Hi. I’m Hyde.

Depending on where you found me, you may know me as Bokuwahyde, the Glampire, the tattooed guy making videos online or the person who keeps giving names to tea that sound like they belong inside an apothecary full of vampires.

I’m also the owner of Bloodthirstea.

Bloodthirstea is the kind of tea company I wanted to see in the world. Dark without feeling cheap. Beautiful without becoming delicate or overly proper. Something you could leave sitting on a shelf because the tin actually looks like it belongs in your home.

The packaging gets people curious. The tea is what decides whether they come back.

That part has always mattered to me.

Who is the Bloodthirstea owner?

My name is Hyde, although you may also know me publicly as Bokuwahyde.

My background is spread across several creative worlds. I’m a photographer, content creator, musician and entrepreneur. I’ve also worked in cosmetology and coaching. For years, most of what I created lived somewhere between alternative fashion, dark imagery, humor, photography and whatever strange idea I became obsessed with that week.

Bloodthirstea became another way to bring those things together.

I’m involved in how the brand looks, how it sounds and how each release enters the world. I care about the artwork on the tin, the product photos, the names and the small details people may not consciously notice.

I also care whether the tea tastes good after the tin has stopped being new and exciting.

There is no point in making a beautiful product that someone only wants once.

Why make a gothic tea company?

Tea packaging usually falls into a few familiar categories.

It can be soft and floral. Very clean and modern. Heavily focused on wellness. Covered in leaves, beige paper and words about slowing down.

There is nothing wrong with any of that.

It just does not look like me.

I wanted Bloodthirstea to feel darker, richer and more cinematic. Black tins. Ornate labels. Cemetery imagery. Names such as Earl Graveyard, Phantom’s Breath, Dark Spell and Elder Priestess.

A tea collection should be able to look like it came out of a cabinet full of cobwebs and still make a genuinely good cup.

That became the standard.

The brand can be dramatic. The flavor cannot be an afterthought.

The tea still comes first

It would be easy to rely on the gothic theme and stop there.

A skull on the label may get someone to pick up the tin. It will not make weak tea taste better.

That is why the blends have to work beyond the artwork.

Some are familiar flavors seen through the Bloodthirstea world. Others combine flowers, herbs, fruit, tea leaves and spices in ways that feel a little less expected. We use plant-based pyramid sachets because the larger shape gives the ingredients room to move while they steep.

They also keep the process simple.

You do not need a cabinet full of equipment. You do not need to measure loose tea while half asleep. Take a sachet from the tin, add water and let it brew.

Each sachet can make more than the average single-use tea bag, so you can fill a large mug or brew a small pot.

I like good tea. I do not believe making it should become a chore.

More than one version of “alternative”

One of the things I have never liked is the idea that alternative culture has to fit into a single look.

People hear “gothic tea” and may picture one very specific customer. Bloodthirstea was never built for one narrow version of goth.

Some customers have rooms filled with black furniture and antique frames. Others look completely ordinary at work and drink Earl Graveyard from a skull mug when they get home.

Some found Bloodthirstea through tea. Others came through my photography, videos, tattoos, fashion or one of the brands we have worked with.

They do not have to dress the same to belong here.

The common thread is usually that they enjoy things with more personality than whatever was designed to appeal to everyone.

Bloodthirstea does not need to appeal to everyone.

It needs to mean something to the people who understand it.

Building Bloodthirstea in public

A lot of people who follow me have watched different parts of Bloodthirstea take shape.

They have seen new blends, label changes, product photographs, launches, collaborations and the less glamorous parts of running a business that usually stay hidden.

That matters because this is an independent company with a real person behind it.

When something sells well, I feel it. When a launch falls flat, I feel that too. I read the feedback. I see which tins people keep reordering and which ideas need more work.

Some brands want to look completely finished at all times.

I would rather let people see Bloodthirstea grow.

There will always be another blend I want to make, another photograph I think could be better or another idea that sounded slightly unreasonable until we actually did it.

That is usually where the interesting things begin.

Collaborations that make sense

Bloodthirstea collaborations are not supposed to feel like two logos were placed on a tin because someone needed a new product.

The other brand has to fit naturally into the world.

Our collaborations with brands including The Pretty Cult and Curst Kosmetics work because they already have their own place inside alternative fashion, beauty and culture. Bloodthirstea’s official site also lists VampireFreaks among the places carrying the brand.

The blend needs its own personality too.

Elder Priestess, created with The Pretty Cult, is not an existing tea with a different label. Its elderberry green tea, tropical fruit and ornate artwork belong together.

That is what I want from every collaboration.

It should create something neither side would have made alone.

What I want Bloodthirstea to feel like

I want opening a Bloodthirstea tin to feel a little different from opening an ordinary box of tea.

You should notice the artwork. You should be able to see the ingredients inside the sachet. The scent should hit before the first cup is ready.

Then you brew it.

That is the point where the branding has to step aside and let the product prove itself.

I want the tea to become something people actually reach for. The cup they make while working late. The blend they keep beside their computer. The tin they bring out when somebody visits because they know it will start a conversation.

Bloodthirstea is allowed to be strange, beautiful and theatrical.

It also has to live in a real kitchen.

What comes next

There are more blends I want to create, more artists and brands I would like to work with and a much bigger world I want to build around Bloodthirstea.

Some releases will stay. Some will only exist for a short time. A few may disappear before people realize they should have ordered another tin.

That is part of the fun.

The brand will continue changing because I will continue changing. My interests, photography, travels and the people I meet all find their way into the work eventually.

I do not want Bloodthirstea to become a company that makes the same safe thing forever.

There are enough of those already.

Meet the person behind Bloodthirstea

So, that is the Bloodthirstea owner.

I’m Hyde.

I make things, photograph things, overthink labels, give tea unnecessarily dramatic names and occasionally convince another alternative brand that we should create something together.

Bloodthirstea is personal because there has never been much distance between me and the work.

Every tin carries some part of what I like, what I find beautiful and what I think tea can be when nobody tells it to behave.

Thank you for being here while I keep building it.

Take a look through the Bloodthirstea collection and find the blend that feels like yours.