Death's Flower

Drank this tea while watching the Critical Role Mighty Nein reunion one-shot on twitch today. I hadn’t tried this blend before, but as it’s inspired by one of the characters from this campaign it seemed like as good a time as any to brew it up. In hindsight, given the episode content, maybe it would have been more timely to finally try the Caleb inspired blend that I have from Friday Tea instead…

I love all the ingredients in this blend from a conceptual perspective – I can totally see how they all relate to the character of Caduceus even though I have a personal opinion/headcanon that a tea blend inspired by Cad should probably be only herbal teas/caffeine free. Now, from a taste perspective I thought this was… eh.

The shou pu’erh base is okay. It’s very earthy in an oilier sort of way with a bit of funk to it that feels like it needs to air out. Not the highest quality, but not bad quality either. The thing is, the only other ingredients in the blend are hibiscus and grapefruit peel and neither really help to balance out or mask those flavours. They are a pleasant enough tart berry/citrus-ish note but mostly they contribute astringency and acrid bitterness. Not to a point where the drink is unpalatable, but it’s very much (to my tastes) not balanced…

What the blend needs is sweetness to help round out those rough edges. Whether that’s in the form of flavoring or something more nuetral but still natural – like apple pieces or maybe sweet blackberry leaf? Or, y’know, just having the end user add sweetener. Next time I make this for myself that’s probably what I’ll do. Honey (even though Cad is vegan and wouldn’t approve) or, like, cane sugar or agave.