Our 'Tea of The Month' for April is Elderflower Berry. It's the latest in our range of seasonal blends that we've been creating.
Spring is the seasonal inspiration behind our Elderflower Berry infusion. We wanted to create a drink that would taste just how a crisp and sunny Spring day feels like. However, it was also important to ensure that it would work whether you wanted to start your day off with a pot, drink some whilst at work or needed something to introduce calm before going to sleep.
To do this, we wanted to make sure that the blend was caffeine-free, but also to have a fresh Spring feel that would invoke the seasonal flavours that we were looking for.
All of our teas are hand-blended in our warehouse based behind our original Waterloo Gardens Teahouse in Penylan. We love testing out tea combinations and developing new tea blends and this one was no different. However, after weeks of trying different Rooibos blends, we realised that despite making great flavours, we were still missing the fresh feel that a Spring blend should have.
We pondered and dwelled, until inspiration appeared in the form of Elderflower. We took the Rooibos out and replaced it with Elderflower. One test later and we fell in love.
Elderflower 'tea' is a herbal infusion that's high in Vitamin C and powerful anti-oxidants. Adding this, meant it helped to create a blend that would combat cold symptoms, as we come out of the winter months, whilst simultaneously adding a strong flowery note - exactly what we were after! (Vitamin C is best preserved when made as a cold brew)
We ended up with an incredible blend that did everything we wanted. It uses Elderflower as a base and is combined with Elderberries, Rosehip and Hibiscus Flowers to deliver a fruity, flowery combination.
When you take a sip the infusion begins with a beautifully light and floral presence but it is quickly followed with a clean and crisp, sweet berry flavour. This means it has the freshness to awaken your senses yet also has the soothing sweetness perfect for a night-time brew.
To make the most of the Elderflower Berry tea you should brew it with boiling water for at least 4 minutes depending on how strong you want the flavours to come through. It's important to use an infuser basket or a teapot with an infuser basket so you can remove the leaves once its brewed to your desired strength. Use approximately 1g of loose leaf tea to 100ml of boiling water.
As a cold brew increase to 1.5g per 100ml and leave in a fridge for a few hours or overnight.
This infusion truly blossoms in the Spring. We hope you enjoy drinking it as much as we did making it.
Elderflower Berry is now available to purchase both online (here) for a 10% discount available online for the month of April and in store. If you visit one of our teahouses and want to try for yourself, we will be serving a pot for 50p cheaper than usual.
