Keats & Co

#mugtober

Today’s prompt is themed around World Teacher Day. At first I thought this would be hard to find a tea and mug for, but then I was just flooded with a ton of different ideas. The mug I chose is one with a really retro/80s sort of inspired geometric design that feels like it would be perfectly at home on the walls of an elementary school classroom.

For tea, I decided I wanted something from Keats & Co since the two Youtubers behind the brand (Hank and John Green) are also the creators responsible for Crash Course and a bunch of other educational content that is often used as teaching aids at all different educational levels. I probably could have picked any of their blends, but I liked Bright Star because the name reminded me of gold stars handed out when a student excels.

I had milk on hand this time, so today I’m drinking it with milk and to my surprise I think I actually liked it better without? It’s still a very delicious breakfast blend with that hallmark full bodied intensity and brisk, malty flavour. I’m just not getting the graham cracker notes that I picked up without the milk and I’m missing that just a tad.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6QV2KNO4gQ

This might be my favourite of the Keats & Co teas I picked up.

I really thought I’d over steeped it since I lost track of the minutes while it was brewing. I wouldn’t usually sweat that with a breakfast blend because you’re probably having it with milk and maybe sugar, but in this case I had neither available so I worried it might be too tannic/bitter. It was very brisk and full bodied, but not unpleasantly so. Instead it was SUPER malty with really fantastic undertones of cocoa and graham cracker with that sort of “crunchy autumn leaf” brassy note in the finish. I haven’t tasted that graham cracker note in so long, so it was a real treat!

I’m sipping on something a little different today with Keats & Co’s Golden Fire Ginger herbal tea, ‘cause when two of your favourite writers, YouTubers, and educational content creators put out their own line of tea you have to try it. Obviously. This particular tea is bright and zesty with really aromatic, fresh notes of lemongrass and lemon oil with a finish that is near equal parts pithy, earthy, and spicy thanks to a generous inclusion of fiery ginger and a hint of hot cayenne. For what essentially boils down to a slightly souped-up lemon ginger tea, it’s quite punchy and pleasant!!

If you missed the reference, this line of tea takes its name from the poet John Keats, who died of tuberculosis – one of the mostly deadly diseases worldwide. A disease that is entirely treatable but, because of lack of funding and human built systems, disproportionately affects some parts of the world more than others. You can find this tea and all the others under the Keats & Co brand at The Good Store, and like everything sold at The Good Store, 100% of the profits go towards charity. In this case, towards TB testing and treatment.

All the teas are blended by Lake Missoula Tea Co and, though they fall more into the “cupboard staples” kind of loose leaf tea category with really straight-forward and classic profiles, I’ve been really impressed with the quality of ingredients and balance of flavours. It’s also been really lovely seeing all of the Keats poetry/referenced weaved into the blend names and product copy. I know adding tea to The Good Store took a long time, and paraphrasing John & Hank was “very challenging,” but I think they did an excellent job!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_YnbGKOCFm/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbGdkM2ahPg

Cold Brew!

When two of your favourite, most wholesome Youtubers release their own line of tea that gives back 100% of the profits going towards funding to Tuberculosis testing and treatment… well, you buy the tea.

Honestly when Hank & John Green started selling coffee through what has now become The Good Store I was pretty sure that tea was an inevitability. A part of me was a little disappointed to see that the flavours they released were pretty baseline but it also makes an abundance of sense that they’re gonna stick with tried and true classics in the tea space to start. Their audience may not all be tea drinkers and even the people who are tea drinkers are certainly at different education/exploration levels. So, you go with the things that are safest/with the most mass appeal. Heck, I’m even surprised we ended up with loose leaf and not tea bags or sachets…

Anyway, this one is basically your standard Moroccan Mint – though I do love the naming twist that they gave it and I think this might be my favourite spin on all the Keats inspired copy writing/poetry that is a commonality between all of the blends.

I went with a cold brew because I just think Moroccan Mint is often more refreshing cold than it is hot, and I think it brings out less of the coarseness of the gunpowder green tea used in the traditional recipe. With that said, there was still a bit of a bite-y smoky undertone to this blend after the initial wave of sweet mint. There’s a mix of spearmint and peppermint in this blend and I do taste both, those the peppermint is certainly stronger.

Overall I think it makes for a very solid, classic tea that captures all the hallmarks of a Moroccan Mint. Not exciting, perhaps, but reliable – and supports a fantastic initiative.