Roses have been on my mind.  I have just been loving something about rose.  As I have been reformulating the tea blends we package here at Rainbow, I find myself wanting to add some rose petals nearly every time.  I also ran across an old journal of mine from during one of my pregnancies…I had written about roses, I was loving them then too, maybe why I added a touch to the Nursing Mother’s Tea.  After all the roses in my mind, it felt fitting to have rose be my first single herb tea to drink for a bit…get it in my body and see how it felt.

I found a source for organic rose petals, so happy about that.  They are currently $3.15/oz.  The petals are a very dark pink and smell  amazing.   My first cup of rose tea was while here at work.  By happenstance I picked up a white tea mug (I’ll tell you why that is important later) and filled one of our disposable paper tea bags (by Finum) with about 2 Tbsp of rose petals.   After pouring hot water over the tea bag, into the cup, it immediately began to infuse the water with a delicate pink tone.  Oh and there is why the white cup is key…it really allows you to see the beautiful colors change and for me, totally enhanced my tea drinking experience.  It was exciting, I know…I really thought about that word choice, exciting…but it does fit, I was excited about the color of this tea and it showed up as all warm and fuzzy and big in my heart area.  After a few minutes the color changes to a pink/orange-ish color…as the rose petals, still in the paper tea bag, turn from their dark pink to a pale white pink. The aroma of the tea is like sticking your nose right in the jar of dried rose petals.  I swear, I don’t think it changed a bit.  The taste is pleasant and subtle.    The taste took my mind to that rose garden in Woodland Park Zoo.  The tea and that garden both bring up this whole Victorian vibe in me.  Not something I am accustomed to feeling in this modern city…unless you go to said rose garden in Woodland Park.  What a beautiful and serene place…takes me right out of Seattle and into a fantasy world where I expect to see characters from Alice in Wonderland popping by.  I was just there yesterday and fell in love with it all over again.  This time of year is when everything is in bloom.  I highly suggest a trip there…bring a cup of rose tea, I was wishing I had mine.

Another tea time, I steeped the rose petals in my metal tea cup with strainer.  The taste was just not the same.  It was slightly bitter and had this strange, sorta numb feeling in my mouth.  I was trying to remember, did I just brush my teeth?  (see, i have three loud active kids…for me it can be easy to forget whether I just brushed my teeth or not)  You know how things taste and feel weird in your mouth after you brush your teeth?  I didn’t even finish the cup…so my recommendation, do not brew rose petals in metal.

I have to say I have felt inspired to be more loving to myself these past two weeks, to take better care of my body and spirit.  Could be coincidence.  Could be the rose infusing my heart with self-love.  Whatever it is, it’s feeling good.