With so many teas in my collection and my preference for the deeper and richer flavours of loose leaf, Twinings hasn’t caught my attention in the past few years. But it seems they finally took up the cold water infusion trend. This here is Twinings In’fuse Rose Lemonade.

Pyramid tea bags enclose the tisane, which featured a blend of apple pieces, hibiscus, rosehips (21%), lemon flavouring (14%), beetroot, orange peel, natural flavouring, and rose flavouring (2%).

The tisane is prepared by dropping the infuser into 500-700 mL of cold water for 3-5 minutes and is ready after a quick stir (or shake of the bottle, depending on your vessel of choice). It’s recommended that the infuser is left in the water for lasting flavour.

Infusing 1 tea bag for 5 minutes in 500 mL of cold water, the infusion was a translucent pale salmon pink colour with a fresh lemon juice and rose petal aroma. Served chilled at this stage, the infusion is watery with prominent earthy root vegetable notes, tasting like watered down beetroot juice with a squeeze of lemon. It certainly tastes healthy, but not at all like the rose lemonade promised.

Infusing for a further 5 minutes (10 minutes in total), the infusion takes on a deeper salmon pink colour with the same lemony and rosy aroma. Still served chilled, the earthy beetroot notes are masked by an initial acidity and slight sweetness from the hibiscus and rosehips, with the floral rose notes coming through more prominently with the lemon base in the body to give a flavour that resembles a rose lemonade with a clean aftertaste.

This cold water infusion by Twinings has more balanced acidity and sweetness – tasting much like fruit flavoured water – compared to their hot infusions.

This Twinings In’fuse Rose Lemonade contained 30 g or 12 tea bags. It was produced in Poland and purchased in Sydney, Australia in 2018.