Daily Entertainment: Tea Blend Edition!

[damncompass]

Good morning, Milliways! It's Friday! YAY FRIDAY.

Tea! We are a tea drinking game, this Milliways. So, in the spirit of Adagio's Fandom Blends, what would a tea blend of your character be? Check out Adagio for some suggestions, or post and someone else can suggest!

Also, would anyone be interested if I actually created these teas? I might need help for the coverarts, but I could totally make up tea!

ETA: I can't remember if people actually get money from the fandom teas, but if there is any money involved in any teas that I made, I'll donate it back to the running of Milliways.

Comments

[a1enzo]

Well, my canon is up there! Nothing for Enzo Mk. 2, though. Here's Matrix's blend; any suggestions for how to change it for my Enzo, or something completely different?

ETA: On a look through the green teas, I'm thinking a Sleeping Dragon base. Thoughts on additions?

[sunbaked_baker]

None of my pups have their canons listed in the fandom blends already existing. Mwahaha.

I'm totally thinking of doing an actual blend for Sunshine, myself, and see how it turns out. So far, my idea is:

50% Pu Erh Chorange (chocolate orange Pu Erh)
30% Assam Melody
20% Blood Orange
with a scoop of Cinnamon

I may mess with photoshop this evening to try and make some cover-art. ^_^

[fluffiest_archadian]

None of my pups have any blends up there. I'm a little surprised Wan doesn't. Fandom loves Wan. He has so much hair.

(I myself am spending a lot of time looking at it going 'what are these things? Oo-long? Chai? O-ran-ge?' I can do cocktails just fine, but I'm at sea with tea.)

Yugo is probably the easiest, so I'll start with him:

40% kamairicha.
30% blood orange tea.
30% rose blossom tea.
Along with a hefty scoop of ginger.

- That would probably taste quite, quite foul.

Any suggestions for Sherral or Wan are welcome. I'm thinking an Earl Grey variant for Sherral.

[bjornwilde]

I have no idea with mine, except for Quinlan who is likely some form of chai.

Guesses?
Full pup list: Jessica Drew, Anton Gorodetsky, Andrea Nash, Brimstone, Hank McCoy, Thalia Grace, Mulan, and Val von Doom.

[bjornwilde]

Oh Jess does have a fan blend and it sounds yummy; Black and Honeybush tea, hazelnut, caramel and vanilla flavorings.

Brimstone doesn't have an official one but this strikes me as his, Of Hope and Wishes; oolong, black and white teas with almond, blueberries, and creme flavors.

Comic book Hank has two choices; Warm and Fuzzy or Beast's blend.

Thalia has one as well; earl grey moonlight, forest berries, rooibos vanilla chai with cinnamon accents.

And of course Mulan has several teas as well. I'd list them but I really need to get working. This is almost as bad as TV tropes! = ]

[bjornwilde]

Oh, and I'd be interested and be happy to help with graphics!

[gavin62truck]

Tommy's is Irish Breakfast, Pu Erh Spice, and a heap of Ginger. Or to make it even simpler, Irish Breakfast with a splash of Bailey's.

[vance_prime]

Most of mine have multiple entries, but not Alyx. Even D0G has his own tea, but Alyx doesn't! What the hell?

[genarti]

I always get cranky at Adagio's blends options for not giving me as many options as I would like to blend in. That... probably says something about the amount of tea I drink. *facepalming* Anyway, I am ignoring their options for now, and will go check out whether others have made fandom blends for mine after I've designed my own!

Thor is... hmm. Something traditional and refined, but also punch-you-in-the-face strong. I'm gonna go with a very spicy chai. Lots of ginger, lots of caffeine, a fair bit of sugar.

River is hibiscus tea with a mix of berries (strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, hodgeberry) and a bit of lemon zest, and just the slightest dash of ginger.

Regan is jasmine sencha. (I am cheating in that this is her favorite tea, but I think it works: refined and nuanced, extremely traditional... and bitter as hell if you overbrew it.)

Clare is... I don't even know. 75% Darjeeling, 25% Lapsang Souchong? I think this might be an unfortunate experiment for the tea experimenter, which is also fitting.

Trowa is coffee hmm. I actually came up with Gundam Wing blends one time, but I've entirely forgotten what I gave Trowa. Gunpowder green with blood orange and marigold petals, maybe? Let's go with that.

Enjolras is gunpowder green tea with cherry. (For about four different symbolic reasons, because I crack myself up. This is the only one I knew immediately upon seeing the question.)

[genarti]

For others' Adagio choices:

River has a couple, and so does Firefly in general, but unsurprisingly Regan does not.

Thor also has a couple (I'm assuming from the label art that that last one applies, though he's never actually been king of Asgard in the movies); Loki has several, and there are various other Avengers and also, entertainingly, some pairing teas.

Trowa has one. Clare does not.

Enjolras has... oh dear god. Well, I'm not all that surprised. Okay, Enjolras has 117 results. Those are not all teas named for him, though -- Grantaire and various other Amis also have several that turn up under a search for "Enjolras," because of course -- but I am too lazy to pick out the dozen or so that are for links. However, special honorary mention goes to "A Savage An-Tea-nous" for A+ naming. (I still like my blend best for symbolism, though, and it's actually one you can make in the blender. If only I actually liked cherry, I might be tempted!)

[death_gone_mad]

I am looking at Sweet Pipe Leaf and …



what?






Gunpowder? How? Why?




I don't know anything about tea. I stay away from caffeine mostly in hopes of keeping it effective in small doses. Though, the only effect it has on my is the diuretic effect. Bah.

I have only drank those mass marketed bottles of sweet ice tea, chamomile tea, and mint tea before. Well, not actual mint, Yerba Buena, probably the Micromeria douglasii variety. Close enough.

I think if I were to make up a tea for Amascut, it would have at least a bit of catnip, a bit of myrrh, and a bit of cayenne in the blend.

Gunpowder, wtf?

[sunbaked_baker]

Uh....

"A classic green tea from Zhejiang province, China. Gunpowder, as the name implies, is made up of leaves hand-rolled into tiny pellets. These resemble gunpowder, and give this tea its distinct name."

Not actual gunpowder.

[death_gone_mad]

Oh, gunpowder is a variety of green tea, and apparently it has a smoky note! Perfect!

So, for Amascut gunpowder green tea, with a bit of catnip, myrrh, and dried cayenne pepper.

[bbq_platypus]

I honestly had no idea this was even a thing. I can't say I know much about tea, either, other than "heat water in kettle 'til it steams, put in tea, let steep, then drink to make enduring another day not feel so awful." I guess I favor a spicy chai, though. Still, blending them is something I've never considered. As I have nowhere near enough knowledge to do this on my own, so I'm going to have to rely almost entirely on Adagio for this one. Which is a bit of a problem as most of my pups don't seem to have their own.

Jim doesn't have his own, but I second Tommy's blend of Irish Breakfast and Bailey's.

Leela has a couple. They both seem to make sense, going for "earthy and grounded but strong." Or something like that. I do not know how to tea.

Kane doesn't have one, as I suspected. Though given the importance of Tiberium and the insurgent nature of the Brotherhood, I guess it would be some kind of green tea? With, like, spicy notes? Something that indicates intelligence, ambition, and tiberium. I'm not sure how to say that in tea.

Caius doesn't have one either, though there is one for Cyrodil which would probably suit him just fine. Though its description makes it sound a bit more fruity and floral than it would be if it applied to him specifically instead of the homeland that he loves. You could also go with this skooma blend if you're a smartass.

Garyn, or the Nerevarine, or Nerevar in general, beginning to sense a pattern here, doesn't have one. I expected this, too. There is one for the Dunmer, though. It's a black tea flavored with spice, cinnamon, orange, and ginger. Sounds about right for his temperament, though this is again coming from someone who knows fuck all about tea.

Marge...erm, next.

The Thenardiers have two. Both of them seem to be flavored with something intense and overpowering like currant or sour apples.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them. Because yeah, I don't even.

[genarti]

It's not as if I've done a ton of this, but sometimes coming up with mental tea blends is a fun way to procrastinate for a while. (Uh, YMMV as always.) Things I tend to weigh in include:

- the character's canonical tastes or regional origin, if relevant
- caffeination level, either for energy level or for the character's caffeine addiction levels
- strength, i.e. is this something you brew briefly so it has a delicate taste, or is it something that you leave in the water for a while and it gets REALLY STRONG TASTING? (I tie this to either the character's force of personality, or their likelihood to punch things in the face. Thor was not gonna get away with anything but strong black tea in some form or another, for example.)
- symbolism: any flowers or colors or smokiness associated in canon? In my mind? This could be actual sustained Symbolism, or it could just be "gunpowder green tea has a hilariously fitting name for giving to characters who shoot things." Or, hell, "This character is such a cheapskate that their fancy tea blend is... a Lipton teabag they've shoplifted."
- similarly, bitterness versus sweetness/fruitiness. I'm a lot more likely to toss fruit flavorings into a tea for somebody cheerful or color-loving than I am for a stoic grumpy warrior, unless there's some entertaining symbolism or incongruity for the latter.
- end result: is it going to taste decent? Alternately, do I find it hilariously fitting for the tea to taste awful?

Uh, I don't factor in all of these for everything. I think the end result is the only thing I always pay attention to, although even then sometimes paying attention just means going "This would probably taste foul, but oh well!"

(Edit: this is basically the same mental process I use for coming up with character cocktails, except that I have more firsthand experience of drinking tea varieties. Which is to say, I don't bother, and then someone suggests it and I go OOH TIME TO AMUSE MYSELF WITH TASTE/NAME/COLOR ASSOCIATIONS.)

[hasthehighground]

so Quatre's would basically be espresso in tea form

[genarti]

MAYBE.

*laughing*

Or something exceedingly sparkly (well, flowery), with a kick to it, depending on what tack you wanted to take. Hmm.

My thoughts are: either Earl Grey with lavender, or REALLY STRONG Irish breakfast-type tea served with a whole pot of sugar on the side.

[andinfluencepeople]

... the second is just hilarious to me. The first is probably more thematically appropriate, but HILARIOUS :O :D

[bbq_platypus]

Alright. I think Kane would probably be a gunpowder green, probably with spice and a hint of lime because this tea needs to be VERY green. No idea how this would taste.

[genarti]

Depends on the spice, I'd think. Ginger or something could be pretty good, in a sharp kind of way!

[bbq_platypus]

That sounds like it could work. I feel like a fourth ingredient might be necessary, but I think there's already an awful lot going on flavor-wise.

[oldsugartooth]

Also, I must say, my favorite Elder Scrolls-themed one that I've found is Fus Ro Darjeeling.

[ceitfianna]

I know that Charles has a number of Fandom blends but I always think of something based off a classic English tea for him with an Earl Grey Base. Other than that I don't know.

In terms of my others, I need to think on them as while I love tea, blending them isn't something I think about.

[repositorian]

I would love to make tea blends for my pups. But I don't actually drink tea (I think I must be literally the only person south of the Mason-Dixon line who doesn't) nor do I know much about the flavor variations of different tea leaves.

On first glance through the actual types of tea on the site, I can say Noriko and probably Tsu'tey would have a green tea base, but after that I get pretty lost. I can cook up flavor profiles, but the putting of idea to 'here's what we've got for choices' is not a thing I am good at.

[aberrantangels]

My earliest exposure to tea was iced tea, as drunk in the former Confederate States of America; this put me more or less off tea for more or less life, so my expertise is lacking. Thus, I'll start off with the pups of mine that already have Adagio blends:

Hannibal: five different blends, no two of which share more than one ingredient

Rukia: white peony, kukicha, black tea, natural wild cherry flavor, dried cherries, rose petals

Ryûk: Irish breakfast, spiced apple chai, caramel, apple pieces ("They put apples in tea? I'm amazed that's legal, hyuk, hyuk...")

Ralph: two different blends

I'm open to suggestions on the others, from those who know both tea and the relevant fandom(s)

[herr_bookman]

Autor has his own canonical tea blend of three parts Darjeeling to one part Assam, which until recently was all he drank. There are four Princess Tutu blends on Adiago, which surprises me.

Alana has one of her own (oriental spice, vanilla green, osmanthus) along with a Will/Alana blend. Personally I'd go for a chocolate chai with cherries and vanilla.

[runningred]

Jay seems to have one already which looks pretty good to me.

Daoud I'd imagine would be Turkish apple tea with a bit of cinnamon or ginger.