I was so excited to see a Tao of Tea tin for sale locally that I bought it without looking at it too closely. I’ve been really wanting to get away from so much Teavana, and so far this is the only thing I’ve found in our area. I seriously dragged my poor husband all over today, looking for tea and a new teapot, but this was it. I guess I’m just going to have to work on my patience and wait for my online orders to get in.
When we got home, I opened up the tin and all I saw were rose petals. Figuring that it might have been a mixing issue, I first tried gently rolling the can around. Still all roses. At that point I dumped it out and tried to mix it up by hand. The ingredient list on the tin includes a lot of other ingredients, but all I was able to find in the tin were roses and about 1/4 cup of tiny green specks.
Still a bit unsure, I put 2 tablespoons of tea in my 3-cup teapot and stirred in 2 tablespoons of Sugar in the Raw. Steeped, it’s a lovely rose color, but most of those green specks made their way past the strainer and are clinging to the sides and gathering at the bottom of the cup. I’m a real texture girl, and that’s an immediate turn-off for me. I don’t like chewing my tea.
Doing my best not to stir up the sediment, I take my first sip. Rose. All my senses are filled with roses. There is a bit of a lemony taste to it, but for the most part it’s sweetened rose water. It’s light-hearted and different, so I may hold on to this one for my next tea party, but I do wish I had purchased a sample instead of a full tin. It’s totally going on the swap list!
REVISION: Apparently I didn’t read the ingredients well – the tin lists hibiscus flowers, camomile flowers, peppermint, and rose petals. I looked inside the tin again, and the petals look all the same to me, but it’s possible all three flowers and their petals just look very similar dried.
