Writerly Bundle #24: Eldritch, The Spark/Dragon's Flight, & North Winds

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.

Today's Writerly Bundle is themed after King's Quest VII, one of the games from my favorite game series. ^ ^ I got inspired because the land of this game is called Eldritch. :)

The Word:

eldritch

adjective

1.) eerie; weird; spooky.

Example Sentence: Eldritch is definitely an eldritch place.

The Song:

"The Spark/Dragon's Flight"

from the King's Quest VII Original Soundtrack

This piece comes from one of the most touching parts of the game. Rosella (one of your two player characters) comes across a crystal dragon who is sad because he lost his spark. You return it to him and he's overjoyed and gives you a diamond in return. Then he flies up into the sky and blows stream of flame in his ecstasy. This piece is light and happy with strings and flute. It's good for a fantasy or perhaps a historical. 

The Tea:

North Winds

My house black tea for good reason — North Winds is the essence of northern Michigan. This tea is a blend of black tea from various areas of Yunnan, both high elevation and wild picked!

Tart cherry and white wine notes bring you to Traverse City while creamy milk chocolate notes allow you to have that Mackinaw Island fudge without having to take the ferry. North Winds is immensely smooth and clean, hinting at cream and caramel mid-sip. Throughout the entire experience you'll notice a constant warm pine-infused honey and a grainy barley sugar wafting through the rustic body. A touch of white pepper balances out the tea on the finish.

North Winds is blended seasonally to achieve the most balanced flavor profile. The current offering is a blend of Spring 2016 black tea from the Yunnan province of China.

How I found it: Sara Letourneau introduced me to Whispering Pines Tea Company with this blend actually. Since I love fandom-inspired blends, I knew I had to check out their site. I've bought several teas from them and they've become my second favorite tea company. I love their simply, but quality teas. As a perk, I love that they include inspiring quotes from people such as Winston Churchill and E.E. Cummings with every purchase!

The Tea: Immediately, when I purchased this tea with a group of other samples, I knew what I would theme this post. The title makes me think of the Winds in the game particularly the North Wind (see picture below). The tea leaves have a strong oolong smell, since this is a Yunnan oolong, with notes of pine and honey.

When brewed it is a dark golden brown, almost the color of coffee. Without sugar it acts more like a black tea with a hint of bing cherry. With sugar the caramel honey flavor and chocolate comes out. These flavors do remind me of the robust strength of the North Winds. 

Serving Recommendations: I brewed this tea 203 F for three minutes.

How much is it and where can you get it? You can purchase this tea online at the Whispering Pines Tea Company website for $8.25 USD. However, this tea is limited and only available at certain times, but you can sign up for notifications for when it goes in stock again.

So how good is it? This is my least favorite of the Whispering Pines teas, just because I'm not fond of the cherry chocolate flavor, but it's still an unusual and excellent quality tea. Three stars!

Have you seen or used this word before? Have you heard this piece before? Have you seen King's Quest VII: The Princess Bride? Have 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!