Photos: Tea Infusers

Some of the tea infusers that can be found over at Dryad Tea!

These infusers were created with the idea of *not* losing the infuser into your tea cup when steeping loose leaf teas. Some are handmade lampwork that I have create myself, others are gorgeous gemstones that I've collected over the years.

Inspiration: Maid in Bedlam

Maid in Bedlam was a song that I had the pleasure of hearing when I visited Scarborough Renaissance Festival out in Texas. I fell instantly in love with it and brought it back to Pandora Celtica with hopes that they would love it just as much.

They did.

When I started into the idea of blending teas for the music that the band sings I felt like maybe this would be any easy blend. Honestly it wasn't. Floral flavor profiles tend to be incredibly light so I had to make sure that nothing overpowered anything else. I knew that I wanted to quote the song in the tea, 

"With straw I'll weave a garland, I'll weave it very fine

With roses, lilies, daisies I'll mix the eglantine

And I'll present it to my love when he returns from sea

I love my love because I know my love loves me"

I wanted the roses, daisies and lilies to be present in the blend. Even if that meant having a representation of them instead of the actual flowers.

This was the third blend I ever successfully created.

Photos: Tea!

Here are just a few photos of the loose leaf teas that we offer at Dryad Tea:

Maid in Bedlam

Awaken

Kelpie

Chryseis

Dischordia

Keeper

Inspiration: ShadowCat Tea

Ah ShadowCat... To say that this blend was interesting to make is rather an understatement.

It all started when we were playing one of our gigs at the Mercury Cafe, each of us came up with our own alcoholic drinks, and ShadowCat's was very much coffee and chocolate. Now, I'm as much a fan of coffee and chocolate as the next person, but I really felt that the Prince of Dreams and Thief of Sorrows deserved something... more for his tea.

I started with a chocolate base, because who doesn't like chocolate? And from there I tried many things. Nothing really stuck... Until the raspberry. A dessert tea! 

I find that though this is a dessert type tea, it really is something you can drink anytime!

So far most people prefer it with milk (or almond milk) and honey, finding that the flavors blend wonderfully.

Find it on Etsy!

(Photo thanks to Capture by Design Photography)

Inspiration: Chemical Worker's Tea

I suppose that this is sort of the tea that started it all.

When I was first dreaming up the idea of doing teas inspired by the songs that Pandora Celtica sings I had to find a few songs that strongly spoke of what they were and exactly what was going on in them. Chemical was the first.

Often called "Process Man" this song speaks of those that worked in chemical factories, not usually a very good subject, nor is it one that you might want to drink in tea.... but I was determined to make it something that people would enjoy drinking while listening to the song.

I wanted to make a tea that reminded the drinker of smokey skies, but also warm spices, things that a chemical worker would want to drink- the stronger the better.

Blending the black tea was probably the easiest part. I wanted smoke, but also pure and strong black tea. Then there was all of the spices. I can easily say that this is a blend that is more herbs and spices than it is tea leaves. Cardamom, cinnamon and ginger are the big three in this blend, likening it to chai in a way.

You can find this tea on Etsy.

Welcome!

Welcome to Dryad Tea's blog; Into the Teacup!

Here you will find posts about tea, about Dryad Tea's blends and what the inspirations were as well as shiny photos, pretty things and often posts about other etsy shops!

Here's a few links to get you started:

The Tea Shop (Dryad Tea)
The music that started this thing (Pandora Celtica)
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