Accio Felix Felicis! Test-Teas (delayed) Thursday!
7
Tea and books. It’s a pair that goes together like cinnamon and apple, bravery and adventures. If you haven’t read the Harry Potter series, you’re missing out on quite literally, a magical world full of love, friendship, sadness and lessons that will follow you through life. You immerse yourself in a fantasy world of creatures and spells and most importantly, tea. From drinking it, spilling it, and reading it, tea is a conversation piece.
@cythwulf and I are both massive Harry Potter fans. Back in 2009, when I was in Oxford, I got to visit Christ Church where the food hall was filmed and the Bodleian Library which was the infirmary. It was an amazing experience seeing the arcitecture and being where the movies were filmed.
I’m partially biased about this company, Friday Afternoon. I found them simply because I wanted to find more Seattle based tea companies. (Born and raised.) So what do you know? This place pops up in my searches. I browsed their site and fell head over heels for this place. Friday Afternoon Tea is a secret we’ve been holding onto for a few weeks now. We caved and brewed some liquid luck yesterday. I highly recommend reading up on how the tea is created. It’s an incredibly fascinating take on tea and I can’t wait to try all of the ones we received.
With themed teas from Firefly, Harry Potter and yes, even Game of Thrones—this shop has to be one of the most nerd-friendly tea venues I’ve come across so far. It’s also very hard not to order everything and just live off of tea and ramen for weeks.
From Friday Afternoon: Liquid Luck
With this spiced peach herbal blend, lady luck will always be with you. Warming cinnamon and orchard fruits make for a juicy treat that will have you feeling stronger, sharper, and ready to take on the Quidditch world.
Ingredients: Peach, apple, orange, cinnamon, chamomile, blue cornflower.
Tea History You didn’t ask for
Chamomile comes from the Greek word meaning “ground apple” since the flavor slightly resembles apples. It dates back to ancient Egypt where it was prescribed as a cold remedy. Romans apparently enjoyed this as both a beverage and an incense (don’t blame them, this smells amazing.)
If brewed right, you won’t get the grimm.
In the words of Ron: “Er’ shall I make a cup of tea?”
This tea was delicate. The smell is phenomenal, especially if you’re a sucker for pie. It’s very light in flavor, and kind of hits you after you take a sip. I know a few folks here prefer the stronger more robust flavors, but I think you’ll find that we might be the worst tea reviewers because everything is just so damn delicious.
My suggestion: Treat yourself.
Lose yourself in the books.
Binge watch the movies.
You are never too old or too young to start an adventure. Maybe this tea can guide you to a new, curious world.
@Cythwulf who nearly ALWAYS rolls low dice in tabletop games, successfully rolled dice all evening. We’re not saying it’s the liquid luck, but what else can it be for a notorious bad roller.
The From the Crowd is going to be in the comments because I rambled on and on about how great Harry Potter is.
We have a few other teas from Friday Afternoon. We’re absolutely beside ourselves with this brand and we can’t wait to show you more. For now, stay magical and tell us what you’re drinking this weekend, are you reading any books to go with it?
To catch up, the last review can be found here.
- 5 comments, 11 replies
- Comment
Interesting tea. I’m not a fan of peach though. Did that flavor come through? I am however a huge HP fan!
@cinoclav Nothing came through. It was just plain water. The only thing you could taste was the cup you were drinking from. (fight me @cythwulf) Smelled great though!
Smell: 10/10
Taste: water
Look: water, but vaguely dirty
@Cythwulf @halfling Awesome. I’m going to heat up some dirty water and imagine I’m hanging with you all.
POPSOCKETS! SPA KITS! POLLY POCKETS! AWESOME!
Love that dirty water!
@cinoclav I tasted more apple/cinnamon than anything, mainly because of the chamomile.
This tea was cup flavored.
This is the La Croix of tea.
@nommynoms
Ooh, a Seattle tea company! I’ll be there for a week at the end of September. What do you recommend folks do there that’s a bit “off the beaten path”?
@Kawa It’s been a minute since I’ve been back, but my go to favorite places were always Pike Place Market, there’s a small shop there that sells pork buns and pineapple bread. If you want something away from everyone else and don’t mind a walk, the Hoh Rainforest is absolutely gorgeous. Snoqualmie Falls is another must, you can walk down and get in the water if you want. Alki beach has a fish and chip shop called spuds, it’s history and kind of cool to sit and eat your fish and chips on the beach front. There’s fantastic pizza in Georgetown, not far from Seattle, it’s called Stellar Pizza, Ale, & Cocktails
–kind of a hippie-esque joint but it’s some of the best pizza in the state. Machine House Brewery was a favorite when I visited last, they had killer food at the time and amazing beer. Definitely bring a camera though, there’s a lot to take in, the scenery is remarkable.
I think I enjoyed this tea more than the rest. It had a very mild cinnamon flavor that grew in the after taste. I have a special place in my heart for Harry Potter. I was lucky enough to be the daughter of an advertising executive who worked on the scholastic account. That meant that I was one of the extremely lucky ones who got the book the day it came out every time. I’ll never forget the excitement of knowing the next book was only a day away. One summer, it came out while I was at tennis camp and I sat on the sidelines for days taking in as many pages as I could during the breaks. I love when a smell, a taste, a moment…helps bring you back to a memory tucked deep away somewhere in your soul. This tea did that for me. Thanks Friday Afternoon!
Far be it from me to be the Snape in the room, but it has fallen to me to bring you the “From the Crowd.” We had a rather small sample size this time. Only 5 samplers besides @riskybryzness and myself.
Taste
This was the first tea to receive a 0/10 score that I’m aware of.
Overall: 4.6
Writer’s Note: I feel strongly at this point that it deserves mentioning, our group consisted heavily of people who smoked (and admitted their sense of taste and smell were affected) and people who preferred stronger, darker teas. This scored high with people that enjoyed white and even green teas, but lower with people who preferred black tea.
Looks
Overall: 6
Smell
Overall: 9.6
Misc comments: