Campfires & Vampires

Campfires and Vampires feels like it should be much nicer than it is… Definitely one for cold brewing, because cold brewing allows more of the spice and rose to come out as opposed to the slightly unpleasant green tea. I love green tea, but this one is not a good one. This has been in my cupboard for months so it may be out of date, but the cups I’ve had definitely haven’t been as tasty as I expect from Bird and Blend blends.

Happy National Unicorn Day! Today one simply has to drink a tea that is “magical” to them, and this can be interpreted in many creative ways. I’ve opted to drink teas with “magical” creatures in the title! (Also taking this as my Ode to Tea C entry!)

This sampler was kindly gifted to me from Cameron, so thank you! The dry leaf is very strongly rose-scented, so I can see already how this would not be a tea for those that don’t like rose/florals.

Steeped up, I’m still just getting rose on the nose, and none of the spices. Maybe a subtle hint of something cinnamony if I really focus? On the tongue, it’s the same. I’m tasting a strong rose, but spices are just not as evident; they do peek out a bit at the end of the sip, where I’m getting a bit of a warming cinnamon. I really don’t taste the clove at all…

I think there needs to be better balance here. I’m really just tasting a rose tea with a slightest hint of spice, when I feel the novelty of a blend like this should be a dominantly spiced rose tea. Otherwise, I have other (and frankly better) options for a plain rose-flavored tea (like T2’s White Rose, which I’ve had a lot recently due to sipdown efforts, so it’s a flavor I’m well aquainted with at the moment). The rose flavoring used in this just isn’t sitting with me as well as others I’ve had… I daresay I understand now when people describe a floral I enjoy as “soapy.”

I sipped this down cold-steeping the remaining leaf in oat milk, which I then used to make some Strawberry Lemon Rose Matcha Smoothies for breakfast, which turned out fantastic.

Thank you so much for the chance to try it, Cameron!

This tea is all nose and no mouth. Loads of rose perfume. And the base green tea sucks. The aftertaste is a little lemony but mostly like walking past some obnoxiously perfumed wannabe high-brow and getting some of their scent in your mouth. I get where Bird & Blend was going with the idea. If this blend were re-imagined, I bet I’d enjoy it given I like green tea, rose and clove and love cinnamon and red peppercorn but the balance is all sorts of off.

Thanks Martin for sharing. It’s not so bad for me that it won’t get finished but it might take a minute ;P

Okay, let’s get this over with…

I’m trying this more out of a feeling of obligation than any desire to drink it. I would feel weird not trying a tea at all and just putting it in my swap pile. So here we are. I am fully aware that I will likely hate this, I do not like rose and the dry tea smells overwhelmingly of it…

Yeah no, I hate this. It has a very strong rose flavor that reminds me of perfume, and a bit of a powdery quality. I do get a bit of clove at the end of the sip, which is pleasant enough I suppose.

No, just no.

Decided to watch Interview with the Vampire and sip on a mug of this fitting tea. Still loving this blend.

While I read in newsletter that last year’s sell out fan returns I was quite hyped. But unfortunately, it is bit of dismal.

I sniffed the new pouch, as it is from OCTOBER 2020 subscription and it was quite nice, but not what I have been expecting. It wasn’t much autumnal at all, rather summery and rose was prevailing. Then some hints of cloves and cinnamon, but overall it was rather soapy.

While brewed, and I haven’t used boiling water, it was about 5 minutes after boiling; it was again some green-rose tea like. On the sips, there some spicy notes appear, but very wanly.

Overall, quite sad. I don’t see reason drinking this in the autumn, as it was rather summer blend. The name sounds great, but it didn’t deliver any of expectations I had.

Geek Steep S1E1 – Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Aaaaahhh! After months of preperation and recording, the podcast that I’m doing with my friend Marika officially launched on Thursday! It’s been many hours of love and labour, and is most definitely still an on going project. Basically, our podcast focuses on the exploration of both new and familiar fandoms through conversation shared over tea and pairings while “doing the geek” each week!

I made a discussion board topic with our mission statement/thesis, background on the podcast, an “about the geek” for each of us (though I think most of you know me pretty well) as well as little blog style snippets from Marika for the two episodes that have already aired on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts! We upload an episode every Thursday, and each week focuses on new fandoms and tea!

Here’s the DB topic:
https://steepster.com/discuss/42133-geek-steep-a-new-tea-and-fandom-podcast

Our first episode looked at Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and this was the tea that I chose to drink during the recording of the podcast! Like I explained then, if we have picked episodes that fit the “typical” style of Buffy and weren’t such unique film styles/topics this is likely what I would have chosen to pair with my rewatch. It’s fun, campy and on the nose with the inspiration and that feels really appropriate for this fandom and its episode/narrative style!

In general, this isn’t my favourite tea – but I think I would have enjoyed the thick floral rose and sweet cinnamon notes a little bit more when married with a fandom that I love so dearly! We actually didn’t say it on the podcast, but I have TWO Buffy tattoos!

For our first episode – I think this was pretty perfect!

Our Website: https://www.geeksteep.com/
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geeksteep/

Listen to us on Buzzsprout:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286036/podcast/website