…the last bit of silver cloud, doled out carefully over the last year. An old-growth Chinese white, mature buds plucked on the verge of opening, all covered with silvery down…

Steeped in a clear gaiwan. 190ish degrees, three minutes. If my camera battery weren’t (perpetually) dead, I’d snap the buds, bobbing vertically in the cup, the down on each bud waving softly. They are almost alive. Cantaloupe aroma caught in the gaiwan’s lid, the first steep is buttery thick with honeysuckle and almond notes.

Second steep. Drier effervescence concentrated at the tip of the tongue, fruit skin, maybe plum, the vanilla edge of a good bourbon.