So, I had so much fun making my own teas last time and the results were good enough that I decided it might be fun to do it again! This time I only got three teas though, and one of them was almost completely designed by my boyfriend and not myself.
This is one of the ones that I chose everything for but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t heavily inspired by my boyfriend when creating the concept for this tea and the ingredients. Even the name relates to him – “Ecstatic Shock” is the name for the feeling you get when catch someone you like/love looking at you. It’s a warm, happy feeling that starts in the tips of your toes, fills and inflates your lungs and finally culminates in a big smile!
I wanted the flavour of the tea to reflect that feeling: something warming and sweet so I figured a tea with some milder spices (cinnamon/ginger) and fennel/anise for sweetness would work perfectly alongside maybe a fruit or two. In the end, I ended up choosing blueberry as my fruit. It’s the boyfriend’s favourite fruit so it seemed like a great way to use him as inspiration, and I also knew that blueberry would be a nice compliment to the cinnamon/ginger and fennel combo!
For my first time trying this one out I made it in my tea press the same way that the boyfriend normally takes his tea. Since it’s something I want to kind of surprise him with, I thought it was important that I taste it the same way that he’ll be tasting it. Which is with added cane sugar, and lots of milk. Not my normal tea drinking method, but oh well…
- Overall, this does have the sweetness and comforting quality I wanted
- And the flavour kind of builds as you sip
- Which fits with the idea of a shock “rising” through your body
- It’s quite licorice-y though, from the anise/fennel: more than anticipated
- It works for me because I like licorice though – not good for those who don’t
- And I’m not actually sure how the boyfriend feels about licorice…
- I actually want more cinnamon/ginger: I kind of taste the cinnamon but it’s very mild
- The blueberry is softer too with an overall sweet & gentle fruity flavour I was going for!
- I enjoy this, and I think it fairly accurately conveys what I wanted
- I just wish the fennel was a touch dialed back
