There will be another spring next year.
But there will never again be this same rain, this same wind, this same stretch of temperature, or the buds growing on this land at this very moment.
This is what makes a season interesting.
It returns, yet never truly repeats.
For tea, a vintage is not a number printed on the packaging.
It records what actually happened in that year.
A little more rain, a faster change in temperature, a spring that arrives earlier or later — any of these can bring the tea to a different state.
And human judgement changes with them.
When to pick. What to pick. What to keep. What to let go. How to make it.
These choices finally gather in the same cup of tea.
So we are willing to record the year.
Not to turn time into marketing language, but because time is part of a cup of tea to begin with.
The spring of 2027 will not become 2028.
And 2028 need not copy 2027.
Every year should keep an expression of its own.
Seasons return, but this one will not.
This is what is truly captivating about “seasonal”.
We do not need every tea to appear all year round. Some works belong to one particular time.
When it comes, drink it with care.
When it goes, there is no need to chase it.
Wait for the next spring to happen again.
Perhaps this is what tea teaches us:
Not everything beautiful needs to be held forever.
Some beauty is worth remembering precisely because it appears only once.
SPRING COMES ONCE. MULAN SEASONAL