Journal

Farmer’s caution against counting your eggs before they hatch, potters again counting your pots before they’re fired. The unpredictable nature of a high-fired kiln, whether it’s conventional gas, packed with salt or soda, or a hand-built, wood-fired anagama, is the reason so many potteries stick to a single form or glaze, standbys they know work every time. Yet it’s also the reason that while many experiments in the kiln are destined for failure, a few pieces - touched by updrafts, the off-gassing of a nearby glaze, or placed in a spot with little airflow - seem to have been forged...

Humus, peat, loam, and clay are all deeply evocative words for earth, conjuring sensations of springy soil beneath our feet, or in the case of gardens, one’s hands. In an instance, a scotch described as peaty is understood by all; minerality brings to mind wine from volcanic regions like Hungary or Santorini… Thus, it’s no stretch to describe a tea as earthy.  In the Song Collection, a handful of teas fit this description to a, well, tea.  Brewed, some lend themselves most easily to poetic descriptors - a soft patch of soil at the base of a redwood giant, or...

When it comes to teas we love, we really wear our hearts on our sleeves. And longtime readers of this newsletter know we are utterly smitten with aged teas. Perhaps we appreciate aged teas for their singular uniqueness: sugars that are deep and concentrated, texture that is round and mellow, and tasting notes that take on an almost leathery cast, with the sweetness of dried stone fruit. Or perhaps we are intrigued by them because they are deliciously enigmatic - each sip raising questions about its origin, and what transformations it underwent to arrive at its current state.With this release of...