Rose is one of the most beautiful edible flowers with a nice fragrance and many health benefits. People have used roses for the decorations, food, and cosmetics for more than 2000 years. If you can find clean roses without pesticide and be able to consume it, let’s make some rose teas. If you don’t have fresh roses you also use dried roses instead. Dried roses have a stronger fragrance and are very easy to use. I love making a cup of fresh roses or dried roses in the morning or evening. Roses can relax your mind and reduce stress. Today I will share with you some of my favourite rose tea recipes. They are all very simple and don’t take so much time to make. One cup of warm rose tea can relax your mind, reduce stress, and also give you many health benefits.
What can we do with roses?
Rose petals are very rich in vitamins and have a regenerative effect on the skin. That is a reason why rose water works very well as natural lotion. Roses can also fight colds and flues, as well as for digestive problems, freeing the body of toxins. Rose has anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, soothing, healing and diuretic properties .People use only the rose petals in many rose tea recipes but it is quite wasteful. I like to use the whole rose buds including petals and all other parts. From May to October I collect, then dry or freeze small rose buds for the winter. Dried roses have a stronger smell than the frozen roses and are very easy to keep. Frozen roses have fresher fragrance and might still keep some vitamins.
In September when rose hips are ready I can make rose hips to make wine then use the rose hips pulp to make light dessert. Rose hips contain a high amount of vitamin C and are the second best fruit to make wine behind the grapes.
Rose tea recipes
In this post I use the forest rose (Rosa majalis) and half wild rose (Rosa acicularis) grow in Finland.
White rose steaming with rock sugar
In Vietnam people can steam the fresh white rose petal with rock sugar or honey to reduce coughing in the children.
Petals of 5 – 6 white roses
1 tsp of sugar or honey
Put it all into a small cup and steam it for 5 minutes. This is very old folk medicine in Vietnam to reduce the cough for the kids. Rose petals and honey have anti-inflammation and antibacterial qualities. You can try to use it for children older than 3 if you do not want to use medicine.
Simple rose tea with honey
Rose tea with honey is a very simple tea recipe. You can use morning rose and brew with fresh boiling water. Wait for 8 minutes and serve it with honey. If you don’t like honey you can drink the rose tea alone. I always drink this tea without honey but you can add honey if you want. You can use both fresh and dried rose to brew the tea. dried roses have a deeper and calmer fragrance. Fresh rose has a lighter fragrance but more vitamin and nutrition.
1 tsp of dried rose buds/4 or 5 fresh roses
250ml boiling water
Brew the rose for 8 minutes then serve with honey or sugar but I usually drink tea without sugar or honey as I like the light taste and fragrant of roses.
Rose tea with Sage
Rose tea with Sage is the Mediterranean tea recipe. You can use both dried and fresh rose and sage to make this tea. With the dried flower I use dried sage and rose tea
1 tsp Sage
2 Tbsp dried petals
This is another simple tea recipe too. You can boil roses with salvia and wait for 8 minutes before serving it.
Chamomile and roses infusion
Serves 4
1 tsp chamomile
2 tbsp dried petals of wild fragrant roses
5 cups of water
Boil the water then
Bring to the boil 5 cups of water. Leave until the infusion has stopped boiling for 4 minutes. Spoon in the leaves and cover the container.
2 strain the drink 8 minutes later and serve immediately
Mixed rose with nettle leaves and ginger
This might be a very different rose tea but you will be surprised by the tasty and healthy of the tea. I use this tea as a detox tea for the morning. Ginger and nettle are rich in antioxidants and minerals. Roses smooth the tea and make you feel very relaxed.
I made this drink in the winter time so I do not have fresh rose and nettle so I use the dried one.
– 1 tsp dried or fresh nettle
– 4 dried rose buds
– 1 slice of ginger (depend on your taste)
Brew all ingredients with 250 ml/ 1 cup of boiling water for 8 minutes. You can add more fresh nettle if you want but then the nettle will overwhelm the tea. However it will be very healthy tea and smell like medicine :D. I also eat the nettle after brewing the tea because with me nettle is some kind of vegetable.
Some notices when collecting roses
- May is the best time to collect roses, and the season can last until October in Finland. I usually collect the dog rose I can find in the forest or near the harbour.
- The best time to collect roses is in the morning hours when they are fresh and remain most fragrant. I usually collect rose buds before they are blooming and always in a small size. The worst time to collect roses may be after the rain. After the rain water can destroy the rose petals and reduce the rose fragrance. Take a notice for the bug inside the roses.
- Many bugs love rose buds and always be there on the hot summer days. May is the best month for collecting roses for the winter times. I can dry roses buds for winter times. Many people also make rosewater, and marmalades or mix petals with vinegar. I do not make rose water because it uses a lot of flowers and in the shop they sell quite good organic rose water already.
- You can check if the rose you collect is faraway from the roads 50metters or not. That is a recommended distance to collect wild ingredients in Finland.
These are 5 very simple rose tea recipes that you can make at home. I hope you can find something valuable and let me know what you think about these recipes? Leave your comment and let me know what your favourite rose tea