Rosewater and tea

According to a blog from the National Restaurant Association that I follow, rose water is going to become more and more appreciated in 2018.*

Here's the results of a fun piece of research that I did at Book Expo America several years back. Had the participants in my survey sniff rose water and tell me whether they liked it or not. Here are there results for regular coffee versus regular tea drinkers:

The number of persons participating in the study was small, but I think the data are quite striking. They line up well with other survey data (no sniffing) that Friend of Pairteas Tim Hanni MW(Master of Wine) collected and I analyzed.

As it turns out the rose smell is considered a fault in coffee, whereas it it is an intrinsic element of the aroma of tea. In fact you might want to consider using rosewater in your cakes, as suggested by the author of the post, Mike Kostyo**. I think rosewater would go best with either green or black teas—oolongs have a more jasmine-related compounds.

I'll be testing recipes shortly (once I have my new kitchen organized), but meanwhile, let me know what you find!

* http://smartbrief.com/original/2017/12/top-10-flavors-watch-2018?utm_source=brief

** Mike Kostyo is the senior publications manager of Datassential, a supplier of trends, analysis and concept testing for the food industry. For more information about Datassential’s 2018 Trend Report, contact Kostyo at mike.kostyo@datassential.com.