Lily of the valley

[Morit]

Hey guys, my first post here so dont be cruel

I need to do a Lily of the valley tasted mead for a present..
I cannot use true flowers since those are poisonous from what I heard.
So my idea was to use flawored tea. I have found some what-I-heard know tea Darjeeling FTGFOP1 which supposebly has some strong Lily flawor and also some "just-tea" one..

My idea was to use both, half in primary - water and leaves, and half in secondary - probably just the water.
Probably like 2-3 tbsp of tea each time..

Also I would use 1 part honey for 2 parts water..
Or maybe use more honey so that I can use more tea?

Any ideas / tips conserning this?
You think this would work and the taste would be there?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

First, I would cold brew your tea. It lessens the bitterness significantly. It's not more complicated than steeping the tea for a much longer time at refrigerated temps (~12 hours). I would use at least 50% or more tea for volume in fermenter. Tea is pretty light and it's tough to get it to come through some times.

 

[Morit]

Good to know about that cold brewing I will certainly do it.

That is why I will for shure add more tea to the secondary ferment, I tough that more taste will stay becouse of the secondary one.
But obviously I am scared about having to much "tea" taste and not enough lily of the valley one.
More will be known when the tea will be shipped to me and I will be able to taste it by itslef.

 

[Morit]

No other ideas to have more of that taste?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I can't think of anything that would taste like lily of the valley smells. I never thought Darjeeling tea tasted like anything close to lily of the valley. You'll want something floral, that's for sure. You might try using jasmine tea; while it's not lily of the valley, it IS floral & might suffice.

You might also try using a honey that has a floral profile. Orange blossom is certainly floral, but maybe not what you had in mind. Acacia honey would be a good choice, but it's a little harder to find & more expensive. I can tell you from personal experience that it makes a very floral & delicately flavoured mead. Most people recognized the fact that it is so floral, but cannot identify the flower; this might work to your advantage in this case. This is what I used:
http://www.stdalfour.us/MarketDetail.cfm/product/37/index.html
Regards, GF.

 

[Morit]

Too bad about Darjeeling, I had high hopes for it.. I am still gonna use it probably, maybe something will come from it...

There is no way I can get orange blossom in my country, at least I dont know any. I saw some acatian ones, might try that.

I tought maybe some comercial food smells/ tasting concentratc but cant fint anything with lily of the valley.. I know this is not a good option, but I am not trying to make a class A mead, I am trying to get that taste/smell

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

What about Tupello, That's pretty flowery. Or if you have any local bee-keepers and they have some early spring honey runs left over. That early spring honey is like eating flowers smell. It's insane.

 

[Morit]

I will try but still not gonna be enough to achieve the lily of the valley taste

 

[Vikings]

What about elderflower? It is certainly very floral and aromatic.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B009Z8XA46?pc_redir=1405438905&robot_redir=1

 

[Morit]

I could use normal elderflower, no need to use tea flavored, as a matter of fact I have plenty in my freezer waiting for their turn with mead..

But the goal here is to have a lily of the valley taste/smell.
Not just a floral one.
Would be enough for me, since I am a men and it really makes not much differance for me, but it is for a girl, who works with flowers and it must be that specific one.