Adagio Custom Blends, Sarah Prothero

Cold Brew Sipdown (2665)!

I’ve been really craving a Buffy rewatch. I want to finish Shameless (my current binge) first, but then I think I’m going to rewatch Buffy from start to finish.

IN the meantime I thought I’d break out one of my Buffy teas and this was top of the pile! A little less sweet/juicy than I remembered it being with more of a briskness and slight floral note from the black tea itself, but still plenty fruity! Mango really is the strongest of the fruit notes but I also taste tart hibiscus, lemongrass, and a bit of sweeter citrus finish. Very, very clean finish too.

I’m still not totally sure if I feel like this profile fits Anya as a character, but I don’t immediately have a better suggestion either. I guess something for me to think about when I do my rewatch.

…and the final tea I drank today!

This is also not strictly a Halloween blend, but I did watch all three of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Halloween episodes today so it was too perfect of an oppertunity to not enjoy one of these BTVS fandom blends. This is probably the “most Halloween like” in terms of both the name and the character it’s inspired by: Anya, the vengeance demon.

I steeped it up very strong, so in terms of flavour it was very sharp and tangy with a really concentrated sour fruit punch-like flavour. Tropical leaning mango, but with a lot of hibiscus layered in there too. I drank it while eating Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Berries so it felt like a really good pairing of similar flavours. Just, everything dialed up to an extreme level. I guess sort of like Anya herself? I mean, she notoriously doesn’t have a filter. Anyway, I enjoyed the cup! Sort of wished I’d been drinking it cold, but what can you do?

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CzE927Gulv0/?img_index=1 (10th Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVkBd-WMzZw

Okay, so in the strictest sense I didn’t pair this while drinking the tea because I was watching a TV show. However, I was listening to this while the tea was steeping. I think that kind of counts.

For those not familiar with Brian David Gilbert, he’s a fantastic internet creator who gained notoriety through his work on Polygon. Pretty much everything he creates is amazing, but a few years ago he created a bunch of Halloween themed parody music set to music by ABBA and The Bee Gees. It’s all amazing, and I recommend giving the full albums a listen to because they’re equal parts clever and fun. Perfect Halloween music!

This is my favourite song though – and the vampire inspo was too perfect as my “lead in music” to this BTVS mini binge.

Finishing up a mug of this one currently…

I don’t usually drink my Buffy fandom teas unless I’ve watching Buffy, as I try to keep them as a special treat for that – but I am currently listening to the “Once More With Feeling” soundtrack so that seemed close enough!

I’m have to go through, at another point in time, what my perfect “Anya Tea” would actually taste like – she’s one of my favourite late series characters, but I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about her tea blend. That’s maybe a weird sentence to say, but considering I’ve spent lots of time thinking about some of the other characters it does feel worth pointing out.

I’m not actually sure what this is supposed to taste like!? I saw a lot of different fruit pieces and black tea when I measured out my cup but the dry leaf didn’t really have a distinct aroma other than “kind of fruity” and the taste isn’t really any better – I don’t think I’d be able to describe it to someone as anything other than mildly fruity with tartness in the finish. Is it lemon? Hibiscus? Both? Something else!? I can’t quite put my finger on it.

I mean, I don’t dislike it – but a blend for someone as in your face and quirky as Anya should be a lot more distinct IMO. I’m gonna have to try it again, and also read the ingredients list/blender’s description. Maybe then I’ll be able to better place it…