#i just made earl grey from loose leaf and added a dash of milk and a lot of sugar dhjfff

[icyfox17]

Guysss guys I love tea so much guys 😭😭😭😭😭 when I make the perfect cup of tea it is just the best thing to happen to me

[cityveinlights]

“Is It Teatime, Darling”

A window is a great place to lose yourself.

So pondered Gilda as she gazed out across her poor excuse of a lawn, all scattered tree trunks and mushroom clusters.

Some thought her mad to allow her home to become encased with the foliage of a forest, but she didn’t mind. In fact, she envied the fauna of her backyard, often losing thought imagining herself a lost doe wandering through the forest in hiding.

That seemed better to her, she thought, the place where a woman like her should live.

Secluded.

So, on the sun fall of the third Friday of October, she sat at her worn oak table. The wisps of steam from her fresh cuppa played with her nostrils, almost begging her to take a step outside to join their brethren.

It was a foggy evening.

She ran her fingers down the wood's bumps. The table had been in her family for generations.

There’s something about familial history that passes leaves from one branch to another.

“What are we in for tonight?” She asked to herself. If anyone were to peek into her kitchen, they would have laughed and felt delighted that poor old Gilda was as loony as the town rumored, talking to herself in the company of a black cat.

But, alone she was not.

Unbeknownst to the town, Gilda wasn’t mad, but she was something of the like.

“I reckon ol’ Davy from Down the Way will make a stop tonight, to check on the Wicked Witch of Number Three,” replied the cat.

“Right you are, Silla. And we’ll be ready. Can I fancy you a bite for dinner?”

“I'll take a warm bowl of milk, if it isn't too much of an ask,” purred Silla, tail swaying gently with pleasure.

Gilda stood up and hobbled her way to the cauldron hung above her fireplace. Although most of her neighbors from Down the Way had come around to modern ovens and refrigerators, Gilda thought these devices dampened the magic in the air. Something about the unknown and uncontrolled variables that stopped Gilda from upgrading her abode.

From the mantle, she took a glass bottle of whole milk and poured a little into the cauldron. She added a bit of honey for sweetness; she knew Silla's taste for sweets in the evening. With the cat’s back to her, she quickly added a sliver of vanilla bean and a dash of This and That, but only enough to remain untraceable.

Her eyes gleamed in the warm light of the hearth, cheeks dimpled in pleasure as she took her large spoon from its place on the wall and began to stir her milk potion.

“You know, nights like tonight make me appreciate your company,” said Gilda.

Silla, turning now to face her, noticed a speck of dirt on his left paw and began to clean himself.

“And why… do you… say… that?” Silla said in-between tongue licks.

Gilda shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno, I guess after seventy years of solitude, one does begin to admire the rhythms of another heartbeat.”

Silla took his paw and began to rub it against his ear. “Seventy years? That’s nothing. I had a fourth cousin whose entire family was taken by some young girl off wandering in the middle of the wood. He went off to find a field mouse for a midday snack and came back to an empty nest and the distant scent of a child’s sweaty hands. He never did find them, and its family legend that he remained in the wood for the rest of his life. I think at last check he lived to be over a hundred.”

Gilda took a sharp inhale and raised her hand to cover her open mouth. “You don't say… and what was your cousin's name, if I might ask?”

“Oh, his name was Wally.”

Another quick inhale. “You don’t mean Wally.. Wally of the Wood?”

Silla nodded his head. “The one and only.”

“You mean to tell me that I’m friends with someone who has a legend for a relative?”

The cat made a sound somewhere between a purr and a deep laugh. “Well, I can’t lie that I’m a direct relative, we are fourth cousins and all, but I guess you could say that.”

“Blimey. And after all this time, you didn’t think to tell me?”

Silla tilted his head slightly to the left. “I didn’t think it was of utmost importance. I mean, it is Wally of the Wood. It isn’t like I’m a brother to Nicholas the Naif.”

Gilda chuckled. “I don’t expect you to be related to a toad, Silla. What do you take me for?”

Silla hopped from his place on the table and made his way to the pillow sat next to the fire.

“I suppose I’ll take you as you are.”

Gilda smirked, eyes squinted with curiosity. “And what might that be?”

“I guess what the rest of the town thinks.”

Gilda laughed. “Ha, the town doesn’t know much of anything.”

Silla, again, turned his head, only to the right this time, eyes blinking ever so slowly.

“They might not know much, but I’m almost certain they know that a secluded lady with a hodge-podge lawn and a cat as a friend sums up to be quite the story.”

Still stirring her mixture, Gilda sighed her shoulders. “I won’t deny that my best friend is a feline, Silla.”

Silla raised his paw and extended the claw of what would have been his index finger. “Ah, I think you meant a fine feline.”

Gilda rolled her eyes to the ceiling and shook her head. “Of course, you cat.”

“’S what I thought,” said Silla.

The two remained in their places for a spell, Gilda warming the milk potion and Silla kneading the pillow.

Then, a rasp came from Gilda’s front door.

“Just as I suspected, Davy from Down the Way has arrived right on time,” said Silla, confidently.

Gilda took the cauldron from its hook and poured the milk into Silla's bowl. “Let's hope it's only him and no one else,” she said, sounding a bit worried.

As she made her way to the door, Silla jumped off his perch and began to lap in his bowl. It tasted as he expected, sweetened milk, but it also had an unfamiliar flavor that his pallet had not encountered before. It reminded him of milk candy the Vietnamese woman next door threw out. He noted to ask Gilda what she added to it when she came back from the door.

Gilda, having reached the entryway by the time Silla had tasted the unfamiliarity, opened the door ever so slightly as to only allow one eye to peer into the faint light of the late evening.

“Hullo,” said a bent-over figure with a round outline under a tophat.

“Hi,” said Gilda, tone ending higher than it started, a bit nervous that this stranger could mean trouble. Worry was lost as she began to examine further the figure resting outside her doorstep. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Gilda noticed the misshapen gray hair hidden by the tophat and the large nose and larger belly. Davy was a hard person to miss.  

“Miss Gilda,” said Davy.

“Davy,” responded Gilda. “What can I do for you?”

“Well, I was wondering if I could come in for a minute? I locked myself out of my house, and the locksmith won't be here for another hour or so. Everyone else has gone.”

The stupidity of men, Gilda thought to herself.

“Sure, come in. I just warmed the cat some milk.” She opened the door, and Davy made his way into the foyer, or, the room that made do as a foyer.  

Stacks of books lay here and there and everywhere. What seemed to be a hundred coats hung from a coat rack. A wooden broom leaned against the wall nearest the doorway.

“Can I get you a cup of tea?” asked Gilda.

“I would love one. What kind do you have?”

Gilda’s eyes beamed. Tea was her second favorite pastime.

“Why don’t I show you. Here, let me take your coat and hat.”

Gilda, taking Davy’s articles, rested them on top of the overburdened coat rack, which now leaned heavily to the right.

They made their way to the kitchen, passing Silla, who meowed in delight.

“What a darkly colored cat!” Examined Davy.

“Yeah, he is quite black. It looks like he rolled in an oil barrel. The only problem with that is he wouldn't dare leave this house.”

Silla made a soft growl of slight displeasure.

“Oh, don’t mind him, Davy. He knows I’m teasin’.”

Davy thought it odd that a woman would refer to her cat as one would a human, but he reminded himself he was in the company of Gilda the Goetia. This animal was probably a demon she’d summoned from the underworld. Best to watch his footing while under her roof.

Silla made his way to Davy and swept his slender body against his leg, vibrating with a deep purr.

Gilda opened a cabinet and unearthed a simple tin box with grids housing various types of loose-leaf teas. She pointed to the top left box and began describing the different mixes of teas.

“This one is mint lavender, great for calming an anxious mind. Or, this one here is orange vanilla, perfect with a dry biscuit in the evening. Or, of course, I do have a bit of the ol’ Earl Grey. What can I get you?”

Davy, worried that she'd laced them with some sort of poison or mushroom spore that would turn his toenails to stone, opted for the simplest.

“I’ll take a small cuppa’ Grey, please. With sugar, if you don’t mind.”

“I don't have any sugar cubes, but does honey suffice? I have a bit leftover from this fall’s harvest. I house my own bees in the back garden. This batch tastes a bit like hibiscus. The cat adores it, I even mixed some in his milk, but that's just between you and I.' S that alright?”

“That sounds delightful. Might I try a dab first?”

Gilda smiled, grabbing a spoon from the drawer nearest her and a jar of thick, amber-colored syrup. She poured the slightest drop onto the spoon and handed it to Davy, who took it with hesitation.

“Oh, come on. It won’t bite you, silly goose,” joked Gilda.

“I know that, Gilda, it’s just… er..,” murmured Davy.

Gilda sat the jar of honey down, a touch louder than she intended. Silla, having sat on the stool next to Davy, arched his back in anticipation.

“A bit what, Davy?”

Davy seemed to scan the room for something to focus his eyes on, almost as if he searched for some real reason why he couldn't try Gildas homegrown honey.

“Eh-eh-err… weh-well you know, the town talks, and its not like its old hat that you have a reputation. I’m just a little… er… wary that you might… um…”

Gilda, still holding the jar, tightened her grip so that her knuckles grew as white as bone.

“I. Might. What?” She huffed.

“…. Well, Gilda, it isn’t a secret that you deal in… cultish arts.”

Gilda scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief.

“And might I ask, Davy, what exactly a cultish art is?”

Davy scanned the room, taking in the various mismatched furniture pieces and the cauldron hanging from the fire hearth.

“Gilda, please. You have a cat as black as night and a cauldron hanging from your fireplace. It’s quite obvious, isn’t it?”

Gilda began to fidget in anger. Silla’s hair stood straight, and if someone were to look into the window and see this confrontation, they would have thought these two were fighting as a porcupine stood witness to their banter.

“Well Davy, if all you came here to do is accuse me of having a cultish fetish, I ask you to leave me to my own devices. Come, Silla. Let’s see our guest out.”

Davy looked several times from cat to Gilda, wondering why she spoke to the beast as if it were her child.

Was she the conjurer that his neighbors coined her? Even though the atmosphere of her home screamed in affirmation, the hidden details proved to be a different truth. If she were a summoner, where did she hide her altar? From what he’d seen in the short time he’d been in her home, there only seemed to be a kitchen, a small bedroom directly adjacent to the entryway that appeared mundane, and a dining room fixed with a table and a lit candle smelling of cardamom and cedarwood.

Was Gilda the Goetia really an inverse, an opposition of his understood truth?

This had to be some trap. Soon he would find himself hung upside down with a knife to his throat, chicken’s blood smeared across his breast as she mumbled ancient tomes under her breath.

But, why wait this long? And this honey he held in his hand, she’d tasted it herself and mentioned she’d fed it to the cat in his milk, and he seemed perfectly normal.

Maybe some people, when dissected in the eye of the public, lived normal lives while others deemed them a cultist.

Does this make me a blasphemer?

Davy looked at Silla again, and although the cat seemed black, he looked black, like in the short time Davy had been inside Gilda’s home, the cat had expelled every hue of color from his coat so that he’d grown black as, well, nothing,

“Gilda, I apologize. I came here expecting something completely different than the hospitality that you've given me. I'd love a cup of the mint and lavender, with a good amount of this honey, if you don’t mind.”

Appearing shocked, Gilda stood still and had no words to say.

There sat a silence for several seconds, broken only by the yawn of Silla.

“I-I… I’m sorry, Davy. You know, living under the constant watch of a town tends to drive a woman mad. I’ll make you up the finest pot of tea you’ve ever tasted.”

Davy smiled, reaching over to stroke Silla’s back. The cat did the expected arched back movement as Davy glided his hand from head to tail.

While Gilda observed this spectacle of finger stroke to spine, she poured the hot kettle of water into a mug she'd placed Davy's chosen brew.

She handed Davy the cup.

“This smells wonderful,” said Davy.

Gilda, placing the tin back into the cupboard, smile and said, “I hope it tastes equally as well.”

Davy noticed a quick glance of something personal between Gilda and the cat, as if there were some inside joke he wasn't aware of.

He took a sip of the tea and adored the cooling sensation that filled his mouth,

“My lord, this tastes like chewing gum but in a hot, liquid form!”

Gilda, humbling at Davy's kind words, took a seat in her place at the table where her cuppa remained warm.

“I'm glad you think so. I grow my brews out back, and I hardly ever get to share them with another.”

Davy and Gilda sat quietly for a few minutes, each enjoying their brews.

Once Gilda had finished her cup, she moved to empty the dregs from her mug into the bin.

Davy remained quiet and reserved, taking in the welcoming atmosphere of Gilda’s home.

Silla, having pounced from his spot next to Davy and onto the counter nearest Gilda, whispered, “How much longer d’you think it’ll take?”

Davy continued to observe the still-burning fireplace.

“He seems pretty affixed to the hearth, I suspect he’s nearly there,” responded Gilda, holding her hand over her mouth so that Silla would be the only person to hear her.

Almost immediately, Davy grew slack in his stool and fell back onto the counter.

Silla perched his head up to get a better view of the now limp Davy.

“You weren’t joking.”

Gilda scoffed, “When does a witch ever spell jokes?”

Silla breathed a ha-ha and jumped from his place on the counter, moving again to his pillow for the remainder of the night.

“Just… do dispose of him properly this time. The last one you left a finger above the surface, and I had to nibble a nearly rotten corpse. Talk about ungodly.”

As Silla sunk into the shadows, Gilda thought about the coming Spring, and the bountiful flora she'd grow with a new store of fertilizer.

“It's appearances, Silla. It's all about appearances. It takes a strongly-set mind fake the part, but it's leagues more tasking to portray the role to a T.”

   days 19-25: trap, grow, bean, candy, witchcraft, blood, hiding @hiddendreamer67

[sovonight]

i wanted to try compiling opinions on my gravity falls tea blends, if just for personal reference!

the blends i’ve made are dipper, mabel, stan, ford, the author, the mystery shack, and ford (alt). looking at it now i’m like, wow i made three separate ford blends isn’t that overkill, but y’know what it’s fine

people’s reviews:

there are customer reviews on the listings themselves, just click through to specific blends!

mabel, dipper, stan, ford, the author, the mystery shack, and ford (alt)

stan

ford (alt)

i might be missing some in posts/replies/tags on tumblr, but can’t find em rn

and here are my own reviews/opinions. i don’t do much with steeping times (3-7 minutes or whenever i finally remember i’ve been steeping tea) and sometimes i leave the tea leaves in the cup ‘till the end of time, so it’s whatever. i always add sugar though, and occasionally add milk if the tea’s strong enough for it

mabel

my original review post

my review on the listing says, “it reminds me so much of bubblegum that i almost want to rename it that [...] while i already tend to let loose leaf teas steep in the cup forever i'd actually go out of my way to recommend it for this one; it lets the fruit come through a little better. and ofc, bubblegum is nothing without sugar, so please add sugar.”

my impression since then: adding sugar is correct. also this blend originally had sprinkles, and while i still support that decision, i removed it because sprinkles leave a bit of oil (?) in the tea when they melt-- not the best look for a light tea like this

dipper

my tiny review answer

i remember this one being a nice light fruit tea, but i’m reordering it for an updated opinion! if you don’t like slightly-sour fruit teas, though, you won’t like this one. also, steep it forever, the flavor is pretty light otherwise, and personally both dipper and mabel’s blends taste better iced

update, turns out it’s even better with sugar and milk! i just never had milk on hand when i last tried it so i couldn’t confirm until now. with milk it turns into a nice, warm, vaguely fruity tea that i’m a big fan of

the mystery shack

my tiny review answer

i remember this one as a ��whenever” tea that wasn’t too light or too heavy, but i’m reordering it for an updated opinion. no milk, just sugar

stan

my original review post (my impressions of dipper and ford there are obsolete, i redid those blends since that post)

my impression since then: he’s still perfect

make sure to add sugar. and optionally milk. and blow a kiss at that mug, why not

ford

i’m ordering it again to give an updated opinion! from what i remember, the lapsang souchong was a Little much for me, even after editing it down. which is like... very fitting. secretly i call this the portal ford blend, especially with an extra-smoky spoonful of tea leaves, but i cannot let myself get into eras.

i wonder what high school/college ford’s blend would be like though

ford (alt)

my review on the listing says, “Now this is the sweet Ford tea I've been looking for. I steeped it for 4-5 minutes, drank it hot with cream and sugar, then drank it iced with cream and sugar, and it's about as delicious as Ford looks.”

i’m gonna level with you, i just wanted to say the phrase “as delicious as ford looks”. like it’s true i like the tea but i also wanted specifically to say it

i drank it again today (with milk and sugar, of course) and yep, i still like it. i would’ve done the whole plain tea -> tea with sugar -> tea with sugar and milk progression taste-test, but i did that thing where i microwave a bit of milk in a mug, pour the tea leaves in, and fill the rest of the mug with hot water and let it all steep. so. pretty creamy though.

the author

my original review post (my impressions of dipper and ford there are obsolete, i redid those blends since that post) 

my impression since then: while i wasn’t impressed with it initially, the more i drank of it the more i came to like it?? almost similar to how i felt abt researcher ford himself

when i brewed this in college i liked to dump the loose leaves into a mug, pour in hot water, wait ~5 min, and add in sugar and milk. i’d drink some while waiting for the shuttle, then put the rest in the fridge (i know it was still hot when i put it in the fridge and that i’m Not supposed to do that, but my fridge was basically empty in college so it’s Fine) and dash out to go to class

i’d come back from class and bam, i’ve got iced tea that’s been steeping for 4-5 hours! the flavors really settle in with the milk, the tea leaves really settle in to the bottom... perfect. drink that chilled delight up in a sweltering hot room and stay awake for the next 12 hours because i put the most coffee-ish tea into the author blend that i could find

it’s pretty much a caffeine boost, making it more like a tea that ford would drink (if for whatever reason he ran out of coffee), and less a tea that represents him

i don’t consider it an everyday tea for me because it feels a tad more dry than other teas (i attribute that to the blood orange) and that’s why i always made sure to add milk, but, drinking tea often already tends to dry me out. how do regular tea-drinking people do it

and here’s my reasoning for the teas in case you’re like��“i don’t get you sovo how could these possibly fit these characters”:

dipper

passionfruit: the boy’s dedicated to solvin’ those mysteries

sour apple: dipper is sometimes a sour apple and that’s Okay

lemon grass: i can’t really explain this one except that you know how there’s that like, lemony plant stalk you’d sometimes see kids chewing in elementary school, and it’s kind of a childhood thing for me?? also it goes with the other sour tastes in this blend

blueberry: it’s in his color palette

fruit tea aspect: to match with his twin!

mabel

watermelon cooler: watermelon’s just such a fresh, pink, summery fruit! also, that mabel sweater that one time

wild strawberry: the description on the site gave off a sugary sweet dessert vibe and those are Definitely mabel vibes

spearmint: i wanted something with a brightness and glow about it-- also once in taiwan i had tea with a minty cooling effect to it and i loved that, it was perfect for hot summer weather. i’ve been searching for it forever because i remember nothing about what it looked like, just the flavor

rose petals: summer romance aesthetic

strawberry pieces: i wanted more pink, more color, and i think that’s something mabel would appreciate. also i love eating those little re-hydrated fruit pieces in tea

fruit tea aspect: to match with her twin! 

stan

rooibos caramel: stan’s heart is like a block of caramel... kinda tough when you start out, but as it warms up it gets sticky sweet and tends to wanna stick to you. i heard from the reviews on the caramel teas that the rooibos version is slightly sweeter than the black tea version, and i wanted the sweetest caramel so i went with rooibos

mambo: i heard smoky, savory, succulent, and rich and slammed that “add to blend” button

lapsang souchong: oh “smoky aroma”? oh “sweet pine flavor”? oh “sometimes gets a bad rep for being brashly smoky”? come on into this blend please

ginger: it’s kinda sharp, a little dividing, and a little too much for some people

lapsang souchong & ginger: to match with his twin!

ford

assam melody: “deep, burgundy-red”? “solid, ‘friendly’”? come be a base in this blend please

pu erh hazelberry: i knew i wanted pu erh for the earthiness, i just wasn’t sure which; i went with this one because it’s the most appealing dessert-like one of the ones i looked at, and You Know ford’s got a sweet tooth

lapsang souchong: partly to match with stan on the whole smoky pine aspect, and partly because ford shaves with fire and in fact, regularly plays with fire

cocoa nibs: it kinda complements the hazelberry & he needs a touch more than stan

ginger: similar to my reason for stan’s

lapsang souchong & ginger: to match with his twin!

the author

assam melody: provides the same character base as ford’s blend

toasted mate: i hear this is the closest you can get to coffee-levels of caffeine in a tea, and i needed that bc this is researcher ford we’re talking about

blood orange: blood splatter in the journal, anyone? splish splash

cinnamon: a dash of cinnamon goes into the cure for zombies, and also into this tea

ford (alt)

earl grey bravo: it’s a black tea base so i don’t stray too far from the original blend, a dash of grey, and a classic that always gave me a “refined” kinda vibe. i never used to think much of earl grey and took some time to come around, which is in line w my experience w ford. the citrus is almost a tie to the author blend,, blood orange becoming just orange

rooibos caramel: i needed to feed my sweet tooth and i'm pretty sure ford would support this decision

gunpowder: because gunpowder, but also because it adds a hint of smokiness that provides a similar-but-different alternative to the previous lapsang souchong. toned down and a little mellowed out, if you will.

cocoa nibs: a tie to the original blend that now complements the caramel

ginger: the ginger-and-caramel is what he shares with stan now, and i love that

the mystery shack

green rooibos key west: just west of weird, amiright??? also it’s got a bunch of summer-y fruit flavors, and the shack probably gets the majority of its business in the summer

earl grey moonlight: i was thinking about stargazing on the roof of the mystery shack and the moon turning into bill's eye, and stan working on the portal in the cover of night

pu erh dante: oh “soft earthy flavor”? “woodsy tones”?? “clean, damp forest aroma, dried mushrooms, leather and earth”??? yes thank you

orange peels: one thing i super associate w the mystery shack is all that arrow-shaped signage and all those yellow-orange question marks. so... yellow-orange bits of orange peel, acting as pops of color to guide your money outta your wallet