Geek Steep S3E5 – The Music of Disney
Cold Brew!
So this is the tea that I paired with “Friend Like Me” from Aladdin.
Every song I picked was from a favourite Disney movie of mine, but this one was a bit of an extra gut punch because it’s sung by the late Robin Williams. If I’m being honest, this pairing was as much about pairing a tea to the memory of the actor as it was to the song itself.
A lot of celebrity deaths have impacted and shocked me, but Robin Williams was the first one that literally stopped me in my tracks. I still clearly remember the moment I found out he had passed and I can almost replay it in my head in slow motion. I was working at Dollarama and I was in the hardware and tools aisle restocking lightbulbs when it was announced on the radio. He was just such a constant in my childhood and the amount of joy and laughter he brought to so many… his death was crushing.
I put a lot of pressure on myself to do this pairing right, and to understand the thought process I think you have to understand the character that this tea is inspired by because it is a fandom blend inspired by the character Jester from Critical Role’s second campaign. Jester was very much the heart of the second campaign; she was notoriously goofy and kind of childish and she liked to pull pranks on people and just get into all kinds of whacky shenanigans, but she was also this emotional bedrock for her friends to turn to for support and reassurance. Under all of that, though, she was deeply insecure and depressed. Her pranks, her drive to make her friends laugh, and her deep empathy came from a lot of internalized sadness and avoidance of her own emotions. Sound familiar? Basically, I paired the character this tea is inspired by to Robin himself.
Here’s the thing, though. This tea is fun and kind of crazy and goofy. Like, it’s called “Fancypants Tea” because that was Jester’s joking persona she would take on to when pranking people or to improvise herself out of the bad situations her comedy would get her in. It’s packed full of different fruits and colourful ingredients. So, the tea itself is a pretty good pairing to the upbeat ruckus of this highly comedic and bombastic song.
Bonus points tea: The tea steeps blue, Jester was a blue tiefling, and the genie is blue.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx91ff77yzM
