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| Stardust, our Ziggy tribute glitter tea |
David Bowie at his most iconic was a force of drag-level makeup, spiky hair, space alien Homo Superior sensibilites and very very tight pants. All obviously amazing pieces of an overall magical rock god maniac. When putting together a collection of queer rocker tribute glitter teas, our main man Ziggy Stardust (in addition to Prince and Freddie) could not be overlooked. What determined the flavors, textures and funky style you see above? Let's walk it through.
Underneath it all, Bowie was all Brit to his core. Crunchy London punk influence underneath floral dialect and turns of phrase all come together in a clean and mildly astringent classic black tea flavor. I went with our house black tea blend, Friday's Afternoon, for its balance of malt, floral notes and mild bitter. Over the nurture is a fatty layer of nature, pure fearless flamboyance. This quality tastes like an explosion of fruit punch and took the form of peach, kiwi and blueberry. Far out!
The timbre of his voice contains warmth, certainly, but the kind of warm that has a sharp and wild edge. Like brandy or a really damn good Old Fashioned. This marmaladey taste is brought forth in the intersection of sweet orange peel oil and tart kiwi over amber black tea. That orange oil was a little tricky to find, because what I was really tasting in my brain-mouth was the accent of sweet orange oil in the context of everything else. Sometimes there's a very important and deeply subtle chord to tease out when reverse engineering the flavor of a character, and Bowie isn't shy of complexities. I eventually had that "Eureka!" moment with my orange peel and it was the final note to tie the whole thing together.
Now for the final touch. Those eyes, know what I mean? Two different colors, but they sat so intensely correct in his sharp and narrow face. I had to find the cherry on top to bring that part of the picture to the tea. And no, not literal cherry. Three competing fruits was wango tango enough, thanks.
The key was to pop the visual overlay just enough that you have to look twice. In the rich amber colored brew, where we may have put gold glitter to pull those brassy sparkle notes, I turned a sharp left and threw purple glitter in. A behind-the-scenes secret for you? We never put purple glitter on amber brew. It clashes. The executive decision on this one was a big ol' middle finger to convention in honor of Bowie's eyes and ferocious punk life-lust.
Oh, and the rainbow sugar stars? They're just for fun. Stellar, am I right?
Go ahead, put your albums on loud, brew up a strong pot. Give this glitter tea a try, and while you're at the altar of rock and flavor, pick up the whole collection!
