27 days until Pokémon Sword & Shield release!
Welcome to Lorekeeper Lite! This intermittent companion series to the Lorekeeper’s Logs hopes to answer the questions no one asked, but everyone wanted answered, those burning questions on everyone’s minds…
In the Lorekeeper’s Logs, nothing is more important than the diligent understanding of the sometimes confusing world of Pokémon. Whether it’s confronting the strangest science or the most bizarre natural phenomena, your diligent Lorekeeper leaves no stone unturned in her attempt to find the truth. But sometimes… sometimes… Especially when visiting the Galar region… You just need a cup of tea.
So imagine my delight when I found a way to combine both my job and my choice of beverage! In this installment of Lorekeeper Lite, we’re investigating the question that’s been on everyone’s minds for months, the most important unanswered question in the leadup to Generation VIII—What kind of tea is in Polteageist’s pot? So grab a scone, and let’s read what’s in the leaves!
Earl Grey Tea
Probably the most famous of English teas, the Earl Grey blend has been around since the early 19th century. Famed for its savory, slightly bitter taste with a hint of citrus, Earl Grey is traditionally made from black tea flavored with oil of bergamot. This gives it a unique scent and flavor, and it has been described as a national treasure of England as important to its cultural aesthetic as the royal family or Big Ben.
Earl Grey is considered the “working man’s” tea, and it’s not considered to be upper class or snooty at all. Assuming Galar has similar tastes, it’s highly likely that this tea would be readily available for Polteageist to possess. That being said, do I believe that Polteageist would want to possess such a commonplace tea? There’s nothing wrong with the safe option, but Polteageist is shown to be in a rather elegant pot, and seems to only allow people it trusts to drink its tea. No, I think this high-class ghost needs something a little… Fancier. Let’s move on to option two!
English Breakfast Tea
A slightly fancier tea, it’s worth noting that “English Breakfast” does not refer to one specific variety of tea—the famed English Breakfast is in fact a blend of different teas from Assam, Ceylon, and Kenya. While the existence of real-world locations such as these is always questionable in the Pokémon world, it’s not unthinkable that a “Galarian Breakfast” blend of similar qualities could exist.
English Breakfast is notable for being blended intentionally to be more bitter, as it is intended to be consumed with milk and sugar, making it a softer, sweeter breakfast tea in the end. Unfortunately, this also brings up our greatest rebuttal of this tea being what Polteageist is possessing—it feels like the privilege of being offered its tea would be slightly less desirable if you had to keep milk and sugar on hand. Not everyone’s got a Miltank, after all. No, I think the answer is a little more… freeform, a little more complex, and a little less precise…
“Prince of Wales” Tea
Prince of Wales, yet again, does not refer to a specific variety of tea—this time, however, it’s even looser of a definition. While the original Prince of Wales blend was made from a variety of teas favored by the eponymous Prince himself, in recent years it has come to mean any mild, full-bodied tea made from Chinese teas blended with basically any other tea that comes to hand. Many popular varietals exist, but I’m mostly interested in a single kind…
Enter Kenyan purple tea. Considered too astringent to drink on its own, it is commonly blended with other teas, namely very bitter ones—teas commonly originating from China. This would in fact qualify this violet blend as Prince of Wales tea. In this way, we have found a way to reconcile “tea” with “weird purple blob,” and therefore I think we’ve found the answer—Polteageist is, in fact, possessing an exceedingly specific Prince of Wales blend mixed with Kenyan purple tea that may or may not exist in the Pokémon world. Case closed.
Conclusion
Of course, Polteageist could also just be a purple ghost possessing any pot of tea it can find. Your diligent lorekeeper never claims to only find the truth of the matter; when looking into lore, in fact, you’re bound to find conflicting stories. But in the end, isn’t truth what we make of it? Isn’t the journey just as important as the destination? Does anyone even want to drink tea out of a broken teapot that a ghost has been steeping in?
Those questions may never be answered… But these ones could be! Would you drink Polteageist’s tea? Do you think it should have a Unovan form where it possesses a coffee pot, instead? Could you pass the sugar? Let us know in the comments, and until next time, remember…
