I love it when I see references to tea in pop culture. Recently, Pokémon announced a new tea-themed character named Poltchageist. I’ve seen some misunderstandings and inaccurate information surrounding this Pokémon, so I thought it might be fun to write about it from a tea educator’s perspective. Here is everything you need to know about Poltchageist!
What is Poltchageist?
I reached out to Pokémon as soon as I saw the announcement for Poltchageist. They let me know that there wasn’t anything to share beyond their press release, but there were some pictures and videos that I could use. Here is the info that Pokémon has given us about Poltchageist so far.
Poltchageist has a swirl pattern not unlike Sinistea’s—but unlike Sinistea, its swirl is not a weakness. After a target is sprinkled with some of Poltchageist’s powdery body or eats food dusted with it, Poltchageist drains their life-force and absorbs it as energy.
Poltchageist
Category: Matcha Pokémon
Type: Grass/Ghost
Height: 4″
Weight: 2.4 lbs.
Ability: HospitalityPoltchageist takes up residence in old houses where it is sometimes known to patch up broken objects. Its Ability, Hospitality, allows Poltchageist to restore a small amount of its ally’s HP when it enters a bat
The Pokémon Company International
Check out this cinematic trailer showing its backstory. I enjoyed how much they incorporated the Japanese tea ceremony.
Cha Means Tea
I came across Reddit threads where people seemed confused by the name Poltchageist. Some thought it was cheesy or just didn’t understand what it meant. Nearly every language in the world uses either cha or tea to describe a beverage made from the leaves of the Camellia Sinensis. There is already a Pokémon called Polteageist, which resembles a fancy teapot like you might find used in an afternoon tea service. It only follows that a Pokémon inspired by the tea ceremony should be called Poltchageist because the Japanese word for tea is cha.
Inspired By Chanoyu
Many elements of Poltchageist are inspired by Chanoyu (also known as the Japanese tea ceremony). Its body is a chaire (the jar used to store matcha when making koicha). Poltchageist’s hands are made out of matcha green tea, and the left one holds a chashaku (bamboo scoop for making matcha). The cracks in the chaire body were repaired as though with kintsugi, though with a green hue rather than the traditional gold or silver.
Poltchageist has a temper that rivals the bitter tea master who originally owned it. It sprinkles matcha on those who anger it, using the tea to drain their life force. It also flavors food with it and seals up cracks in other objects like teacups.
A spooky tea-filled Pokémon was not something I ever expected to write a blog post about. But it’s fun to get outside of my serious tea blogger box every once in a while.
What do you think about Polchageist? Who is your favorite tea-themed Pokémon?
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Great post, Nicole! 🙂 As a Pokémon nerd, I approve of this content. It’s well written and informative!