europe – scribo ad LX

If Tea Had Stayed Home – IV

The World Before Tea Riding on the currents of empire and commerce, tea’s ascendancy became firm, irrevocable and near-universal. Yet before this triumph, the world drank otherwise—and it drank richly. Across continents, cultures had already brewed their identities into cups of warmth, vigour, and ritual. Before Tea’s Arrival In the East, rice wine and fermentedContinue reading “If Tea Had Stayed Home – IV”

Sycamore: A Tree, A World, A Wound

In the Shadow of the Sycamore Two tall and stately Sycamore trees stand magnificently at the far end of the lawn in my son’s opulent home — guardians of grace, stretching skyward in noble stillness. They are unlike any tree I had encountered up close: pale-barked, broad-limbed, with a silvery elegance that seems toContinue reading “Sycamore: A Tree, A World, A Wound”