Friday Knows Tea

For those new to our blends, welcome! Our themed teas are mostly developed from CEO Friday Elliott's neurological superpower, lexical-gustatory synesthesia . These BTB ( behind the blend ) posts serve as a dissection of Friday's process and experience.  Today, however, we are examining one of our blends NOT developed by Friday. This tea was created by our shop teen, Teacup, also a polysynesthete. We interviewed Teacup about the inspiration behind The Modern Pro-TEA-theus. Portrait of a Young Blender Friday: Teacup, hello! Teacup: Helloooo Friday: Can you tell us why you chose Frankenstein as subject material? Teacup: We were working on the Horror Collection, and so I felt like having a good Frankenstein tea would be really really beneficial to the collection, especially because it's like a "classic horror monster," and I thought it would be fun to do that. Also I had several ideas for it. Friday: Tell me about the tea! Teacup: The tea is a fu...

When it comes to tea, there's a whole world of information floating around out there. Agriculture is a complicated realm and tea in particular has been spread, traded, cultivated, spliced and specialized into about a million versions of its original self. With thousands of years of culture and evolution, information about tea can feel like a game of telephone. Here are ten of the most common misconceptions we've encountered over the years, and the real facts behind the myths. 10. "Tea doesn't go bad." While your tea leaves should certainly not be going moldy on you (unless you're rocking that post-fermented tea life), they will absolutely go stale and lose flavor. The more light and air hits your tea, the faster it will stale out. The average bag o' loose leaf will last you about 6 months before it's noticeably degraded. Much longer if you can keep it in the dark and airtight! 9. "Drinking tea makes you lose weight." Lo siento, ...

For those new to our blends, welcome! Our themed teas are mostly developed from CEO Friday Elliott's neurological superpower, lexical-gustatory synesthesia . These BTB ( behind the blend ) posts serve as a dissection of Friday's process and experience. Caffeine jolt with a leather body and smoke underbelly You know that energy dip that hits about 70% through a writing session? The total drop in motivation and the brain fog that accompanies it? This tea is designed to taste like the opposite of that. Sometimes we all need a little bolstering, and sometimes we need a lot of bolstering. That bolstering kick in the butt tastes like no-nonsense peaty earthiness and bitey smoke with a honeyed zip of go-get-em smile. These qualities manifest in today's featured tea, Writer's Fuel ! I started with a base of Rwandan black tea , a smooth and sweetly malty-floral black tea from Africa (made with cultivars brought from Taiwan, hence the floral notes). It's full-bodied...

  Teacup and I were chatting the other day about fun cookie recipe ideas for masala chai, and our dear friend Hannah said "oh, like chai snickerdoodles?" Um...YES! Such a fun twist on a classic American favorite. Their chewy texture, eggy richness and cinnamon coating has earned them a high ranking in the cookie hall of fame. Honestly though? While I get the appeal, I've always felt snicks were missing that "wow" factor. My solution to the boring snickerdoodle conundrum, as for most things, is MORE SPICE! The basic cookie practically asks to be paired with chai anyway, so once Hannah put the idea in our heads, we had to do it right away. We definitely ran into some obstacles in creating these cookies for you due to the lack of baking supplies in our quarantine-shopping-wracked grocery store, but we pulled it together. We ended up grinding our own flour and sugar, which I recognize is really above and beyond the average baking project. Feel free to substitu...

When you think of a shot of caffeine, that morning jolt, that buzz in the veins, what association do you make? Espresso? Matcha? Tea, Earl Grey, hot? Probably not holly! It’s true through, the holly family has produced some super tasty rocket fuel level caffeine. We’re talking specifically  ilex  paraguariensis, ilex guayusa and ilex vomitoria, each native to one of the Americas. Each of these holly varietals offer up about 90 milligrams of caffeine per cup, about on par with drip coffee! These plants rank among only a tiny handful of indigenous caffeinated plants in the Americas, and have each played an important cultural role in their native growing regions’ histories. Let’s learn a thing! Yerba Mate (South America) For sure the most well-known of the imbibable holly trio, Yerba Mate ( eeAIR-bah MAH-tay )   is a mainstream staple in South America. The leaf of the plant is cut and dried, then brewed like tea and enjoyed socially. It's most popularly enj...

In the springtime I am inexorably drawn to steamed green teas. Genmaicha, matcha, sencha, bi lo chun, clouds & mist, and so on. If it's vegetal, mildly seaweedy and light-savory with a lingering umami profile, count me in! Just the other day, a friend mentioned the idea of matcha cheesecake in passing. I don't even remember the context, just that the idea seeded itself like the marigold and snap peas in my garden and I couldn't stop thinking about it. Anyone who knows me personally knows that compulsive baking is a long-running thing in my house. When I was a tween, my mother put a time limit on the kitchen (I was banned from 10pm to 8am) because the smell of fresh cookies, muffins and breads kept waking her up in the middle of the night. She was not amused. Especially in times of uncertainty and anxiety, I turn to the oven. I've done a lot of baking this week. It's been fun to flex my sleepy chef muscles and get creative in the kitchen again! Now, as I lo...

March in Seattle heralds the last gasp of winter. While I'm as eager as the next Californian transplant to return to the sunshine and flowers of spring, I'm not above finding an excuse to enjoy decadent, spicy, rich, silky winter flavors. For a super quick and easy "treat yo'self" moment, check out this creamy chai-tini. Tea and booze lovers delight! Note: If alcohol isn't your thing, replace the vodka/rum with a strong-brewed gingery light tea (like our Warrior Princess or Bard's Blend ), just be sure not to pick something with a high citrus content or your creamy cocktail will curdle.   Creamy Chai-tini (makes one) 2 oz. Ginger vodka (or spiced rum, if you prefer) 1 oz. Heavy cream (or almond milk, hemp milk, etc.) 1 oz. Strong-brewed Masala Chai 1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon  Throw all ingredients into a pint glass full of ice. Stir until the mix is well-chilled and strain into a chilled martini glass. Short and sweet, just like this week's...