Adventaggedon Day 24: Tea 3/8
Oof.
This tea was just like getting sucker punched in the gut two times in a row. I was so excited to see a smoked Lapsang Souchong for today. I even said to myself, out loud, as I opened the packaging “it’s a Christmas miracle”. However, then I opened the package and saw the glitter. That was punch one because it meant I was decidedly not brewing this in my Lapsang yixing pot.
Punch two was that, upon closer inspection, it didn’t appear to be smoked at all. No smoky smell no matter how close to the glitter bomb of a packet I got as I huffed away at the tea leaves. I decided to abandon my gongfu plans and steep this Western style instead while watching my all time favourite holiday movie: Olive The Other Reindeer! It was definitely not a ‘classic smoky’ Lapsang at all but drinking it with the movie made me feel a little better and it was still tasty.
I honestly think it’s just a double up of the unsmoked Lapsang that was already in the advent but with glitter. That was a nice tea though, so it was great tasting it again – I just wanted a smoked LS, y’know?
As an aside; I feel like I’ve been really harsh on this advent’s very liberal use of the glitter dust. I just want to say clearly that I’ve enjoyed this advent a lot overall and I understand that there definitely are people who would want all the glittery teas! Like, I follow a few people on IG who have been thrilled to see all the fun and gorgeous glitter blends – especially people who bought this advent as a way to sample/try straight and traditional blends they wouldn’t have otherwise. It makes teas (like a smoked Lapsang) that might otherwise have been intimidating feel a little more fun or accessible, y’know?
It’s like Mariage Freres with the blue teas or even DT with the stevia – it’s not gonna work for everyone but ultimately the companies do it because it does work for a lot of people. We can kind of get lost in our bubble here on Steepster or on IG and because we see people who share the same opinion as us over and over it’s easy to forget that for the most part we’re kind of all outliers.
The average tea drinker? Definitely not as exposed to the quantity of teas that we are or drinking that many teas daily. So the gimmicks like glitter and butterfly pea flower don’t feel so exhausting or over played.
I don’t know – it was just something I thought about today as I opened up the packet and groaned at the glitter. It’s not for me but it is for someone!
People who liked this
Comments
I spoke to her on Instagram and it sounds like it was a mistake and it was supposed to be a smoked Lapsang. But the glitter was intentional.
I would’ve been fine with just a few glittery teas, I just felt like the number was too high. Plus glitter on a straight tea is also a little odd to me ha ha. But the teas certainly all tasted lovely, and I suppose that’s the point!
My mom, who is not a tea-drinker, has been repetitively charmed by Mariage Freres use of blue pea flowers. Her continuous joy made it easier to swallow seeing it too often. So, I hear you. :)
I’d have felt the same way about getting a smoked Lapsang by mistake as you did about getting an unsmoked one! As for the inordinate amount of glitter, I guess none of their clients are in the habit of steeping their straight teas gongfu.
I’m all for glitter but maybe not in everything all the time. And probably also because I haven’t actually had a glitter tea yet. I keep debating about the Glitter Matcha but I’m just not that into flavored matchas. I’ve been thinking about just getting some Brew Glitter and adding it to my tea when I’m in a sparkly mood or want to wow someone with the glitter but not having to deal with it all the time. I’m a little worried it’ll end up like the shimmer ink in my fountain pens, though…lingering sparkle no matter how thoroughly I try to clean things afterward.
Excellent point about teas with added visual elements to entice a customer base who value such treats. It’s not what I would likely choose a tea (or coffee) for, but I’m far from typical in all too many ways. I’m getting a bit of a laugh at the idea of k-pods squirting out glitter. So it has actually brought even me some joy.
My personal preference for the glitter probably would have been three times: once at the beginning, sometime random in the middle, and then once at the end. For me, that feels like good cadence. But I appreciate what they were trying to do.
I did the Mariage Freres advent last year – there were quite a few blue teas but I think less than what was included in this year’s. I did also get sick of the gimmick after a while but I remember thinking that for a company as traditional and, let’s be honest, not necessarily ‘modern’ in their innovation that it was impressive they had actually branched out into exploring such a trendy ingredient even if it was gimmicky. I think, because Mariage Freres is such a ‘legacy brand’ and positions themselves as such a high end boutique that they sometimes actually have struggles acquiring a younger or less, err, ‘affluent’ audience – so the branching out into more visually appealing ‘blue’ teas actually felt sort of smart for them from the angle of wanting to stay on top of tea trends resonating more with younger tea consumers.
Anyway, just saying that ultimately I understand the angle/perspective from the other side even if it got old for me personally.
I appreciate the reminder that we ARE outliers, and I am thankful for my steepster community!
Yes, I love our community here so much! :)
I spoke to her on Instagram and it sounds like it was a mistake and it was supposed to be a smoked Lapsang. But the glitter was intentional.
I would’ve been fine with just a few glittery teas, I just felt like the number was too high. Plus glitter on a straight tea is also a little odd to me ha ha. But the teas certainly all tasted lovely, and I suppose that’s the point!
My mom, who is not a tea-drinker, has been repetitively charmed by Mariage Freres use of blue pea flowers. Her continuous joy made it easier to swallow seeing it too often. So, I hear you. :)
I’d have felt the same way about getting a smoked Lapsang by mistake as you did about getting an unsmoked one! As for the inordinate amount of glitter, I guess none of their clients are in the habit of steeping their straight teas gongfu.
I’m all for glitter but maybe not in everything all the time. And probably also because I haven’t actually had a glitter tea yet. I keep debating about the Glitter Matcha but I’m just not that into flavored matchas. I’ve been thinking about just getting some Brew Glitter and adding it to my tea when I’m in a sparkly mood or want to wow someone with the glitter but not having to deal with it all the time. I’m a little worried it’ll end up like the shimmer ink in my fountain pens, though…lingering sparkle no matter how thoroughly I try to clean things afterward.
Excellent point about teas with added visual elements to entice a customer base who value such treats. It’s not what I would likely choose a tea (or coffee) for, but I’m far from typical in all too many ways. I’m getting a bit of a laugh at the idea of k-pods squirting out glitter. So it has actually brought even me some joy.
My personal preference for the glitter probably would have been three times: once at the beginning, sometime random in the middle, and then once at the end. For me, that feels like good cadence. But I appreciate what they were trying to do.
I did the Mariage Freres advent last year – there were quite a few blue teas but I think less than what was included in this year’s. I did also get sick of the gimmick after a while but I remember thinking that for a company as traditional and, let’s be honest, not necessarily ‘modern’ in their innovation that it was impressive they had actually branched out into exploring such a trendy ingredient even if it was gimmicky. I think, because Mariage Freres is such a ‘legacy brand’ and positions themselves as such a high end boutique that they sometimes actually have struggles acquiring a younger or less, err, ‘affluent’ audience – so the branching out into more visually appealing ‘blue’ teas actually felt sort of smart for them from the angle of wanting to stay on top of tea trends resonating more with younger tea consumers.
Anyway, just saying that ultimately I understand the angle/perspective from the other side even if it got old for me personally.
I appreciate the reminder that we ARE outliers, and I am thankful for my steepster community!
Yes, I love our community here so much! :)