Take time to yourself, away from the world, to look down from on high. The careful and deliberate brewing of tea is your own ceremony for releasing stress and anxiety.

This is a sheng ('raw') Pu’er, a Dark Tea from Yunnan, China, in the Da Xue Shan National Reserve. Raw pu’er is processed similar to green tea, without being heaped to induce fermentation like ripe pu’er. These leaves were picked in 2012; aging the tea mellows the flavor and brings out the sweetness. Like you, it will continue to improve.

The sweetness of this tea is wrapped in a creamy texture, and preserves the mineral edge common to raw pu’er (often likened to the pits of stone fruit). It exhibits a strong hui gan, a returning honey sweetness. Over many brews, this sweetness becomes cooling, like the snow on the mountain.