Acacia’s Grief (Into the Dark Woods, Rose Petals, Rosemary) and The Rose Road (Lapsang Souchong, Rose Petals, Rosemary) (10-520 A&B)

For most of my life one of the constants about me has been my capacity and desire to read. Over the final few years with THFKAMT my speed at doing so slowed to a trickle, and the pressure cooker of covid, grief, and the things that occurred during those final few years eventually took books away entirely, outside of research reading.

My brain is always willing to allow me to work.

There was a return to it, at the beginning of my stay here, at current domicile, but it fizzled out when I ran facefirst into a $20 ebook at a time I was feeling particularly paranoid about money and was still sorting out all of the general life bits like how to get places and how to replace important pieces of rectangular plastic and the like. (Still working on some of that more than two years on – aftermaths are weird and difficult and complicated.)

Two years passed. And one of the new persistent things became me complaining about this Reader’s Block that I just couldn’t shake.

When it finally broke it was partially due to tea and partially due to a friend found as a direct result of the aftermath of the end of things with THFKAMT.

Seanan McGuire is an author that has been suggested to me many times over the course of the years since I finally started using the blue bird site, but until early February the only volume of hers that I had read was Dying With Her Cheer Pants On – which I very much enjoyed and highly recommend. ¹

In early February I was chatting with a friend in Discord and she said she really needed me to read the October Daye series for tea naming reasons. She also mentioned that she was pretty sure she’d sent me the second book – and the combination of the two comments reminded me that Rosemary & Rue was one of the unreads that I’d kept out of storage in the hopes that it might be an option for breaking through the Reader’s Block and reclaiming the coping mechanism that is wandering through the worlds that another mind (and heart) has created.

I set up a reading friendly space, as best I could manage, still fighting with the logistics of comfort – made myself a cup of tea, and attempted to read.

Merlin thought it was a capital idea – as he promptly curled up on my feet and fell asleep.

I was taking tea notes before I was 50 pages in, and the timing on needing a second cup coincided with the introduction of the glass rose garden.

I decided I needed a cup of Into the Dark Woods with Rose Petals and Rosemary. (The second one being a not uncommon tasty teas add for me, though I know it is far less so out in the world of Big Tea and Big Grocery.)

It was glorious. It fit the mood of the book very well. And it made me happy.

By the time I’d finished the first book it was full of post-its, some for ink test quotes retrieval, some for tea ideas, some that were both – as it turns out a series where magic has scent and flavour is dangerous for me, as far as the level of inspiration I can find within it.

Due to the limitations on blending, these days, it took a couple weeks before I managed to run a test batch of the tea I mentioned earlier, though I’d lost count of the number of cups I’d jury-rigged, and the situation was further complicated by the fact that when I set to do so the first time I auto-piloted to the latch-tin of Lapsang, rather than the one of Into the Dark Woods.

I blame that on the ongoing and flaming in the not-fun way assault on democracy and rights we’ve been seeing in this country. Smoky teas are kinda my go-to for comfort and solace. Reminds me of happy things from when I was very small.

It took three books before the two had names. The friend who got me to start on this particular series journey had said “That’s Acacia’s tea” for the original Into the Dark Woods blend before I’d managed to finish Rosemary & Rue, and said that I would meet her in the third or fourth book.

She was right, on both counts, and the events in the third book named both of the teas sparked by glass roses and resonance in the first. The Lapsang blend became The Rose Road, and the rosemary holds more primacy in it than in Acacia’s Grief.

I’d say more but Spoilers.

I will say that there are more Daye-connected beverages to come. Both coffee and tea.

There is a thread on Bluesky that may become the continuing adventures of this set of inspirational material and the things that it spawns.

And I want to thank everyone who suggested these books to me prior. Such things layer until it becomes a critical mass of names that I know and respect and care about, and I remember and appreciate each one.²

Now for the basics:

Acacia’s Grief (10-520-A)

Organic Ingredients: Into the Dark Woods (Roasted Kukicha, Lapsang Souchong), Rose Petals, Rosemary

Batch Size: 3.3 ounces, approximately 94 grams, 55+ servings of tea

Options: Loose Tea (5 Serving Sample (Bag or Tin), Full Batch (Bag)), Teabags (Single Teabag, 5 Teabag Sample (Bag or Tin), Full Batch (Bag)

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The Rose Road (10-520-B)

Organic Ingredients: Lapsang Souchong, Rose Petals, Rosemary

Batch Size: 4.4 ounces, approximately 124 grams, 70+ servings of tea

Options: Loose Tea (5 Serving Sample (Bag or Tin), Full Batch (Bag)), Teabags (Single Teabag, 5 Teabag Sample (Bag or Tin), Full Batch (Bag)

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