“Be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish. So as not to be the martyred slaves of time”- Charles Baudelaire.
You know, the profound is not a street address you arrive at – it’s more like a neighborhood that you live in the vicinity of and sometimes stumble into, never knowing how you got there or did it come to you?
Long forgotten Words of Baudelaire’s Paris Spleen came to me in 45 degree Celsius of Indian summer heat sipping mindlessly on this tea. Complains, frustrations, confusion and chaos were the day’s specials and awry conversations were on the house. Madness ruled the Cook’s kitchen.
I responded to the madness and the heat with an insane thought and without giving myself time to be reasonable, I decided to brew this tea – “That’s right, how worse could it get??”
I did exactly that and found a corner to sit in, hopefully unnoticed. After three mindless sips, I took a deep breath in exhaled out, in what seemed like a long time. That’s when I first noticed the boldness of the flavor, demanding my attention, and the ‘noise’ suddenly faded into the background. The flavor had a full chested ‘baritone’ with pauses in between seemingly lengthening its notes. As I lifted my head up and looked back at the chaos and pandemonium across the room the quote from Baudelaire visited me. Oh yes. Be drunk. Be drunk, indeed.
Nothing changed that day. The Day’s special was served regardless. But I did not feel overwhelmed anymore. Instead, I felt drunk – UNMARTYRED – consumed by the profound. I could feel the fragility of the dominant and the futility of involvement in the moment. As will you, when you stumble into your neighborhood of profound, consumed by this tea.
This tea will match any madness with its unmistakable baritone and personality. Resting easy on your pallet with its mild sweetness of some small, pretty fruit like apricot or honey and its baritone muscatel, it’s the kind of tea you can continually be drunk on. The mild astringency with hints of spice seemingly lengthens its notes. The Japanese Yabukita cultivars yield this second flush in the late spring, early summer season of Darjeeling – the warmth of which you will indubitably experience in this ‘Tea for of everyday’.
Consume and be consumed by!!
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