Rosé – non-alcoholic

Lyserød is the driest Sparkling Tea from Copenhagen

Lyserød is a non-alcoholic, tea-based rosé, colored by hibiscus blossoms instead of grape skins. With 20 grams of residual sugar per liter, it is the driest in the family. Two types of Oolong and Silver Needle give it a smooth mouthfeel.

Lyserød is the rosé-colored, non-alcoholic cuvée from the Copenhagen Sparkling Tea Company in Copenhagen. Hibiscus, two Oolong teas, and white Silver Needle meet grape juice and fine bubbles. If you like your sparkling wine dry but are still abstaining from alcohol, this is the most uncompromising option in the range.

What the hibiscus is doing here

In the world of wine, pigments from grape skins color a rosé. In the world of tea, hibiscus blossoms take over that role.

22 percent hibiscus tea gives it a delicate dusty pink hue and a fine note of bitterness that keeps the sweetness in check. 23 percent Oolong provides structure, while 16 percent Silver Needle—the white tea harvested only from unopened leaf buds—lays down a soft foundation. It is fragrant, velvety, and savory in the glass.

With 20 grams of sugar per liter, Lyserød is significantly drier than the floral Blå with its 50 grams. You can taste it immediately: it arrives sleek, clear, and without any pandering. It is a beverage that doesn’t seek to please, but to accompany.

With sushi, goat cheese, and cured trout

Its dryness makes Lyserød a food companion where sweeter non-alcoholic drinks fail.

It is in its element with sushi and sashimi, as the acidity of the hibiscus cuts through the rice without overpowering the fish. It also pairs well with goat cheese, cured trout, or a summer salad with strawberries. And as an aperitif, it stands perfectly on its own.

Its true utility is seen at a table where not everyone is drinking alcohol. Those who toast without alcohol aren't given a consolation prize here, but a drink with a personality of its own—just as Jacob Kocemba and Bo Sten Hansen intended from the start.

Serve it well chilled at about 5 degrees Celsius, preferably in a white wine glass rather than a narrow flute. Lyserød contains sulfites because there are naturally small amounts present in the grape juice—you won't find any dealcoholized wine here. If you prefer something greener and more mineral, the Lysegrøn is waiting for you.

Bo and Jacob build a new family member

Lyserød was created because guests and restaurants had long been asking Jacob Kocemba and Bo Sten Hansen for something drier, please.

The two founded their company in 2017, after Kocemba, working as a sommelier, stood before a cellar with over 1,700 wines and still couldn't find a suitable pairing for a dessert. Instead of resigning, he brewed tea. This predicament turned into a beverage category that didn't exist before.

To this day, every tea is steeped individually, each at its own temperature and with its own brewing time—a Silver Needle would never forgive boiling water. Only then is the cuvée created. The carbonation is added, after which it matures for 8 to 12 weeks in the bottle and ends up under 5 bars of pressure. Time that you can notice later in the fine bubbles.

In 2020, together with Blå, it reached the final of the World Beverage Innovation Award. Today, both are on the menu at Copenhagen’s 3-Michelin-starred restaurant, Geranium. For a house that is not even eight years old, that is quite a statement.

You can read more about Kocemba, Hansen, and their varieties in the portrait of the Copenhagen Sparkling Tea Company; the entire selection can be found among the Sparkling Teas with and without alcohol.

Organic control number DE-ÖKO-039 EU – Non-EU Agriculture