As I brewed the last leaves of a beautiful batch of Kolipari Summer Gold tea tonight before settling in to start a book I have been looking forward to starting, I noticed how beautifully the pale golden tea complimented the saturated yellow on the cover of André Dao’s Anam.
Both book and tea are things I have been holding off imbibing until I had the time and mental clarity to really appreciate as I know how special they are and I only get to experience them once.
This Indian Assam transforms from a musky-scented dry leaf to a delicate metallic, marine tasting tea. It amazes me that it seems to activate taste in the cheeks as well as the side of the tongue, making it feel like my whole mouth is super-tasting its complexity.
While I’m only a short way into Anam I can already tell it is what I was hoping for from André’s first full-length novel. Writing that makes me marvel at how simple words can be made so beautiful and the feeling that I am being invited in to explore complexity as the writer works through it.
The peace of waiting for a moment of stillness in my life to go through the ritual of making a pot of special tea, sitting with it to crack open the spine of a much anticipated book you know will be a thing of wonder, these are the moments I feel most present and satisfied. It’s my version of ritual, prayer, connection, gratitude.
