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.
When I think of pop, I think of soda, when I think of soda I think of my favorite kind of soda called ramune! This popular Japanese drink that comes in many flavors, including pineapple, lychee, and melon, and opens in a very unique way, pops up on occasion in animes. It actually has a marble inside that keeps the drink extra fizzy!
The Word:
palliate
verb (used with object), palliated, palliating.
1.) to relieve or lessen without curing; mitigate; alleviate.
2.) to try to mitigate or conceal the gravity of (an offense) by excuses, apologies, etc.; extenuate.
Example Sentence: Ramune can palliate any problem.
 |
| This is what ramune looks like. |
The Song:
“Ao No Exorcist Second Movement”
from the Blue Exorcist soundtrack
by Hiroyuki Sawano
In Blue Exorcist, you guessed it, the group at one point drinks ramune! I wish I could find some pics of it for you because it’s such a funny scene, but alas. Blue Exorcist is a great anime, some of the theology is a little rocky, but the character development is great. Hiroyuki Sawano (my favorite anime composer also doing Guilty Crown and Attack on Titan) does it again with this techy soundtrack. Most of the Blue Exorcist score is synthetic. This piece is very intense and upbeat with its scratchy synthetic noises with the strings and choir added in the background. This is great for a fight scene, a triumphant scene, or a mission scene in a science-fiction novel.
The Tea:
Goji Pop
Legend has it that Li Ching-Yun was born in China in 1677 and died 256 years later in New York. His secret? Goji berries. Your secret? This hot pink tea filled with sweet, sweet goji berries, rosehips, citrusy lemon oil, apple, melon, marigold and hibiscus. It’s probably the most delicious longevity formula ever. Which is key, since you’ll be popping it for the next two centuries. 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: Though I’d heard of goji berries, I’ve never had them before, so I was very anxious to try this tea, since I got it as a free sample with my last order. The tea smells very fruity and flower with a faint essence of melon flavors.
It brews pink and it’s tart yet sweet with not too much hibiscus flavor (which is a relief for me since I don’t like too much hibiscus). The unusual taste is I’m guessing the goji and there are hints of the melon, marigold, and rose in the after taste. Sugar brings out the melon and goji flavors and tones down the tartness of the hibiscus. It’s definitely a very different, exotic, and tropical tea. I could see it working well ice and sparkled like one can do at Starbucks. If there was a goji ramune available, I’d totally try it.
 |
| Ramune in RahXephon |
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 Goji Pop for $7.98-$79.80, depending on how much you get. The smallest amount is 2 oz. and the largest amount is 20 oz. You can also get Goji Pop along with five other teas in the Super Fruit set (which is what I did) for only $14.00.
So how good is it? This tea is unique and delicious. Four stars!
Have you seen or used this word before? Have you heard this piece before? Have you seen Blue Exorcist or RahXephon? Have you tried this tea or ramune?
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!