Daughters of Botany – Rosa Limón
Today’s tea review is Rosa Limón from Daughters of Botany. As it’s Mothering Sunday, it seemed appropriate to brew up something floral. Mother’s Day is the biggest season of the year for the UK flowermongery industry. This isn’t the case across the pond where Valentine’s Day is the top annual bouquet fest. But here in the UK, we’re apparently all about the mums. (Or, more likely, we’re just less bothered about Valentine’s Day than Americans.)
Daughters of Botany Rosa Limón is a blend of rose petals, peony white tea, hibiscus flowers and lemon verbena. It’s probably the most potpourri-esque tea I’ve ever come across. Just look at it! Don’t you just want to place it in decorative bowls around the house or throw it at some newlyweds?
Sticking your nose into the tea packet and inhaling deeply releases a beautiful perfumey hit of rose-tinted delight. Sadly, I was less enamoured with it once I’d steeped in hot water. The peony white tea doesn’t register at all. And the whole thing has a herbal tisane vibe. My love of rose is well documented but I don’t really get on with hibiscus.
(I thought I did like hibiscus for a bit, but it turned out to be some confusion on my part about what Whittard Piccadilly Blend tastes of.) This tea is very hibiscus-y, which wasn’t a surprise really. All of Daughters of Botany’s teas are hibiscus-based. It’s their thing.*
The other primary flavour here is lemon verbena. Lemon Verbena is – I’ve decided – a bit of an odd fish. (Note: It’s not technically a fish.) While it does taste lemony, it doesn’t actually taste of lemon. There’s a sort of soapy aftertaste to it. I’m not saying lemon verbena tastes of lemon fairy liquid but, well, I am saying that a bit.
So, all in all Daughters of Botany, Rosa Limón gets a thumbs down from this mum. It’s definitely an “It’s not you, it’s me” situation though. This tea tastes of the things it’s supposed to taste of (except maybe the actual tea), they just happen to be things I don’t like very much.
* Or at least it used to be. After writing this review, I discovered that Daughters of Botany is now an entirely skin care-based brand who no longer stock tea blends. The teas are still available in a few other places though, like essentialsbyesme.com.
