Inspiration: Dischordia Tea

Dischordia tea was based on Dischoria of Pandora Celtica, a member of the Fall Court and Court Archivist for the Fae Courts in general. When teas began rolling around in my mind I asked Dischordia what she enjoys in a tea. The list was incredibly long but also incredibly helpful. 

She wanted green tea, rosemary too. She listed over a dozen ingredients that she was interested in me using. I did my best. What you see in today's blend is a mixture of her ideas and my own. Green tea, ginger, rosemary, peppermint...

This is a spectacular blend that tastes great both hot and cold!

Find it on etsy.

Photos: Tea Tins

These tins were incredibly limited edition, only for Kickstarter backers of the very first Drayd Tea Kickstarter. Only, I made a few extra.... So they're on Etsy!
These are the only tins with Dryad Tea stickers like these, and they will never be available like this again.

Inspiration: Nessa Tea

Nessa; the darling, amazing, petite Nixie of Pandora Celtica...  She was quite an adventure to blend tea for. I wanted something different, something with pizzazz that was also soothing and fun to drink. 

I had to take into account her love for life, her cheer and many other great qualities about her when coming up with this blend.

I ended up with a green and black tea blend, chock full of Vitamin C and antioxidants. Orange and jasmine are the two strongest notes in the blend but there's also rosehips, heather and other yummy things.

Find it on etsy.

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.

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.