The Damask Rose is the source of rose fragrance for many perfumers and the source of rose water for the culinary world. Using rosewater is tricky because once you cross a certain threshold, whatever you’re adding it to will taste like soap or perfume. Fortunately, when using real roses, there is no such issue. The fragrance of the dry rose bulbs themselves is inviting and very familiar, though once it’s steeped in water it steps back a bit. It tastes very fresh, green, floral, and summery. There’s nothing offensive about it, and its a welcome to surprise to have it seem more like green tea than herbal tea. The tricky thing with a lot of flower teas is how to mitigate the inherent bitterness. This variety of rose doesn’t carry much bitterness unless you do a very strong extraction, then I would say it becomes somewhat bitter but mostly astringent.
I’ll give this proper write up soon. I’m just trying to catch up on product input for the shop.
If you’re interested in a herbal tea and want something floral, Damask Rose or Lavender are the only 2 flowers I would recommend. Hibiscus, Chamomile, and Chrysanthemum are well-utilized flowers too, but they doesn’t come off as floral in the nose or mouth quite the same way that rose or lavender does.