Discovering tart botanical flavours
Four increasingly strange sour materials, ending at a berry whose name means five-flavour fruit and which is brewed in cold water for twelve hours.
Who this is for
Someone who likes sour drinks and has only met sourness in a fruit teabag.
What you should come away with
An understanding that sourness in this category has a range, and that the preparation changes as much as the flavour does.
From the familiar sour to the unfamiliar one
Hibiscus is where nearly everyone starts, whether they know the name or not — it is the base of most red fruit infusions on sale. The last step leaves hot water behind entirely.
Starting point. Everything after this is measured against it.
Sharply sour and deeply coloured, closer to cranberry than to anything floral. Sugar is near-universal wherever it is drunk, and it is a different drink without it.
Why this step follows
Both sharply sour and both usually sweetened. Rosehip is the quieter of the two and shows that the sourness has a range.
Tart and lightly fruity, softer and less sharp than hibiscus. Most commercial 'rosehip tea' is mostly hibiscus with rosehip as the minority component.
Why this step follows
Another sour Rosaceae fruit, rounder and more apple-like, and one that needs simmering rather than steeping.
Sharply sour with an apple-like fruitiness and a woody base from the seeds and core. Usually sweetened, and the sourness is the reason it is drunk.
Why this step follows
The end of the tart sequence and the strangest thing in it: sour, then bitter, then saline. Cold-brewed, which is a preparation change as much as a flavour one.
Sour first, then bitter and resinous, with a genuinely saline finish. It is one of the few things in the catalogue that is difficult to describe with a single word, which is what the name records.
Read alongside
- Fruits and peels used in botanical drinks
The category with the widest gap between the picture on the packet and the ingredient list inside it. What dried fruit actually contributes, and how to read a fruit infusion honestly.
- Bitterness in botanical drinks
Some of these are bitter because they were over-brewed and some are bitter because that is what they are for. Telling the two apart is most of what learning this category involves.