Skip to main content

BTB: The Excelsior

The Excelsior

My parents met in their high school Star Trek club, and so naturally baby's first fandom was the one to which I literally owe my existence. I've lost count of the number of conventions I attended growing up. The Klingons I've met surely number in the hundreds at this point. This may not have made me the coolest kid growing up, but I can honestly boast the ability to paint my body head-to-toe green with no streaking in fifteen minutes flat (while the only tool in my cosplay skill set, I do love to brag about it).

When I was nineteen years old, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting lifelong heroes George Takei and Nichelle Nichols at the Star Trek 40th anniversary gala atop Seattle's Space Needle. They were both so warm and affable and allowed me to hug them (after of course being reassured my green body paint was sealed and wouldn't stain their clothing). I was enchanted, and still smile every time one or the other crosses my Twitter timeline.

George Takei's birthday a handful of years back coincided with local sci-fi lit convention Norwescon, which I took as an ideal opportunity to release a tea tribute to my favorite member of Starfleet: Hikaru Sulu. There's a wonderful scene in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country where we see Sulu captaining his own ship, the USS Excelsior. He is holding a cup of tea and it's a heart-explodingly proud moment for those of us who lovingly followed his Starfleet career. I believe I actually cried when he said "Engage" to his crew for the first time. This scene inspired George Takei's birthday blend: The Excelsior.

Join me for a walk through my synesthetic mind as I created this blend!


Sulu's keen mind and sharp deductive skills are the keystones of his personality. Through the lens of Lexical-Gustatory Synesthesia, concepts related to intellect, particularly when set apart from surrounding people, taste complex and floral with a hint of airy minerals. For a man whose energy rarely flags, a high grade Darjeeling black tea was the obvious choice as a base. I supplemented with a gorgeous tippy Ceylon black tea to bring a bit of sweeter amber body to the mix, representing his warm speaking voice and mischievous sense of humor. 

To build upon the primary personality base, I was drawn to linden flower for an earthy-airy pop of congeniality, grounded down with rubbed green garden sage for a vegetal, down-to-earth, paternal note.

A simple tea blend on the surface, but complex and elegant once you sit with it. Like our dear Sulu himself, The Excelsior is refined with a warm, very open personality. Years after its creation, this beautiful tribute tea still gives me a thrill of pride and happiness. I invite you to grab your most affable friend and help yourself to a cuppa. Engage!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Indigenous Sips: Pacific Madrone

Pacific Northwest local red-barked beauty Pacific Madrone, aka Arbutus Menziesii , is a sight to behold for sure. The rich hue and dramatically peeling bark, the curve of its sturdy branches and sheen of its verdant waxy leaves are all peak hiking aesthetic, but did you know this tree has long been a multipurpose source of healing tincture and tea? Various tribes of the west coast, ranging from California up through British Columbia, make use of Madrone bark and berries. Extracted as a tincture or bundled and bruised for a poultice, this plant can be used topically to treat minor wounds and sores. Brewed as a tea, the light-bodied brew has notes of cinnamon, foresty fungus and wood smoke and is used to help a stomachache or as a cold medicine. This tree serves as a very renewable source of bark, leaf and berry and can be harvested without damaging the tree. Madrones will naturally shed their leaf every two years and their bark each summer. When you approach a Madrone in midsumme
1 comment
Read more

Synesthesia And Blending As Sensory Art

I am frequently asked how I get ideas for my blends. Where does my inspiration come from? Which comes first, the blend or its name? I'm proud of how original my blends are, and how different from blends you'll find by any other company. This is largely due to the fact that I have synesthesia (meaning my senses are cross-wired and abstract concepts, personalities, colors, weather, etc. all translate to me as flavor). My dominant forms are referred to as "lexical-gustatory," "auditory-tactile," and "mirror touch." It's fascinating stuff for sure, and has made my life and relationships more complicated. On the flip side, I have discovered a practical use for my brain-strangeness! Like many synesthetes before me (Jimi Hendrix, Tori Amos, Richard Feynman, Vladimir Nabokov, etc.), I've translated my particular brand of strange into a career. Synesthesia salad. credit: jessicahagy.info/ My personal experience with synesthesia leads me
8 comments
Read more

Six True Types of Tea

We get asked a LOT what the difference is between white tea and black tea, herbal tea and green tea, and so on. The world of tea is mysterious and a lot of you want to learn more, so let's start with the basics! True tea comes from the Camellia Sinensis plant. Always. Any infusion made from the leaf, stem, root or whatever other part of any other plant falls into the "tisane" category, also known as "herbal tea." Those are a whole tasty world absolutely worth your time and attention, but today we're focusing on true teas.   There are six basic types of true tea, delineated by the level of oxidation allowed to occur in the leaf during processing. After picking, tea leaves frequently go through a process of bruising, withering, heating, and drying. (I say frequently because the world of tea is so vast and varied, every facet of the end product is up for flux. How much caffeine? What does it taste like? Is it smooth or brash? The answer is always "it
7 comments
Read more