By Golly, Ollie!

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Tag: pu’erh tea

Posts featuring pu’erh tea, a fermented tea

Teas to Sip While Reading Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne by David Gaider
I am obsessed with the Dragon Age video game series. Like, replay-the-video-games-every-year obsessed. Like, check-for-Dreadwolf-updates-every-other-month-even-though-I-know-there-are-no-new-updates obsessed. Like, would-buy-all-the-Dragon-Age-collectibles-if-I-did’t-have-to-be-responsible-with-money obsessed.

Dragon Age is a fantasy role-playing video game series that takes place on the continent of Thedas. The video games focus on the events that take place during the 100 years of the Dragon Age:
- from the story of the Grey Wardens, who defeated the horde of twisted Dark Spawn during the Fifth Blight
- to the growing unrest between the mages of the Free Marches city-state and their militant handlers, the Templars
- to the re-creation of the Inquisition, an independent political and military organization trying to restore order to Thedas following an explosion at the Divine Conclave that resulted in the death of the leader of the Orleasian Chantry (their church, if you will) and a tear in the veil that allows demons to escape from the Fade (a magical realm) into the world (phew!). And, they must do this while navigating a world torn apart by the Mage-Templar War and an Orlesian Civil War.
Beyond the current video games, there are books, comics, flash games, tabletop RPGs, web series, a movie, and a Netflix animation. The world is immersive. And, rumor has it, there is to be a full reveal of Dreadwolf in 2024. (But, who knows. I feel like Bioware has been teasing us about DA4 since 2018).

I’ve never anticipated the release of a game this much, so I had the brilliant idea to read and play through as many of the 34 Dragon Age installments I can get my hands on in chronological order for my “canon playthrough”. (Okay, as I admit this to the world, my plan sounds more bonkers than brilliant, but I think other passionate fans of the series would understand.)

The Book

And so it begins with Dragon Age: the Stolen Throne by David Gaider. The events in this novel take place 30 years before the 1st video game, Dragon Age: Origins. In fact, it takes place before the actual “Dragon” Age. The novel opens with the country of Ferelden under occupation by the neighboring Orlesian Empire. The Rebel Queen of Ferelden, who has been fighting against Orlais, is murdered by traitorous, Fereldan nobles, but her son, Prince Maric survives.

Fleeing from his mother’s assassins, Prince Maric runs into a band of outlaws led by Loghain (who Dragon Age fans will recognize as the antagonist from Dragon Age: Origins). The two reluctantly team up, reunite with the Rebel Army, and fight to expel the usurper Orlesian King of Ferelden. Of course, no Dragon Age story would be complete without the threat of villainous mages, a foreboding visit from the Witch of the Wilds, morally ambiguous Chantry leaders, and passionate romances between companions in between brutal battles for the future of Ferelden.

I give it a solid…TWO STARS.

The Stolen Throne was both too short for the story Gaider wanted to tell and too long for the story that was delivered. The author stuffed several years of story into 400 pages, so naturally, some elements of good storytelling were sacrificed. Gaider spared readers several years of redundant battles by summarizing a year of war into a few paragraphs. But, this also meant that crucial character development and relationship building were glossed over, and arguably, the characters, the interpersonal drama, and the dialogue between them is what makes the Dragon Age series so special.

In the end, I would only recommend this book to folks who really embrace the fandom. I’m not sure there is enough here to keep even a casual player enticed. And forget it if you’ve never played a game before. So much of the world-building was lacking, so without prior knowledge of the world of Thedas, the Stolen Throne reads a bit like a generic sword and shield fantasy novel.

The Teas

Your Favorite Shou Pu’erh

The Fereldans are a puzzle. As a people, they are one bad day away from reverting to barbarism. They repelled invasions from Tevinter during the height of the Imperium with nothing but dogs and their own obstinate disposition. They are the coarse, wilful, dirty, disorganized people who somehow gave rise to our prophet, ushered in an era of enlightenment, and toppled the greatest empire in our history.
– Empress Celine I of Orlais, in a letter to her newly appointed ambassador to Denerim

The Dragon Age continent of Thedas is an amalgamation of cultures and civilizations in Eurasia spanning from the Early Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period. Ferelden, the setting for the Stolen Throne, seems to resemble the period following the Anglo-Saxon conquest of England– not quite “barbaric” but not yet as opulent as Orlais or Tevinter. Not opulent at all, actually. It’s rural and dirty and always on the verge of battle against darkspawn or neighboring Orlais, and really I just imagine most people smell of wet mabari (a breed of war dog revered by Fereldans).

And so, for my first tea, I suggest your favorite shou pu’erh. For the uninitiated, shou pu’erh is a fermented tea that, to me, is akin to licking a wet forest floor in the middle of Autumn, but in a good way. (Usually. I had a shou that tasted like how the animal pens at the county farm smelled, and that ended up down the drain. But, honestly, that sounds perfect for Ferelden, too). I sipped Pu-erh #1 from Friday Afternoon Tea, which is an undaunting introduction to pu’erh. It offers aromas of earth, wet wood, and dry leaves. (It appears this tea is no longer available, but check out more aged teas from Friday Afternoon here.)

Soldier’s Blend from Friday Afternoon Tea

Loghain glanced uncomfortably at the knights who had been assigned to his command, once again wondering just how he had allowed himself to end up here. Thirty mounted men in heavy plate armor, each with more combat experience in the last year than he had in his life, and he was supposed to lead them?
the Stolen Throne by David Gaider

Picked simply for its name, the Soldier’s Blend from Friday Afternoon Tea is a blend of black tea, chicory root, cacao nib, and natural vanilla flavor. It’s reminiscent of a dark chocolate bar with a pop of tangy acid. I prefer to sip this one sweetened to draw out the creamy vanilla notes and to tame the dark chocolate flavor (I’m a milk chocolate girlie).

Shield Maiden from Friday Afternoon Tea

The knight sheathed his sword. Reaching up to his helmet, he pulled it off, and Loghain realized the man’s voice had sounded strange because it wasn’t a man at all. Masses of thick brown curls were plastered against the woman’s sweaty pale skin, yet Loghain found it didn’t mar her striking appearance. She had high cheekbones and a strong chin that a sculptor would have ached for, yet carried herself with a confidence that told him the armor was no affectation. She was as much a soldier as the men she led, and while it was not unheard of in Ferelden for a woman to be skilled in the art of war, it was uncommon enough to be surprising.
the Stolen Throne by David Gaider

Rowan is easily my favorite character. She is betrothed to Prince Maric and will someday be Queen of Ferelden. But, in the meantime, she charges headfirst into battle alongside her army to win back the throne stolen by Orlais. Her story is part honor, duty, and total badassery, but it is also part unrequited love, which wrecks me every single time. She should have been the main character.

Rowan kind of reminds me of Eowyn from the Lord of the Rings, so to honor Rowan, I’ve selected Shield Maiden from Friday Afternoon Tea, which is a blend of elderflower, pink peppercorn, roasted dandelion root, ginkgo biloba, cacao nib, and shavegrass. This golden-like-the-sun brew has a thick, luscious mouthfeel and it offers aromas of dried grass and dried wildflowers. There is also a soft heat from the pink peppercorns.

Your Favorite Rose-Infused Blend

Delicate to the nose, comfort to the tongue, and, strangely, a half-remembered whisper to the ears. It is described as—and inspires—a wistful spirit. A vintner’s opus.
Dragon Age codex entry on the tasting notes for Vint-9 Rowan’s Rose

No Dragon Age story is complete without romance. (Except for Dragon Age 2. My headcanon Hawke only has eyes for Varric, who is not one of the game’s love interests :( and yes I am still bitter about this.) In The Stolen Throne, we get a double-whammy of unrequited love. ~*~spoilers!~*~ Loghain pines for Rowan who pines for Maric who has been promised to Rowan but pines for Katriel. sigh.

For the final tea, I suggest your favorite rose-infused blend. To sweep me off my feet, I sipped the Orlesian Gray from Lady Gray Kitchen. It’s a citrusy Earl Grey blended with rose, lavender, and rosemary. As an added bonus, this particular blend was inspired by the kingdom of Orlais from the Dragon Age series!
March 29, 2024
Teas to Sip While Reading Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

I used to be adamant about my distaste for Romance novels. I knew them as the Harlequin Romance novels my mom used to devour alongside Junior Mints on a quiet Sunday afternoon or the bodice rippers one of my friends used to have her nose buried in during high school lunches. I thought they were an inferior literary genre– simple, formulaic, and full of smut, which I did not want to read; in hindsight, I think that perspective was deeply rooted in internalized misogyny. Then a few years back, I read the Flat Share by Beth O’Leary, and my appreciation for Romance literature started to blossom. I’m still learning my preferences when it comes to the genre, so my experience is hit and miss, and unfortunately, my most recent venture into the genre with Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade was a big miss.

In 280 words or less…

Spoiler Alert centers around the fictional fandom of Gods of the Gates, a live-action fantasy TV series that created legions of fans worldwide but started going downhill once the writers and TV producers ran out of source material…not unlike the Game of Thrones series based on George R. R. Martin books. Our main character, April, is a Gods of the Gates superfan, who writes smutty fan fiction about her favorite on-screen couple– Aeneus and Lavinea. Marcus Castor-Rupp, the actor that portrays Aeneus on-screen, secretly writes fan fiction too, and in fact, is April’s longtime online pal and beta reader. The two are unknowingly united after April posts a photograph of herself in Lavinea cosplay on Twitter, and folks criticize her for her weight in true internet fashion. When Marcus sees the post, he decides to invite April to dinner.

By the end of dinner, Marcus has made the connection that April is one of his closest online friends, but April is none the wiser. Geekery, drama, and steamy bedroom scenes ensue.

The Review

I picked up Spoiler Alert for its unabashed love for fan fiction and nerdy pop culture. I, too, loved fan fiction in my youth. I used to devour Sailor Moon fics as a pre-teen, and I used to write awful Lord of the Rings fan fiction when I entered high school. (It was bad, folks. So, so bad.) I also admire cosplay culture and spending the day at comic book conventions. But, beyond this really cool element, the story made me cringe. First, the premise seemed unbelievable. I mean, I understand there is an element of fantasy in romance novels, but it was hard to suspend disbelief for this one– an actor that secretly reads and writes fan fiction for a fandom in which he acts (about the character he plays!) is kind of weird and creepy.

Also, the characters were the worst. It’s hard to enjoy a romance when I’m just rooting for the couple to break up.

The way the author introduced April made it seem like she was going to be a confident, plus-size bombshell working in a STEM field– heck yeah! But, in reality, this was not the fat-positive story I thought it was supposed to be. One particular scene that stands out to me and represents about 90% of the conflict in this novel, occurs early in the relationship. In the scene, April and Marcus are discussing the hotel breakfast options. April asks Marcus, who adheres to a strict diet for his career, what’s good for breakfast. Marcus tells her that he usually just has a bowl of oatmeal with fruit. April took that personally and as criticism toward her body, so she gives Marcus the cold shoulder and cuts him out of her life. April exhibits this kind of behavior several times throughout the story– she projects her insecurities onto Marcus, makes assumptions about what he means even though he’s never ambiguous, and then gives him the cold shoulder. I found her behavior to be toxic at best, and I was screaming internally, “Use your damn listening ears, April!”.

Marcus is only slightly more bearable. He’s kind and sensitive and nurturing and a bunch of other character traits that fall under the list of “THE PERFECT MAN^TM“. Somehow, all of that kind of makes him boring? Like, don’t get me wrong– I’d totally marry him, but I don’t want to read books about him if that makes sense. He does harbor a deep, dark secret though– he’s dyslexic? Oh, also he’s April’s longtime internet pal, but instead of telling her the truth, he not only hides it from her during their relationship but his online persona essentially ghosts her as well. (I mean, this is actually really bad. Maybe I wouldn’t marry him.)

I will say, if you love #smutsmutsmut, you will appreciate the steamier scenes in this book. Dade leaves nothing up to the imagination; this stuff seemed explicit. I do not like #smutsmutsmut, however, because I am a prude, so listening to the audiobook version of Spoiler Alert, and having Isabelle Ruther narrate the sex scenes to me as I washed the dishes was mortifying. It made me so, so uncomfortable.

The Tea

Writer’s Fuel by Friday Tea

The name of this blend may be a little on the nose, but I couldn’t resist pairing the Writer’s Blend with a novel about writing fan fiction. The Writer’s Blend is subtle pine smoked black tea that reminds me of many chilly evenings spent writing by the fireside.

Direwolf from Friday Tea

Rumor has it, Spoiler Alert is actually a self-insert fan fiction inspired by the Game of Thrones (or rather about a certain actor who stars in Game of Thrones?) Many Goodreads readers seemed to take issue with this, but I’m not particularly bothered by it. However, I cannot unsee the connection to Game of Thrones, which is why I’m pairing Direwolf with this book. It’s a blend that features juniper and sage and shou Puerh, and it tastes like hiking through a rainy pine forest.

June 11, 2022
Ancient Tree Green Puerh from Masters Teas

The one thing I know about Pu-erh tea is I don’t know much about Pu-erh tea. So, I made it one of my resolutions to learn about it, taste it, explore it, and see if I could acquire a taste for it. My first experience with pu-erh was a flavored one, and it didn’t go very well (I’m looking at you, S’mores Chai). In my defense, I didn’t intend to drink a flavored pu-erh; I’m not entirely sure I realized S’mores Chai had a pu-erh base when I purchased it. But, I digress.

My second experience with puerh, the one I’m sharing with you now, was entirely different. First, it was unflavored. Second, it was a sheng puerh instead of, and I’m assuming based on color and what I’ve read about the taste, a shou puerh.

Also, in hindsight, I probably should have read a little more before diving into my first cup of sheng pu-erh, but sometimes it’s fun to go in blind, unaffected by expectations based on other peoples’ experiences. I guess it’s sort of like when I visit a new city for the first time. I like to wander around without direction just to get a sense of the place, and sometimes I even accidentally stumble upon something I didn’t know to look for. Like the doggy playdate in a park nestled between skyscrapers in Chicago. Or the pinball machines tucked at the back of Coast City Comics in Portland, Maine. Oh, but I digress again.

Ancient Tree Green Puerh from Masters Teas
Origin: Yunnan, China
Elevation: 800m*
Harvest: April 2019

*elevation currently means nothing to me because I’m not knowledgeble about how that affects tea. Also, it’s in metric, which I haven’t used outside of 11th grade chemistry, and we definitely were not measuring anything in meters.

The Masters Teas website goes on to explain that the tea was hand-plucked from 150-year old trees (which don’t really sound that ancient), and this pu-erh goes through a 10 minute firing followed by roasting for 5-6 hours.

My tasting notes regarding temperatures and infusion times are inconsistently recorded. I’m going to say it is because I was meandering my way through this tea, much like the way I meander through cities without maps, but really I’m just bad at logging that information. I need to get better at that as I practice with my gaiwan.

The dry leaf is tightly twisted two leaves and a bud. They are brown, spinach and pea green, and occasionally there is a leaf covered in soft, silver fuzz. Their fragrance reminds me of the greenhouse I worked at for a season back in college. It is the scent that would stick to my fingers after deadheading flowers– vegetal and sour but somewhere buried is a hint of sweetness.

I put the dry leaf into a warm gaiwan and shake it. A new fragrance surfaces, and it smells sweet, powdery, and floral. Is it orange blossoms? Is it budding magnolias? It’s something that reminds me of Florida in February.

After steeping, the wet leaf smells sour and like steamed vegetables. Wilted spinach and lemon came to mind, and I find myself reluctant to drink.

Infusions 1 and 2

The liquor is pale, golden yellow, and the aromas are earthy and vegetal although my novice tongue can’t point to anything more specific than that. There is an astringency that makes me salivate and a bitterness and sourness on the back of my tongue that makes me think about eating the skin from a purple plum.

Infusion 3

The liquor sits in the fill cup for a while as I try to process my first two infusions. I can’t tell if I steeped this incorrectly or if this is the nature of a sheng pu-erh, but while I sit there, notes of sweetness and “green”, like I’m chewing on leaves, linger on my tongue. When I finally tip the liquor out of the fill cup, the light bounces off it, and it looks like I’m pouring liquid sunshine into my cup.

There is an energy in this infusion that I have never experienced before. My toes and cheeks are humming, and it feels like there is cotton in my ears and in the space between my eyes. I am so distracted by this that I forget to write down tasting notes.

Infusions 4 and 5

I took a break to take Oliver to the library and then to settle him down for a nap. But, when I return to the tea, I shut myself up in a bedroom for proper alone time. Infusions 4 and 5 are still pretty astringent but the earth and sour, vegetal aromas give way to something faintly like a sweet apricot.

Infusions 6 to 8

These final infusions were lovely, with infusion 6 being my favorite. The astringency has drifted away, and now all I taste are dried apricots. The finish is sweet, like I’m sucking on sugar cubes stolen from the tea tray during a Girl Scout meeting decades ago. The sensation stays with me quite some time after I have finished the tea.

As I have no other sheng pu-erhs to compare this to, I can’t comment on quality and value. But, I suspect if you are new to this type of tea, like I am, Ancient Tree Green Pu-erh from Masters Teas is a good place to start. Adagio Teas and Masters Teas make better quality teas more accessible and inviting to those just starting on their tea journey. Even though I technically started my tea journey a decade ago, I let myself grow complacent and stagnant. I have learned more about tea in the past few months than I did during the past decade thanks to the wonderful tea community over on Instagram. And, it’s worth noting that the Ancient Tree Green Pu-erh from Masters Teas has made sheng pu-erh slightly less intimidating, which is good because I have a 2017 IPA from white2tea with my name on it.

Thank you to Masters Teas for sending me a sample of this tea for free in exchange for a review.

Looking for more about Masters Teas? Check out my thoughts on their Formosa Fancy Bai Hao and their Muzha Tie Guan Yin!

February 14, 2020
S’mores Chai from DAVIDsTEA
I admit I’ve never gone camping. I’m afraid of the dark. Of being gobbled up by hungry bears. And most of all…the bathroom situation or lack thereof. So, the opportunity to indulge in this ooey-gooey, chocolate treat has been rare and reserved for the odd occasion that I’m socializing with someone with a fire pit in the back yard. Thankfully, there is no shortage of treats inspired by this campfire dessert though. Usually, I consume them in the form of granola bars, but I recently tried it in the form of tea, too!

ORIGIN: NOT LISTED
ELEVATION: NOT LISTED
HARVEST: NOT LISTED
PURCHASE FROM DAVIDSTEA

DAVIDsTEA succeeded in blending a tea that tasted like toasted, sweet and creamy marshmallows smooshed between cinnamon graham crackers, but the chocolate flavor seems non-existent to me. There is also a strange, earthy bitterness to this tea which, if I had to guess, is coming from the pu’erh? Although, really that’s all it is– a guess– because I’ve never had a straight pu’erh before. And, unfortunately, it’s this earthy bitter flavor that often turns me off to this tea.

I’ve experimented with brewing this tea, and so far my favorite method is to steep the blend directly in hot milk. It makes the finished product more creamy, and it seems to tame the bitterness as well. If you’ve tried S’Mores Chai before, what did you think of it?

What are some of your favorite S’mores inspired treats?

If you like S’mores Chai, try these other tasTEA recommendations:
October 24, 2019