I loved your story, like you I always enjoyed those weekend visits to my great aunt's house.
As a curious fact, I tell you that in my country Venezuela, we call the hibiscus Cayenne and the infusion of the red ones, which are the most common, are used to relax and sleep better.😉
The weekends at our grandmas/aunts were always great, right? Reading the comments on this post I see that this plant has many names, among them Cayenne indeed