Tea swaps are a thing of beauty. They really and truly are. Switching out your unwanted teas for hard-to-find favorites or samples of new blends…what’s not to love? And sometimes if you are lucky, tea swaps can lead to making tea friends. You know…the people who you meet up with to exchange teas and talk about your lives. Now, if you are REALLY lucky, you might even find a tea twin. For me that person is the wonderful Roswell Strange, a former Sororitea Sister. Her and I started our tea journey at the same time and quickly learned we liked the same flavors. We began to swap teas constantly since we knew the other would love everything we sent (or at least appreciate the opportunity to try it). Swaps grew to gifts and now, even as our tastes have grown apart, we have maintained our tea twin love and continue to share our tea stashes.
More than just tea, we have realized we share other interests as well and as Roswell Strange decided to make her tea drinking an experience by adding song pairings, she graciously gave me the opportunity to partake as well. My awesome tea twin took the time to not only pack up a bunch of tea samples but she provided me a song pairing for each, creating a mix tape of sorts. Now for those wondering what I mean by this, Roswell Strange picks a song that she thinks matches the tea in some way, thus making for a heightened and more focused tea drinking experience as you combine your tea sipping with a complimentary song.
For this particular blend, she picked the song Electric Feel by MGMT. Now, while most other songs she picked were new to me, this is an old favorite of mine (it might even be my ringtone). Knowing the song, I definitely expected some whimsy from this tea and the dry scent with its creamy citrus and light vanilla showed promise. So I got my song ready to go and my tea brewed up and began.
The first thing I noticed was the smoothness of the tea. With strong flavors like grapefruit, mint, and vanilla, it seemed like there should be more of a disconnect but everything blends into one harmonious taste. This to me reflects the song since there is also a lot of different components that come together to make up one awesome whole. Yet, if you focus, you can detect each distinct flavor hiding in the mix or lingering in the aftertaste. The slight tang of the grapefruit starts the sip, and just like the intro of the song amps you up for whats coming. The vanilla slides in and levels everything off, just like the vocals of the music coming in and taking over the music. Well the mint lingers underneath it all, like the base note, adding depth and keeping the beat going under the vocals. And even though this tea should be harsher, it is calming, which is what has always been my thoughts on this particular song. I mean just listen to the lyrics about being “shocked like an electric eel” and yet the melody is almost poetic in how relaxing it can be. In my mind, like the song, this is not something that should work but it does. It definitely does!
Thank you tea twin!! And for those who don’t know the song, check it out here.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Flavored Rooibos/Honeybush Blend
Where to Buy: August Uncommon
Description
A dazzling synesthetic experience where sound is like temperature and color has flavor. Warm and cool sensations move in textured rhythms. The myriad of tastes and scents wind and twist like shifting colors of an opal. With each sip there is a distinct, dreamy dominant note. One moment, it’s pale yellow vanilla, then another, electric pink grapefruit. Yet another time it’s bluish green mint, then brick-red earthy rooibos. Beauty is not always linear.
Ingredients: south african green rooibos, south african honeybush, grapefruit peel, peppermint, flavoring
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
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