How to Make Rose Tea (Gulab) and Rose Sharbat Safely
Start with the right roses. Florist and wedding roses are sprayed with chemicals never meant for food, so rose tea should only be made from unsprayed desi gulab (home-grown, or the kind sold for gulkand and arq) or from food-grade dried petals. After that it’s easy. This guide shows how to make rose tea from dried petals and from fresh ones, a rose green tea, rose milk chai, and a homemade rose sharbat with the sugar counted per glass.
In brief
- Dried petals: 1 tablespoon (about 2 g) per 250 ml, water at 90 to 95 °C, 5 minutes
- Fresh petals: a loosely packed cup (10 to 15 g) per 250 ml, 5 to 7 minutes covered
- Caffeine: none in pure rose tea; some once you add green or black tea
- Sharbat: 30 ml of our syrup per glass is about 18 g sugar, roughly 70 kcal
- Never use: florist, bouquet, garland or roadside roses
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Which roses are safe to drink?
This matters more than any recipe. Cut-flower roses are grown to look perfect for a week in a vase, not to be eaten, and that usually means insecticides, fungicides and sometimes dyes that sit on the surface and inside the petal tissue itself, where no amount of rinsing under the tap will reach them. Washing won’t help. Garland roses from a wedding or a shrine are the same flowers, just older.
Safe sources:
- Your own desi gulab (the small, very fragrant pink Damask-type rose), if nobody has sprayed the bush for at least a month.
- Petals sold for gulkand or arq by pansaris and flower markets in season. Ask whether they’re sprayed. Honest sellers will tell you.
- Food-grade dried petals or buds in a sealed pack with a named brand, a batch number and a date. Loose, bright-red “rose tea” with no label is a gamble.
Smell first. Scent is flavour here: a beautiful hybrid rose with no smell makes a cup of faintly bitter hot water.
A quick check for dyed dried petals
Drop a pinch into warm water. Wait. Real rose petals tint the water a soft pinkish-brown that fades toward amber. Petals that bleed bright red or magenta straight away are often dyed. The test can flag an obvious fake; it can’t prove a clean pack is pesticide free.
How to make rose tea from dried petals
- Boil 250 ml of water, then let it stand for about a minute so it drops to 90 to 95 °C. Boiling-hot water flattens the scent.
- Put 1 tablespoon of dried petals (about 2 g) or 5 to 6 dried buds in a cup or teapot.
- Pour the water over, cover with a saucer so the aroma stays in, and steep for 5 minutes.
- Strain. It should smell like a rose garden and taste lightly floral and a touch tart.
- Add a thin slice of lemon if you like. Watch it: the pale tea turns a brighter pink.
How to make rose tea with fresh petals
- Pull the petals from 2 to 3 medium unsprayed roses, enough for a loosely packed cup (10 to 15 g).
- Pinch off the pale base of each petal (the “heel”). It’s the bitter part.
- Rinse the petals gently in a bowl of cool water, then under running water. Shake dry.
- Put them in a pot, pour over 250 ml of water at 90 to 95 °C, cover and steep for 5 to 7 minutes.
- Strain and press the petals lightly with a spoon. Drink within the hour; fresh-petal tea loses its scent fast.
Three variations
Rose green tea kahwa: 1 teaspoon of green tea and 1 teaspoon of dried petals per cup, water at about 80 °C, 2 to 3 minutes only. A cup of green tea carries roughly 30 mg of caffeine. Rose milk chai: make your usual chai and add 1 teaspoon of dried petals with the tea leaves; strain well. It has the same caffeine as ordinary chai. Rose with cardamom: add 2 crushed green elaichi to the dried-petal tea for a Kashmiri-style evening cup, with no caffeine at all. A few drops of rose water stirred in at the end lift any of these; our gulab jal guide explains which bottles are food-grade.
Did you know? It takes several tonnes of petals to distil a single kilo of rose oil, which is why real rose oil is one of the priciest things in a perfumer’s cabinet.
Homemade rose sharbat, with the sugar counted
Shop sharbats are mostly sugar and colour. Homemade isn’t sugar free either, but you’ll know exactly how much went into the bottle, you’ll get real rose instead of a flavouring, and you can pour a thinner glass without anyone noticing.
- Take 2 packed cups (about 60 g) of fresh, unsprayed petals, heels removed, or 20 g of food-grade dried petals.
- Bring 500 ml of water to the boil, switch off, add the petals, cover and leave for 30 minutes.
- Strain, pressing the petals hard. You’ll have about 400 ml of pale, fragrant liquid.
- Add 400 g of sugar. Heat gently, stirring, until it dissolves, then simmer 3 to 4 minutes. Don’t boil hard or the scent cooks off.
- Switch off and stir in the juice of 1 lemon. The syrup flushes bright pink.
- Cool, bottle in a clean glass jar and refrigerate. You get about 650 ml. It keeps 3 to 4 weeks cold; throw it out if it turns cloudy, fizzy or smells fermented.
Per glass: 30 ml (2 tablespoons) of syrup in 250 ml of chilled water is about 18 g of sugar, roughly four and a half level teaspoons and 70 kcal. Drop to 20 ml and it’s about 12 g, three teaspoons, 50 kcal. For comparison, the WHO suggests keeping added sugar under about 50 g a day, and ideally near 25 g. One glass is a treat, not a daily water.
For a rose milk, stir 20 ml of syrup into a glass of cold milk. For a spoonable rose preserve instead of a drink, see our gulkand recipe, and for distilled rose water used as a drink, our arq guide covers what each arq is really for.
Rose tea for period cramps, sleep and skin: honest verdicts
Rose tea is lovely. It’s also caffeine free, which gives it a genuine edge over evening chai. Keep the rest modest.
- Period cramps: a hot cup and a hot water bottle feel comforting, and warmth itself eases cramps for many people. The evidence for rose specifically is thin. Severe pain that stops school or work deserves a doctor’s visit.
- Sleep: a calm, caffeine-free ritual before bed can help you wind down. The rose isn’t a sedative.
- Skin whitening and glow: no drink changes your skin colour, and “whitening” claims are marketing. Good sleep, water and sunscreen do more.
- Weight loss: plain rose tea has almost no calories, so it’s a good swap for sweet drinks. Rose sharbat is the opposite.
In Unani tibb, gulab is classed as cool and slightly dry, and it’s been a comfort for hot tempers, hot weather and hot stomachs for centuries, which is why rose turns up in so many summer sharbats and in gulkand after meals. Ayurveda regards rose as cooling and calming for pitta. These are traditional frameworks and a big part of why a rose drink feels right on a June afternoon.
Anyone unsure of the petals’ source: skip it. Sprayed or dyed petals are the main real risk. Pregnancy and breastfeeding: a cup of rose petal tea now and then is generally considered fine, but safety hasn’t been tested for large daily amounts, so keep it occasional. Rose green tea and rose chai count toward the 200 mg caffeine limit in pregnancy. Diabetes or gestational diabetes: plain rose tea is fine; rose sharbat is sugar syrup, so treat it like any sweet drink and check with your care team. Allergy to roses or strong floral scents: stop if your lips tingle, your eyes stream or you wheeze. Children: plain rose tea is fine for older children; keep sharbat small and occasional, and no added sugar at all under age 1.
Rose tea questions people ask
How do you make rose tea from dried petals?
Steep 1 tablespoon of dried petals (about 2 g) in 250 ml of water at 90 to 95 °C, covered, for 5 minutes. Strain and drink warm or chilled.
How do you make rose tea with fresh petals?
Use a loosely packed cup of unsprayed petals, pinch off the bitter white bases, rinse, then steep in 250 ml of just-off-boil water for 5 to 7 minutes, covered.
Does rose tea have caffeine?
Pure rose petal tea has none. Rose green tea has about as much as a cup of green tea, and rose milk chai has the same as ordinary chai.
Can I use roses from a florist or garden shop?
No. Cut-flower roses are usually treated with chemicals not meant for food, and washing won’t remove them. Use unsprayed home-grown desi gulab or food-grade dried petals.
How do you make rose sharbat at home?
Steep petals in hot water, strain, dissolve sugar into the liquid and simmer a few minutes, then add lemon juice. The full recipe with amounts is above; keep it in the fridge up to 3 to 4 weeks.
Is rose tea safe during pregnancy?
An occasional cup of rose petal tea is generally considered fine. Keep it occasional rather than daily, and count caffeine if it’s mixed with green or black tea.
Is rose tea good for period cramps?
It’s a comforting warm drink, and warmth helps many people with cramps. There’s no strong evidence rose itself eases period pain, and severe pain needs a doctor.
Can I drink rose tea at night?
Yes. It’s caffeine free, so it won’t keep you awake the way chai can. Skip the rose green tea or rose chai versions late at night.
Is rose sharbat okay for diabetics?
Not as a regular drink, since it’s mostly sugar. A small glass on a special day, counted into your meal plan, is a question for your doctor or dietitian.
Why does rose tea turn pink with lemon?
Rose petals contain natural pigments called anthocyanins, the same family that colours jamun, red cabbage and purple grapes, and they shift toward pink as the drink gets more acidic, which is exactly what a squeeze of lemon does.
Is rose tea good for skin?
No drink will lighten or whiten skin. Rose tea is a pleasant, caffeine-free drink, and water, sleep and sunscreen matter far more for skin.
Rose petal tea vs rose hip tea: what’s the difference?
Petal tea is made from the flower and tastes floral, while rose hip tea is made from the round fruit left behind after the flower falls, and it’s tart, fruity and a completely different drink.
More kitchen drinks and flower preparations live in Desi Remedies.