In pursuit of creating a cozy-wholesome lifestyle for our players, Forage Friends partners with small businesses to push forward merchandise that is just as beautiful and relaxing as our game. Some of our most popular items have been our custom tea blends!
Our characters in Forage Friends are going to be a huge emotional investment for players and many early Forage Friends fans have enjoyed the appeal of the characters already, visually. But we wanted to take it a step further and have future players connect with the characters through scent and taste. A more intimate experience, for sure!
Though we are currently working towards a closed beta and players have yet to experience their stories, we feel that shouldn’t hinder people from feeling invested and connected with our characters early on in development. As a Seattle-based indie game dev company, Pie Trap Studios took this idea and reached out to a small local company in North Seattle.
But first, some backstory: Years ago, Pri, CEO of Pie Trap, was part of the Artist Alley circuit at local conventions such as Emerald City Comicon, Grit City (aka Jet City Comicon) and her favorite, Geek Girl Con. Geek Girl Con was a convention that celebrated women and marginalized groups of nerd culture and STEM industries. She saw some wonderful artists and artisans and one group in particular caught her eye: Friday Afternoon Tea. Though a handful of years had past, Friday Tea was one of the companies that came to mind when looking for someone to collaborate with.
Friday Afternoon Tea is a small family owned, geeky-themed tea company specializing in loose leaf tea, custom blends, tea wares & accessories, and educational tastings.
Owner Friday Elliott's unique take on blending stems from a neurological cross-wiring known as Lexical-Gustatory Synesthesia. Due to this trait, Friday experiences language (both spoken and written) and abstract concepts as distinct flavor profiles. In short, she literally tastes words and ideas. This "superpower" allows Friday to create blends with a completely unique approach. With a background in herbal remedies as well as culinary arts and education, she shares her Tea Wizardry with people all over the world.
Pie Trap worked closely with Friday and her head Tea Ninja, Greg, to create a series of 8 tea blends that have truly captured the essence of each character. The process was fun and exciting! Profiles and backgrounds were given of each character and rough drafts of tea blends were produced. Pie Trap owners, Pri and Chris, came to the shop a few times to taste these drafts, give feedback and have Greg and Friday fine tune the recipe for each one.
I know what you’re thinking.. “Well, let’s see it then! SPILL THE TEA!”… You got it!
If you’re not familiar with Quinn, they are a fan favorite. Our first non-binary character of the series, they were born and raised in Birmingham, UK and are Pakistani in decent. They are a quiet bookworm which makes “The Shy One’s Blend” a perfect cup to sip while cozying up with your favorite book on a rainy day.
The taste is almost like having tea with your favorite pastry. Very reminiscent of a London Fog with a chocolate pistachio barfi. It’s creamy, nutty, slightly sweet and floral with a coating of chocolate. This is an excellent breakfast tea with a splash of your choice of milk.
Miles is our tall-dark and brooding bae: bi-racial Mexicano with a passion for the arts and a mysterious past. This blend has been one of our most popular amongst chocoholics and bad boy fans!
A black tea and rooibos base with a Mexican chocolate inspired blend of vegan dark chocolate, cinnamon and ancho chili. All topped off with a healthy serving of delicious strawberries! This tea has the perfect balance of tart and sweet with heat in the background that is not overbearing, but comforting.
The town barkeep with a weakness for southern BBQ. Desmond is a true gentleman, and is everyone’s friend.. to a certain degree. This tea’s inspiration was grilled peaches paired with a glass of brandy and is one of our most surprising teas the moment you pop open the jar! Incredibly sweet smokiness is the first thing that catches your attention.
The more you smell, the more you unravel the complexity of sweet and spicy fragrances of peaches, citrus and what smells like a cocktail made with an spirit aged in an oak barrel. This has been surprisingly popular with scotch drinking fans as well as lapsang souchong fans. We’d recommend brewing a pot for an after dinner conversation.
Malia is the town goth with a passion for collecting mushrooms that are just as misunderstood as she is. This is probably one of our most unique teas to date. Perhaps the most unique tea in all of teadom!? This tea blend nailed down who Malia is: Her dark persona, her desi background, and her love for fungi.
This tea brews as black as her make-up. An amazing concoction of figs, black tea, coffee beans, chaga and reishi mushrooms, coconut and cumin. It is also heavy on the ginger to match her hot temper. The tea coats the tongue and has an odd feeling of comfort when drinking it. This tea helps smooth over a day of feeling a little under the weather. Those who’ve sampled it have been hooked and it’s one of our best-selling teas!
Overall, working with Friday Afternoon Tea was a fantastic experience. Not only did Forage Friends fans love the tea, so did the dev team! Many of them have been drinking the tea on a regular basis. It’s just that good!
Be sure to check out our other tea blends in our shop and grab them before our dev team drinks them all!
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