“Even after letting go of the last bird, I hesitate – there is something in this empty cage that never gets released” – Garous Abdolmalekian (Long Exposure)
It’s a work of Spring sent out into the Summer with a message, a dedication, a confession, a slight revelation, a release – an envoi bearing both the joy of a completed work and the sadness of the work, now complete. There’s the Spring’s absence – absent enough to leave residue – with a summer presence – present enough to cast a shadow. There’s no new information, just the realization that the information was there the entire time – which is to say, “It’s doesn’t announce its revelation – you notice it afterwards!”
Oh, it’s a strange bird released from the mid altitudes of Sikkim – land pretty and petite to be the envoi of its own poetry. Made from early summer pickings of P312, T78 & Nand Devi leaves, as an Oolong most definitely bearing the Summer Edge with flavors thick enough to be condensed and contained into envois – it is intense, aromatic; camphory with a different kind of smoothness – smoothness that leaves its residue behind on the palate. The Spring imagery of the P312 with its Cilantro and dry, kitchen spice flavors, now deepened by the summer into notes of Mangoes, Honey and Lemons are immaculately preserved and delivered in this Oolong produce. The Floral dimension, although dulled by the summer woodiness into an herby, raw-fruity sweetness, still adds to the aromatic imagery. The Camphory aroma and the full-bodied brew with a deeply satisfying woodiness that always stays in the background, we suspect comes from the mix of the other two cultivars. The tea changes, shuffles its notes – aroma and flavor both – very-very quickly. It doesn’t really become a new tea by the end – by the end, it just arrives at something it didn’t know how to say in the beginning.
Summer Oolong from Sikkim, made out of P312, T78 & Nand Devi (TS 378) cultivars.
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