Sunday, June 5, 2016

Writerly Bundle #18: Amaranthine, The Carrionites Swarm, & Midsummer Night's Dream




Welcome to this week's Writerly Bundle! A post where I hope to inspire you with three of the world's greatest things: music, words, and tea.

Since I've seen Doctor Who, when I think of Shakespeare, I think of Shakespeare from season 3 of Doctor Who. Because who doesn't say that Shakespeare was attractive and actually met real witches? ;)


The Word:

amaranthine
adjective
1.) of or like the amaranth.
2.) unfading; everlasting: a woman of amaranthine loveliness.
3.) of purplish-red color.

Example Sentence: In Doctor Who, Shakespeare describes Martha Jones's amarathine beauty. 



The Song:
"The Carrionites Swarm" 
from Doctor Who season 3 soundtrack
by Murray Gold

Murray Gold does such a great job composing all the different sorts of themes for Doctor Who. The episodes of this show are so diverse they must be a challenge for this composer. This piece is all orchestra and choir. It's very intense as the Doctor, Martha, and Shakespeare are trying to stop the plot of a group of alien witches. The piece is sweeping with horns and flute. This is a great piece for a battle scene, especially for something fantasy, but it would work for something sci-fi as well.



The Tea:

Midsummer Night's Dream



This citrusy-mint tea is refreshingly magical, with sweet apples, cool spearmint, tart gooseberries, and petals of marigold and rose. But before you take a sip, we should probably warn you that it’s a bit of a love potion. For some people, it seems to turn regular summer evenings into dreamlike nights of romance and enchantment. Ice it and see what happens. Caffeine-free.


How I found it: On my recent trip to Canada, I discovered this Canadian originating tea company called DAVIDsTEA. After looking at many of their teas in one of their many stores located in Canada and northern USA, I thought they would be great to review, especially for you Canadians! After I got home I ordered a sampler set and as a bonus DAVIDsTEA sent me an additional three samples, so I have nine teas to show you guys. DAVIDsTEA definitely has a unique flavor to their teas. If you want to take an adventure in your tea drinking, this is certainly a good affordable company to try.

The Tea: Midsummer Night's Dream is a my favorite Shakespearean play, so when I got this as a surprise sample with my DAVIDsTEA order, I was elated! I've also never had gooseberries, so this was also a new flavor experience.

The tea smells very fruity and floral with not much mint which is unusual with any tea with mint. Usually it's the dominant flavor. The tea brews yellow and it's very tangy I'm assuming from the gooseberries still with a very light mint and apple flavor. The safflower and marigold flavors are strong, but the rose flavor is faint. Sugar brings out the gooseberries and rose. 

This is definitely a very romantic tea with all of the flowers. It almost tastes like an old fashioned date with gooseberry jam, a bouquet of flowers, a few apples to share, and the man's breath freshened with mint before he goes in for the kiss. The flavors are very summery and I believe they fit the play. Oberon and the fairy kingdom would definitely drink this tea.


Serving Recommendations: I steeped this tea at 204 F for five minutes and added sugar.

How much is it and where can you get it? You can buy this tea at a DAVIDsTEA store or on their website. You can get just Midsummer Night's Dream for $7.80-$79.80, depending on how much you get. The smallest amount is 2 oz. and the largest amount is 20 oz.

So how good is it? This tea is unique, yummy, and fits what it's been named after. Four stars!


Have you seen or used this word before? Have you heard this piece before? Have you seen Doctor WhoHave you tried this tea?


Click here for last week's Writerly Bundle!


If you liked this post, come back every other Tuesday for book reviews; Friday for tags, character interviews, and link-ups; Saturdays for writing advice and life updates; and Sundays for the Writerly Bundle which includes a new soundtrack piece, vocabulary word, and tea review!

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