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Geek Steep S1E2 – Homestuck

So, the format of our podcast is a rotation of four episodes starting with something we’re both fans of, then something I know and Marika doesn’t, the reverse of that, and then something that’s new for us both. That means this week’s episode was a fandom that I selected to introduce Marika to! And what a fandom!

Homestuck is this massive, beast of a webcomic – it’s the fifth longest piece of English language literature in the world (and still ongoing, technically) and rings in at a whopping 1.4 million words – not counting the words on the visual panels that accompany the text that makes up each page. It’s also super complicated, with all sorts of weird time shenanigans, a dozen different themes, and several hundred characters.

This is the tea that I chose to drink while recording the episode – and I had it cold brewed. Unlike the week prior, I didn’t put a great deal of thought into this choice; I just knew it was stupid hot (we record in my apartment, and turn off the AC while recording to cut off the ambient noise, so it gets up to about 30c while recording) and I already had this cold brew in the fridge and ready to go! Sometimes your tea pairing is simply a pairing of necessity! I enjoyed this one though – I got more strawberry from it this time around, but it was still really grenadine like in terms of flavour!

The tea I chose to drink during my reread was Bitterleaf’s “8 Ball” Banpen Raw Puer. I’ve started holding back reviews for the teas from podcast episodes and am going to keep doing so – because no spoilers! However this was actually the first tea/rewatch that I did when we started planning out the podcast/deciding on episodes so I actually have already posted that tea review on Steepster and IG:

https://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/405997#likes
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDZe24DgGQx/

I did allude to why I chose 8 Ball in my tasting note, but if you want more of an explanation and my thoughts on whether or not that pairing worked with the Geek of The Week then you need to listen to the episode!

Our Website: https://www.geeksteep.com/
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geeksteep/

Listen to us on Buzzsprout:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286036/podcast/website

DB topic:
https://steepster.com/discuss/42133-geek-steep-a-new-tea-and-fandom-podcast

There’s also a Sneak Peek for next week’s episode on the Discussion Board :)

Geek Steep S1E1 – Buffy The Vampire Slayer

So, this was the tea that I chose to drink while doing the rewatch of our chosen episodes for this week’s fandom! We ended up doing Hush (from S4) and The Body (from S5). I was really happy with the tea I picked, but that wasn’t surprising given that I had a strong familiarity with this week’s fandom and knew exactly what to expect from our episodes.

I don’t want to give everything away, so if you’re really curious why this is the tea that I landed on for the Geek of The Week then you’ll need to listen to the episode! Also, if you’re a Buffy fan then let me know what tea you would have picked! Marika and I ended up picking VERY different teas, so I’m really curious the direction that other people would have gone, too!

Our Website: https://www.geeksteep.com/
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geeksteep/

My Geek Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CFR6gGNAKOd/

Listen to us on Buzzsprout:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286036/podcast/website

DB topic:
https://steepster.com/discuss/42133-geek-steep-a-new-tea-and-fandom-podcast

Geek Steep S1E1 – Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Aaaaahhh! After months of preperation and recording, the podcast that I’m doing with my friend Marika officially launched on Thursday! It’s been many hours of love and labour, and is most definitely still an on going project. Basically, our podcast focuses on the exploration of both new and familiar fandoms through conversation shared over tea and pairings while “doing the geek” each week!

I made a discussion board topic with our mission statement/thesis, background on the podcast, an “about the geek” for each of us (though I think most of you know me pretty well) as well as little blog style snippets from Marika for the two episodes that have already aired on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts! We upload an episode every Thursday, and each week focuses on new fandoms and tea!

Here’s the DB topic:
https://steepster.com/discuss/42133-geek-steep-a-new-tea-and-fandom-podcast

Our first episode looked at Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and this was the tea that I chose to drink during the recording of the podcast! Like I explained then, if we have picked episodes that fit the “typical” style of Buffy and weren’t such unique film styles/topics this is likely what I would have chosen to pair with my rewatch. It’s fun, campy and on the nose with the inspiration and that feels really appropriate for this fandom and its episode/narrative style!

In general, this isn’t my favourite tea – but I think I would have enjoyed the thick floral rose and sweet cinnamon notes a little bit more when married with a fandom that I love so dearly! We actually didn’t say it on the podcast, but I have TWO Buffy tattoos!

For our first episode – I think this was pretty perfect!

Our Website: https://www.geeksteep.com/
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geeksteep/

Listen to us on Buzzsprout:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286036/podcast/website

This is the last of the three Hard Kombucha/Kombucha Beer flavours that I picked up. It’s my favourite, but that’s not saying much since none of these are really something I would want to buy again. It’s got a gnarly acidity/sourness to it – different from the vinegar kind of taste kombucha has, and more just like a hearty punch of malic acid. It’s not as bad at the Hibiscus flavour, though. It also tastes the most like beer of any of the three I’ve tried, which does track given that it’s called “Hop”. I’m gonna finish it, but I’m not loving it…

Obligatory mug of pumpkin tea consumed during Autumn. Seriously though, for a spiced pumpkin I think this is really enjoyable. It’s just that I really only ever think to drink it during the fall. I think what I like most about it is that as it begins to cool in your mug it almost has this type of pudding-ish sweetness to it in the body of the sip, nestled between all of the spice notes.

So, I’ve had this blend in the past and evidently (going by my rating of 38) I did NOT like it. I tried to find my old reviews, but gave up sorting through all eleven pages of reviews – this is where some type of search function for rating would be a really beneficial feature…

I decided to try this one again though because it’s been years since I last had it and what I did have was blended by Frank – so I thought that my tastes have probably changed a lot, but also Anne’s approach to blending might be quite different than his recipe. I can’t remember if she stuck very similar to his OG recipe.

Whatever the case may be, I found myself really enjoying this cup! I actually had Maltesers pretty recently, and while drinking this tea I found myself impressed with how well that malted milk chocolate flavour was coming across! Yes, the mate tea base is pretty distinct but the chocolate/malt combo and creaminess is PERFECT as an offset to it! I don’t often love chocolate teas, but I loved this one. Maybe part of that is also that I just understand how to better steep yerba mate now? Or that the taste of it is less offensive to me in general?

Doesn’t matter – the tea was good, so I’ll take it! Bumping my rating to reflect my thoughts on the current Anne formulation of this tea vs Frank’s version.

Unrelated to this tea, but still loosely tea related…

I got promoted! Yes, again. Though – I don’t know if everyone saw my last note about getting promoted, since it was in a tasting note that I posted during the massive Steepster Freeze a few months ago…

Anyway, my new title is “Research and Development Lead – Tea”.

My previous title was “Tea Specialist”. A lot of people have asked me what that means in terms of what I’m doing for work, and my answer to that is that I’m still figuring that out. While I’ve been working in R&D since starting at the head office about two years ago, I’ve also had roles in the Quality Control department, helping with hard goods testing, and in Social Media, & most recently (over the last few months) I’ve had my hands in even more cookie jars, taking on various roles in Quality Assurance/Regulatory, Marketing, and Copy Writing in addition to what I was already doing. Some of those things I’ve enjoyed being a part of much more than others. We’ll just say I’m very well rounded across many departments…

I’m excited to hopefully be passing off some of those roles to new people though, and to take on more direct work with R&D – that’s obviously where my interest lies the most! Anything to get me more hands on with tea make me a pretty darn happy tea drinker!

#matchamonday

Had this one yesterday with a hearty splash of heavy cream! I honestly have such a weakness for pear teas, so a pear matcha in any form is a dream come true for me!! Love this one with milk, the rooibos adds a great sweet nuttiness that plays into the “tarte” element!! It was very decadent, and fit perfectly with this weird Summer/Fall transitional zone that we’re kind of in right now…

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CFZ9wv7Aus_/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7Pu4fG8nF0&ab_channel=DavidDeanBurkhart

Steeped this one up after work today!

I was doing some household chore-type stuff, like dishes, while getting the kettle going and I didn’t hear the kettle get up to temp. I felt the side of the kettle and it seemed hot enough so I poured the water instead of reboiling. I think it had cooled just a smidge too much because, while this was good, it was definitely on the light side of the flavour spectrum. Very delicate/milk cherry and florals. I added stirred in a pinch of lemon flavoured honey, and I very much enjoyed the mix of cherry blossom and lemon.

Gonna try to hold on to that mental note about those two flavours going well together…

Cold Brew Sipdown (1103)!

I cold brewed this one for over twenty four hours to get it super intense/strong, and then after that I strained it and mixed it 50/50 with some lemonade to make a “Strawberry Fields Lemonade” cold brew and that worked really well. I could very clearly and distinctly taste both the tart and refreshing lemonade but also the very sticky sweet candied strawberry/strawberry soda type flavours from the tisane.

This was one of the teas I had for a #SeptemberSipdown prompt about having caffeine free teas, and I picked it because it was a sipdown but now I’m thinking that if it’s something that Arthur carries year round that it’s the type of strawberry profile I might like to have a larger amount of…

Raising my rating slightly from the 79 I had first ranked this at.

Gongfu!

Dipped into my 2020 Astro Red cake for an evening tea session in the field behind my apartment over the weekend; fresh air and good tea is probably as good a way to close out a Sunday as it gets!! I couldn’t resist this unique black tea pressing from W2T; and so far it seems right up my alley!! Complex infusions with bitter and sweet dark cacao notes at the forefront with an interesting umami and spice note in the body (cumin!? Caraway!?) and undertones of smoke and sandalwood. I kept my leaf to water ratio reserved, and am happy I did because this was delicious but I could easily see it becoming a bit more of a beast with a heavy ratio…

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CFYGzC1A49f/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfTE1lnuxY4&ab_channel=backtoyours-Topic