Can Tou Make Roses From Your Garden Into Tea

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Dried rose buds can be used to make a soothing herbal tea by brewing it in hot or cold water. See my step-by-step guide on how to make the perfect cup of rose tea.

What is Rose Tea?

Rose tea is an herbal drink made by steeping dried rose buds or petals in water. Herbal tea is also called an infusion or tisane. Naturally caffeine-free, rose tea can be brewed to be made into hot or iced tea.
Rosehip tea and rose tea are two different teas with different health benefits. Rosehip tea is made with the fruit of the rose plant, which are found below the petals.
Rose tea blends (roses with black or green tea added) aren't always caffeine-free so make sure you look at the ingredients. Rose tea without caffeine only contain roses, nothing else.
All roses are edible but look for food-grade rose buds to make sure they weren't treated with pesticides. Roses from the flower shop shouldn't ever be made into tea. The cut roses from a florist are loaded with chemicals.
To sweeten and flavor with rose flavoring to drinks, try adding rose syrup. Add frothed milk to make a rose tea latte.

See my guides to make herbals properly like peppermint tea, hibiscus tea, and lavender tea.

Tea Sommelier's Tip: When brewed, pure rose tea isn't bright pink but a light yellow with a tinge of pink. To color your rose tea naturally to a lovely shade of pink, try adding a little hibiscus tea.

Rose Tea Benefits

Rose tea is rich in antioxidants, which help prevent damage to cells.
Can help reduce menstrual cramps.
Drinking rose tea may help in lessening anxiety and distress.

Ingredient Notes

Rose buds, roughly chopped
To make high quality rose tea, I use food-quality rose buds instead of rose petals since I find the flavor is better and more intense. Roughly chop the rose buds so that the water can make its way in between the petals to infuse and extract the flavor.
Water
Water quality is a big part of what makes tea taste good. Use filtered water whenever possible.

Steps to Make Hot Rose Tea

Four photos showing the steps to make rose tea.

For complete brewing guide, full ingredients, and instructions, scroll to the bottom.

Boil water.
Instead of tap water, boil filtered water. The better the water tastes, the better your rose tea will taste. Boil some extra water to warm your teapot.
Warm up teapot.
Pour boiled water into your teapot and swirl the water around. Throw out the water. This step should always be included to brew tea properly. It's basically the same idea as preheating an oven.
Put chopped dried rose buds into the teapot and add hot water. Cover teapot and steep.
Keep your teapot covered to keep the water nice and hot.
Strain rose buds and pour hot tea into a teacup.

Tea Sommelier's Tip: Brew herbals like rose tea in glass teapots so you can see the pretty buds and see the tea change color as it steeps.

Steps to Make Iced Rose Tea

The best way to make iced tea is to cold brew it. The flavor is the absolute best when brewed this way.

Two photos showing how to make cold brewed rose tea.

Put chopped dried rose buds and water in a pitcher or glass container. Cover and place in refrigerator to cold brew.
Use cool or room temperature filtered water. (A cold brew tea pitcher makes it easy since it comes with a built-in strainer.)
Strain rose buds and pour tea into a cup.
Cold brewed tea is already chilled so adding ice is optional.

Expert Tips

If you want to sweeten your iced rose tea, use simple syrup. It's the easiest to mix into your cold tea since it's a liquid.
Rough chop or cut rose buds before steeping in water. Rose buds are fairly small and tightly closed so cutting them helps the water reach into the the petal layers.
Try adding a couple of dried rose buds to your green tea or black tea to give it a light floral flavor.
If you want a stronger cup of rose tea, add a couple of more minutes to your steep time or add another 1/2 teaspoon of chopped rose buds.
Measure out the rose buds, then chop.
Rose tea can be brewed and stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Keep it covered or airtight glass container or pitcher.

Questions You May Have

What does rose tea taste like?

Rose tea tastes soft, floral (not a surprise), smooth, and a little sweet.

Is there caffeine?

There's no caffeine in roses so there's no caffeine in rose tea.

What's the difference between loose tea, tea sachets, and tea bags?

Use dried rose buds for the best tasting tea. Rose tea in tea sachets and tea bags are of lower quality and usually don't contain pure rose petals or buds.

Can I make rose tea from roses from my garden?

Yes, as long as they're free of pesticides and chemical-free.

Is rose tea a real tea?

Rose tea isn't a real tea. Real tea is tea made from the leaves of the camellia sinensis plant. Herbal teas, like rose tea, are not real tea since they come from different plants.

Homemade Rose Syrup
Iced Matcha Rose Latte
Hibiscus Tea
Frozen Pink Tea Latte
Rooibos Tea

Rose Tea

Make soothing rose tea, hot and cold, at home using dried rose buds.

Prep Time 2 mins

Steep Time 5 mins

Total Time 7 mins

▢ 1 cup water + more to warm teapot
▢ 1 tablespoon dried rose buds (roughly chopped)

Boil water.

If using an electric kettle with temperature setting, set it to 208°F. Boil a little more water than needed so that it can be used to warm up the teapot. Filtered water is best.
Warm up teapot.

Pour hot water into a teapot, halfway, and swirl it around a bit. Discard the water.

Warming up the teapot is an extra step that all tea professionals take the time to do, so that when the tea steeps, the water temperature won't drop drastically.
Put cut rose buds into the teapot and add hot water. Cover teapot and steep for 5 minutes.
Strain rose buds and pour hot tea into a teacup.

How to Make Cold Brew Rose Iced Tea

Put chopped dried rose buds and cool or room temperature water in a pitcher or glass container. Cover pitcher and put in refrigerator for at least 12 hours. Stir to make sure rose buds get dampened by the water and isn't sitting dry on top of the water surface. Use filtered water for a better tasting iced tea.
Strain rose buds and pour tea into a cup. Ice is optional since the tea is already cold.

Brewing Guide

Hot Rose Tea

TEA: 1 tablespoon chopped dried rose buds
WATER: 1 cup (8 oz.)
WATER TEMPERATURE: 208°F
STEEP TIME: 5 minutes

Cold Brew Rose Iced Tea

TEA: 1 tablespoon chopped dried rose buds
WATER: 1 cup (8 oz.)
WATER TEMPERATURE: Cold water
STEEP TIME: 12 hours in the refrigerator

Tips

Use loose tea instead of tea bags for a better quality cup of tea.
For a stronger cup of rose tea, add a couple of more minutes to your steep time or add 1/2 teaspoon more of the dried rose petals.
Use a glass teapot to make herbal tea so you can see the pretty herbals in water.
If you want to sweeten hot tea, you can use any kind of sweetener from sugar to date syrup, but for sweetening iced tea, always use simple syrup since it'll be the easiest to mix into a cold drink.
Rough chop or cut rose buds before steeping in water. Measure out the rose buds, then chop. Rose buds are fairly small and tightly closed so cutting them helps the water reach into the the petal layers.
Try adding a couple of dried rose buds to your green tea or black tea to give it a light floral flavor.
Rose tea can be brewed and stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Keep it covered or airtight glass container or pitcher.
Loose tea and tea sachets should be stored in an airtight container away from light, odors, humidity, and heat.

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