea that I can’t label as «extraordinary» but I keep finding myself craving for it…I always go «hmmm» when I have my first sip! I will buy a 100gr tin of this tea to make sure I always have some around :-)

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137 tasting notes

I am so happy that I picked up 25g of this to try yesterday! I love floral teas, especially rose, and this one is particularly wonderful. I love that it has a black base rather than green, and the hint of sweetness that the white chocolate gives. It comes off as both rich and light at the same time. This is everything I’d expect from a rosy tea!

I think it tastes best hot with just a touch of sugar and a bit of milk, but I’m biased since that’s how I prefer most of my teas. I still can’t get over how perfect the flavour is, it’s really everything I had hoped for when I first saw the description! A nice smooth black base, the perfect amount of rose, and a delicate sweetness at the end of the sip. It actually reminds me a lot of a sugared rose lip balm I love from a favourite etsy seller.

I hope this one sticks around in store, I can definitely see myself drinking this into the fall and winter.

Quo

I’ve got to try this one with some milk and sugar then! :)

softrevolution

Definitely! Mm, so good.

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