The Great Mint Tea Shortage!
Suspect is reportedly calm on the outside but screaming internally.
Further investigation required. Scone integrity may also be compromised.
Thanks to Daniel Glenn Lady for your inspiration.
This meme was created using lots of imagination from multiple human donors and a little Automaton Improvisation.
Facebook, 14th May 2025.
In this sepia-toned dispatch titled “Case #14B: The Great Mint Tea Shortage”, we bear witness to a moment of sheer steampunk crisis: a gentleman, visibly shaken, stares in horror at his teacup. The reason? No mint. Just a steaming vessel of disappointment.
The elaborate piping and brass kettle in the background hint at a complex tea-brewing system — now likely compromised. A watchful raven looks on, as if aware that this minor inconvenience may spiral into full-scale emotional ruin. After all, in the steampunk world, tea is more than a beverage — it’s the engine of civilisation.
The meme plays on the genre’s love of elevating the mundane to the melodramatic. Mint tea, often associated with calm and clarity, becomes the symbol of stability here — and its absence signals that something has gone terribly wrong.
Framed as “Case #14B”, this image introduces a delightfully absurd bureaucratic system for cataloguing minor catastrophes. It suggests there’s a whole archive of ridiculous crises still to be uncovered — a format ripe for expansion.
Whether read as a commentary on overreaction, an ode to herbal blends, or simply a love letter to overcomplicated beverage preparation, this meme resonates with the tea-loving time traveller in us all.