SUMMER BETWIXT – 50 Gms

Simone Weil once wrote in Gravity and Grace: “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love.  Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer. If we turn our mind toward the good, it is impossible that little by little the whole soul will not be attracted thereto in spite of itself”. As if picking up on her work a quarter of a century later, Jeff Goins in his book The In-Between outlines how susceptible we are to losing our attention, losing the appreciation for our ‘in-betweenness’ while we anticipate the future to arrive, before we can live fully. He writes “The good life comes like most good things—unexpectedly—in moments that are fading away faster than we realize. These are the moments that take our time but don’t demand our attention. When we miss them, they’re gone. In those times especially, we would do well to slow down and be present, because we won’t get them back.”

We lose the betweenness of life in the act of ‘living’- life is full of moments that take our time but don’t demand our attention!  We exchange anxiety for attention and fill the lacuna betwixt the past and future with everything that deprives us of our presence. It seems its only in hindsight that we see clearly, our predispositions in life – the patterns we’re most susceptible to – the ones that cause the regret of having missed out while ‘it’ was happening all around us. “It seems we all end up being victims of our predispositions!”. While that might be true, it’s not the only truth – humanity devices its own rituals and practices – effects that coerce our attention back into the present – into the betweenness of our beginning and arrival.  If anything, our predispositions make us more human. Maybe that’s why we seek out and ‘practice’ tea – a ritual that makes us appreciate our own presence – an ‘in-betweenness’ of what we know and call “life”.

While our attention may always be ever fleeting and betweenness -mostly lost – can only be expressed in the contrasting extremes that contain it, the Summer Betwixt comes bearing the bounty of attentive expression of the third space – the in-betweenness of Spring and Summer. Though the Summer Betwixt faintly but most certainly alludes to the fuller Summer Ochre, with its mild chocolate in taste and an intensely Sugary aroma, it is the distinct presence of the ‘Floral-Spring’ profile – of no particular Spring flower rather remnants of the season itself – that gives it its ‘betweenness’. Made as an Oolong from the AV2 cultivar with an abundance of Late Spring- Early Summer buds, it comes from the same bushes as the Bug-bitten Oolong. The Spring-Floral profile – remnant of the season- is always present, even in its more accentuated baked Summery taste. The intense aroma of deeply caramelized sugar, honey and baked fruits with a dense aftertaste make it a work of Summer while Grapes, Apples and Grapefruits layered with a readily recognizable assortment of floral notes endow it with more of a Spring vibe. With its slightly lighter, Orange-Amber hue, it is almost misleading of its intensely expressive notes and in that ruse lies the bounty of Summer Betwixt.

“Attention without feeling is only a report.” – Mary Oliver