Tea blends

[telophase]

I was poking back at Adagio Teas, to see what they'd come up with since the last time I'd been there.* They offer custom blends of teas now - you can blend like mad and not be obligated to buy - and while I knew about it, I hadn't paid much attention to it.

But now ... I feel inspired to create a Sanzo-themed tea, and have done so. It's currently marked private, until I feel it's right (and dare to buy it). At the moment it's 80% gunpowder and 20% lapsang souchong. Gunpowder is a green tea whose leaves are rolled into little 'bullets,' described as producing a full-bodied cup with a hint of smokiness. Lapsang souchong is a tea formed by smoking the tea leaves over a fire, and when it's brewed it smells like wood smoke.** You either love it or hate it, and I love it. You can toss some into another kind of tea when brewing to produce a nice hint of smoke.

Whether I like the blend or not...? The teas I like seem to be described as "smoky" (although not to the literal extent that Lapsang Souchong is), so there's a possibility, although I tend not to like green teas. Hm.


Anyway ... ideas for tea blends for the rest of them? I'd think that Golden Monkey might be a large component of Goku's tea, while Hakkai might sip demurely on an oolong. If you wanted to be literal, Gojyo might be a rooibos (a.k.a. red tea), but ... I really don't like rooibos. :)




--
* chomiji, of the things off my wishlist you sent, I really love the Fujian Baroque. Yum!

** To the point where I don't brew it at work, because otherwise people from down the hall will be sticking their heads into the office, asking what's on fire. No joke.

Comments

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

I enjoy their tea blends a lot. I get an order of my blend each month.
https://www.adagio.com/signature_blend/blend.html?blend=3282
It's not a particular character, but it makes me think of manga and fanfic and story kinks. Sort of wonderfully complex. (I can't have a lot of straight black tea, except for certain types. I can do the Yunnans just fine. I think Sanzo would be a Yunnan Noir kind of guy.)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The reason I'm angled more towards the green teas for Sanzo is mostly idiosyncratic - I associate green teas with monks due to the only bowl of green tea I've really liked was drunk at a temple in Kita-Kamakura, to a backdrop of chanting from a few buildings over. (Not to mention the bitterness of green tea matches the BITTERNESS OF HIS HEART!!!)

slightly off-topic

[estara.livejournal.com]

If you love Lapsang Souchong and you haven't read it yet, you NEED to read this book by R.A. McAvoy: http://www.amazon.com/Tea-Black-Dragon-R-MacAvoy/dp/1585861979/
(and if you like it she wrote a second one: http://www.amazon.com/Twisting-Rope-Roberta-MacAvoy/dp/158586059X/ ).

Re: slightly off-topic

[heyoka.livejournal.com]

EEEEEEEE someone else who's read them!

Re: slightly off-topic

[estara.livejournal.com]

I actually only this year bought the English originals ^^. These were some of my first modern fantasy books in German (at a time I couldn't read English that well). So this year I scrounged around and bought them used AND her Damiano trilogy.

Re: slightly off-topic

[estara.livejournal.com]

Addendum: that's one time that the German covers actually are nicer than the English ones, but as always the original content is more subtle than the best translator... I'm keeping the German versions out of nostalgia, though.

Re: slightly off-topic

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Yup, read them some time ago! (actually, long enough that I don't remember much about them. XD)

[ninjoo.livejournal.com]

lol, Sanzo tea! I'd love to try it!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

If I cave and buy a box, I can send off some sample-sized packs for shipping costs. XD

[ninjoo.livejournal.com]

Cave, cave, cave, cave, cave, cave!

[celestriad.livejournal.com]

huh, that's pretty interesting to think about. XD i personally love a simple green tea, but i can see how that would fit sanzo.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I'll have to try it to see if it's BITTER LIKE HIS HEART XD

[celestriad.livejournal.com]

hahaha! but the bitterness is the best part of green tea! XD

somehow, i don't think the bitterness of the tea would quite match up to his BITTER HEART, ZOMG. XD;

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, for a Gojyo tea I would go for something like a Russian Caravan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Caravan) blend -- strong, dark and more than a little smoky -- blended with rosebuds for a bit of sweetness at the core. (RED roses for EXTRA ANGST, of course!)

Hakkai I'd think would be a very fine green tea, with no fragrancing or added spices/florals to distract from the subtle astringent purity of it all...maybe Gyokoru (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyokuro) or other high-grade sencha.

Goku, given all the centuries in cold storage, could maybe be a very well-aged Pu-erh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu-erh_tea)?

Mmmmm, tea.

[ginny-t.livejournal.com]

I can't get my head around blending black and green teas--they brew best at different water temperatures and steeping times. It hurts me, it does.

In other news, I am 100% pro-Lapsang Souchong and Russian Caravan (which for the record is not the same!).

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I suspect Goku's tea would be something like a 'suicide' at the soda fountain.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*laughs* and here I was thinking something earthy like pu-erh mixed with the sweetness of fruit and roses for Gojyo with just a hint of a smoky something as he smokes too.

Hakkai makes me think of chrysanthemum or, better yet, Osmanthus Flowers mixed with a mountain Wuyi oolong, sadly Adagio doesn't sell traditional Osmanthus.

I like your idea with Goku... Golden Monkey or Monkey-picked Iron Goddess of Mercy mixed (10%) with white peach.