Rose Tea (custom)

This is the tea we blended at our tea guild meeting a few weeks back. We added rose oil and rose petals to black tea (I’m not sure what leaf type but I am guessing Ceylon) It was a fun experience, but not something I’m particularly interested in. Me… I enjoy drinking tea, discovering tea, and learning all about it.
Anyhow, this didn’t turn out as I expected. It’s rather light, and refreshing. Not as rosy as I’d hoped. After adding some agave, some serious citrus notes emerged. It made me wonder if there was any Darjeeling mixed in. (I arrived late, so it is possible!)
Overall, it’s very pleasant and easy to drink. I might make the rest of it iced, as I think that would go over very well. Darjeeling tea seems to be the only caffeinated beverage I enjoy cold so hopefully this one will pick up on those similarities :)

Finally getting to the sample of this I got at last year’s tea festival. (Just in time for this year’s.) I think my four minute steep was slightly too long; the flavour goes from smooth to bitter in my mouth, leaving behind a bit of an unpleasant aftertaste. Floral notes aren’t necessarily my favourite, but the rose isn’t bad in the initial flavour here.
I think it might be improved with milk, a shorter steep, or both. Still, this does make me want to blend my own tea at some point, to see if I can find my own perfect blend.

As a note, the resteep is much less astringent, and still has quite a bit of colour and flavour to it. If the first steep had been like this, I would have been much happier. (And this is why it’s good to try something over several steeps, I suppose.) The floral taste is quite strong now, and it’s not my favourite flavour if I’m being honest, but I think this is closer to how this tea should taste, and it’s good for what it is.