Words, flavors

This summer afternoon, time passes slowly, time regained, savoring the words of this novel that I often reread at this time, savoring this tea Ali Shan Cha Red, traveling between the shores of Balbec and the mountains Ali Shan in Taiwan, in the pure and invigorating air of the sea, the altitude.

Today, in a small porcelain teapot, I prepare Ali Shan Cha Red, also called yunghu by Silvia, its producer. Its warm scents envelop me, its taste of stewed fruits, between plum and apricot, its roundness fill me with well-being ... feeling of vanilla sweetness, I add water, several times, pour the beautiful orange color in my glass, music of water on the crystal, the fruity taste, the sweetness, persist over the infusions. It is a tea for reading, for taking one's time... Absorbed by the magic of words, I forget it in its teapot, it remains as sweet, comforting, never develops bitterness.  At the end of the afternoon, the cold liquor has lost none of its perfume, while tasting, I read:

"In the glass of Venice * that I have in front of me, a rich jewel of reds is put by an extraordinary Léoville* bought from Monsieur Montalivet 

Lost time, found time, between reality and fiction, I drink my Ali shan Cha Red tea and like Alice drinking her elixir, I am in Marcel's country.

Joelle Danies

^{**In Search of Lost Time - Marcel Proust
*Name of a classified growth of the Médoc}