Red Rose Tea

[Jenise]

Last night we stopped at a Canadian supermarket on our way home so I could reload on Red Rose Tea, my absolute fave on the planet for iced tea which I consume a lot of. A friend riding with us protested that Red Rose was available at local markets, but I couldn't remember seeing its bright red box.

Today we stopped at a local store and checked, and sure enough, there was Red Rose tea--in a blue box. For the heck of it, I bought a box to compare.

The verdict? Same name, not the same tea. The color difference you see is a difference very evident in taste, too. The Canadian tea is stronger, more extracted and characterful. The American tea by comparison tastes like cereal.

Not that anybody but me ever wondered, but just in case I go on about Red Rose some day and someone sitting there with a box they bought in, say, Kentucky, thinks "Oh I have that", well, no you don't.

IMG_4539.JPG

I was going to say it is available in Raley's here in Redding, but not in a red box. So I visited their website and they say it is a Canadian tea, but it showed a picture of a blue box. Could it be that the Canadians have asked for a more pronounced tea? It would be fun to call the company and ask! Some boxes even contain figurines that folks collect.

Maybe this tells us something?

http://www.the-color-of-tea.com/red-rose-tea.html

Red Rose has always been a favorite for me too. Do the Canadians get the little ceramic figurine in the box, too?

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[Jenise]

Karen, maybe it's believed that Americans only like weak tea! Thing is, that Red Rose is so different it would gather it's own fans, the way it did me I'd think. No need for it to be more Lipton-like, there are a lot of competitors for that.

Fred, yes the American box I bought had a little white ceramic snowman in it. No figurines in the Canadian boxes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-918OMwCx6w&playnext=1&list=PLFD9EE9AC93BCCE13&feature=results_video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QobcpUC-W-sPity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AeTZ4-w ... P2fq94UMDw

This may be beside the point here -- but this summer I have been using something from Upton Tea

"Darjeeling - Ceylon whole leaf iced tea blend"

Pretty satisfying

In your picture the glass on the left looks darker, and THAT is the American stuff?

[Jenise]

Frank, no, that's the Canadian. Darker, redder and richer in flavor. Btw, I should have mentioned that the bags are different too. Entirely different manufacture, and even the tea inside looks different--the Canadian being an even dark color, and the American having lighter flecks in it.

Can you fix the caption? "Canadian right, American legt" (sic)

<<<<< Left is THAT way!

[Jenise]

Can you fix the caption? "Canadian right, American legt" (sic)

<<<<< Left is THAT way!

Oh, that's embarrassing. Sorry. I was having a VERY bad day yesterday. This post was an attempt to distract myself. Didn't work that well.

Wikipedia says, in part: Red Rose brand tea has been available in the United States since the 1920s, but it is a different blend of black pekoe and cut black teas compared to the orange pekoe sold in Canada.

ETA: The US website for Red Rose Tea offers a breakdown of the included leaves but the CA site does not.

[Jenise]

I never stop being amazed at what you can find on Wikipedia. Thanks, Jeff. If anyone wants a sample of Canadian Red Rose for your next batch of iced tea, PM me an address and I'll mail you some.

We use Russian Caravan from Mark Wendell. Brew two tablespoons in a liter for five minutes, strain, and rebrew for ten minutes. Best ice tea you ever had!

Alan Kerr, our British, MOCOOL Chef, lives just across the border from me in Canada. He came over for a few glasses of wine and a fish fry on Friday, so I asked him to bring me some Red Rose tea and Grey Poupon mustard. He brought me not only the Red Rose, but also, the Tetley, which he prefers. My first observation of the bags was that the teas he brought did not have strings or tags. The Tetley is packaged in England. I also noticed that these tea bags seemed bigger. I checked that writing on the boxes and did some math. US tea bags (I had some Lipton in the pantry) contain about 2.2 grams of tea per bag. The Tetley and Red Rose that Alan brought me contain 3.1 grams of tea per bag. So, Jenise, if you want to do a comparison of the US and Canadian again, you may want to increase the number of US tea bags by 50%. I had a cup of each of the ones Alan brought me this afternoon. Both were much stronger and darker than than any US tea I've had, but that could be due to the volume of tea in the bags. And, I did prefer the English Tetley to the Red Rose. Regarding the mustard, instead of Grey Poupon, Alan brought me Maille Dijon, which he prefers, so I'll have to give that a try.

[Jenise]

Alan Kerr, our British, MOCOOL Chef, lives just across the border from me in Canada. He came over for a few glasses of wine and a fish fry on Friday, so I asked him to bring me some Red Rose tea and Grey Poupon mustard. He brought me not only the Red Rose, but also, the Tetley, which he prefers. My first observation of the bags was that the teas he brought did not have strings or tags. The Tetley is packaged in England. I also noticed that these tea bags seemed bigger. I checked that writing on the boxes and did some math. US tea bags (I had some Lipton in the pantry) contain about 2.2 grams of tea per bag. The Tetley and Red Rose that Alan brought me contain 3.1 grams of tea per bag. So, Jenise, if you want to do a comparison of the US and Canadian again, you may want to increase the number of US tea bags by 50%. I had a cup of each of the ones Alan brought me this afternoon. Both were much stronger and darker than than any US tea I've had, but that could be due to the volume of tea in the bags. And, I did prefer the English Tetley to the Red Rose. Regarding the mustard, instead of Grey Poupon, Alan brought me Maille Dijon, which he prefers, so I'll have to give that a try.

Howie, yes, the Canadian teas are stronger. They look as if they could contain more tea, but I wasn't sure--thanks for checking that. As for using more of the U.S. bags, yes I did that to use up the American Red Rose, using three bags vs. two to make approximately 16 ounces of tea for pouring over ice. I'll agree with Alan, you might be surprised to know, on Tetley for a hot cup of tea; but for iced tea, the Red Rose wins. And of course it's not just strength of flavor but the flavor itself that matters, the American tea is a different blend. I wonder if the size difference is based on the belief that Americans are more likely to just be making a cup vs. a pot (like the small ones used in restaurant service that hold approximately two cups worth).

We have a few british friends who come to visit and they always seem to bring Tetley with them.

Howie - I predict you'll like the Maille. Good on sausages.