The Blood of Slaughtered Muppets

[digitaldiscipline]

... which is to say, this tea is really, really, really fucking red in a white porcelain cup. If you're expecting a Georgia clay Rooibos red or a hibiscusy blush, to quote a muscular purple elf, "you are not prepared."

Prominent berry blend with a bit of astringency (probably the florals) to keep it from being cloying; lots of fullness (like, say, you've got a small apple crammed into your mouth, whole). Unlike conventional leaf-only blends, the reliance on fruit doesn't hold up as well to repeated brews of my prolonged sort (a shorter steeping of the first cup would probably give the second and third more legs).

Haven't tried adding anything to it for sweetening, because I don't need the damn calories and am out of honey at the office anyways, but it seems like an excellent candidate for wildflower honey in particular, or clover/orange blossom to complement the secondary notes.

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[cassandrasimplx.livejournal.com]

Cross-posted from my FB announcement:

So I've had a Seekrit Projekt going for the last six weeks, and as difficult as it was to keep my mouth shut, it has finally come to its "Surprise!" fruition. Which is a horrible pun, in its own way.

When Rafe and I were first dating, he was on a quest for a fruity or fruity-floral tea with the health benefits of green tea and certain berries and fruits but without the grassy taste of generic green tea or certain common notes, like cherry or mint. Instead, he kept finding blends with notes he didn't like, or that were overwhelmed by mint, or that rely on black tea instead of green, or with too little fruity goodness.

So, for his birthday this year, I made one for him.

Adagio teas will let you create a "signature blend" of up to three other teas, mixed in proportions that are multiples of 10%, plus one flavoring (like cocoa nibs or, in this case, lemon verbena.) The various red/blue/purple fruits are loaded with antioxidants, the green tea offers more theanine than black tea, and the rose hips give it a reasonable vitamin C kick. It's my first shot at blending a "life-extending" tea. Also, it tastes kind of like unsweetened fruit punch.

I got to submit my own art for the packaging, which makes me giggle and was absolutely all by itself worth the price of the box of tea I sent him for his birthday when he unwrapped it from the gift-packaging, stood silent for a moment, and asked, "Is that REALLY a picture of me and Magellan on the label?"

Also, thanks to his own pet name for it, I now get to toast his birthday with the blood of slaughtered muppets. To this birthday, and many more!