Rosehip Elderflower Tea

Rosehip elderflower tea pairs the tart red hips of the wild rose with the cream-white, muscat-scented flowers of the elder, two hedgerow plants that bloom and fruit months apart. Steeped in a covered mug at 100°C for eight to twelve minutes.

Origin & Story

These two plants share a hedge and almost nothing else. Elderflowers open in late May and June in flat, cream-white heads that smell of muscat grapes and honey. Rosehips come in autumn, bright red-orange, after the rose has shed its petals. A cup that holds both has to be a dried blend, summer and autumn in one tin.

Elderflower is the northern European flavor. The cordial made from it is popular across Britain, Scandinavia and central Europe, with a Victorian heritage in the northwest, and Swedes are probably its keenest makers. Dried elderflower makes a fragrant tea, steeped about ten to fifteen minutes.

Rosehips are tougher. They are the fruit of the rose, usually picked after the first frost, which sweetens them, from about September to November. Inside are seeds with fine hairs that can irritate the throat, which is why commercial hips are usually cut and hulled and why home foragers strain well. They need a long steep, ten minutes or more in boiling water, to give up their color and their tartness.

In Britain during the Second World War rosehips were gathered in large numbers for syrup, and the hedgerow fruit has been part of the foraging year ever since.

Steep 4 g of rosehip and elderflower in 240 ml of water at 100°C for eight to twelve minutes, covered.

Reading the Flavor Profile

These values are comparative editorial positions within our own catalog, calibrated so entries can be ranked against each other. They are not laboratory measurements.