Tasting Tea

I am running low on one of my favorites teas. It was an unplanned purchase from a farmer's market in Livorno a couple of years ago. Among many other wonderful teas, this one stood out its perfection - the fine balance of fruity and floral. P, who owns a quaint tea-store in my town told me to bring the tea so she could reproduce the blend by smell. That was almost a year ago. It just so happens that when I am walking by her store, I have forgotten to bring the tea or when I have remembered she's not at the store. The other folks who work there by their own admission don't have P's nose for smell and can't make me the blend. My thus far failed attempts to replenish that tea, remind me of mastery and artistry. 

When someone creates a thing of beauty and perfection, it might take another person with equal or better ability to reproduce it. Chances are they will even improve it. I have no doubt that P's version of this tea whenever it is that the stars align for her to make it for me will be amazing. While this may not be true of every kind of reproduction, a blended tea seems to be one of those things. There was the guy in the tea shop in my hometown where I grew up who made the best Darjeeling tea blend to my taste. Every season his assortment of teas would be a bit different from what he had previously and yet somehow, magically he would put a blend together that would be just right for my family's taste. 

While I did not drink tea regularly at that age, my parents encouraged me to taste the blend once he had brewed it. It helped me understand the flavor profile they wanted. That became my baseline taste in Darjeeling tea. Like P, this guy was a master too. He knew exactly what his customer would love and made it happen, no matter what kind of tea the season brought.