lapsang

tearoom · iii

provenance fujian, a wooden chest, the smell first

steep four minutes; the kitchen will know

cup cast iron, small; no second cup needed

tea leaves cured over pine. the smell enters a room before the tea does and stays after it has gone. some people will refuse it. they are not wrong, exactly. it is a tea that has opinions.

drunk at the threshold of midnight, or earlier, in the company of one other person who does not need conversation. the custodian keeps a small tin behind the dried things. the window is open, even in winter, because the smoke needs somewhere to go.

do not pair with anything. it pairs with the room.

tastes of the inside of a chimney, in the best way one means that.