Five minutes with a cup of tea, every weekday morning. Pour the water, watch the colour arrive, and hear one true thing about what's in the cup — why lemon myrtle carries more lemon than a lemon does, why hibiscus isn't a flower, why no ginger plant has ever been found growing wild. Then one thought worth carrying into the day. A new blend each week, Monday to Friday. Made by Impala & Peacock Artisan Teas, blended by hand in Melbourne. Best taken with something steeping.
The cup is Peacock Chai, and the colour arrives before you can name it—amber, copper, then a red-brown you can't see through. In the swirl, dark twisted leaves open beside curls of bark, seeds, pods, and peppercorns, each shape holding its own story. There is no single recipe for this blend, only the version handed down, argued over, and made real by the person who taught it. The variation is the recipe, and every cup is the original to someone. Today's cup: Peacock Chai — Camellia sinensis,...
3 Sept 2026
Three Cups From the Same Leaf
Pour a second cup from this morning's leaves and something has already changed. Jasmine's scent is carried by compounds that are highly volatile, which means most of it leaves in the very first pour — by the third infusion it's barely a suggestion, and what's left is simply the tea, quieter and more itself. Three cups from one leaf, and only one of them was ever the loudest. Today's cup: Jasmine Pearl Tea — Camellia Sinensis. 1 tsp, 200mL, 80°C, three minutes. Takes three infusions. A tea and...
2 Sept 2026
Still Wearing Its Down
Look closely at the leaf opening in this cup and one piece hasn't quite joined the others — paler, with a faint silvery coat that looks almost like down on a feather. That's not a flaw. It's the youngest growth on the plant, and tea graders have a word for it that comes straight from a southern Chinese term for white down. The more of it still visible, the earlier the leaf was picked — proof of age that exists for a short window and then vanishes for good. Today's cup: Jasmine Pearl Tea — Cam...
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