• 1 teaspoon per 8 oz
• Water temperature: 175°F
• Infusion time: 3 minutes
   

This preparation preserves the delicacy of Sencha green tea while allowing the fruit and floral elements to unfold with clarity.

*Using higher water temperatures or extending the infusion time will increase tannin extraction, introducing bitterness and muting the tea’s refined texture. Lower temperatures will emphasize freshness and lift while maintaining balance.

Optional Cold Brew Preparation
 

• 1 teaspoon per 12 oz cold filtered water
• Steep refrigerated for 8 to 10 hours
• Strain and serve chilled

Cold brewing draws out the tea’s natural sweetness while softening acidity and bitterness. The resulting cup is smooth and gently rounded, with softened fruit notes, a quiet floral presence, and a clean, lingering finish.

Iris Poème is the flavor interpretation of fleeting beauty, precious in its impermanence. The blend was created in homage to The Dying Swan (1905), choreographed by Michel Fokine to Le Cygne (1886) by Camille Saint-Saëns, a work that distills grace at the threshold of disappearance.

In Fokine’s ballet, the swan’s final moments unfold as a brief solo made legendary by Anna Pavlova, a performance that moves beyond technical display and demands emotional surrender. The swan does not resist her ending. She yields, drifting through soft collapses, trembling ascents, and the faint flutter of wings losing strength. Each movement carries the awareness that it will vanish as soon as it forms. Beauty here is not preserved through endurance, but allowed to exist fully in its passing.

This sensibility echoes older symbolic traditions. In the Phaedo, Plato writes that swans sing most beautifully at the moment of death, not in grief, but in joy, foreseeing the good that awaits them as creatures sacred to Apollo. The choreography gives form to this idea, allowing grace to reach its fullest expression precisely because it is brief.

Iris Poème was shaped to translate this vanishing moment into flavor. Each June, the bearded irises of my garden embody the same condition. Their bloom is fleeting, revealing itself and fading almost as soon as it is noticed. Yet their presence is striking, and their fragrance astonishingly rich: powdery, honeyed, touched with the warmth of ripe fruit. Capturing these sensations requires interpretation, shaping flavor the way a painter translates light into color.

This translation guides the composition of the blend. Sencha green tea forms a quiet, luminous base, its clean profile allowing other elements to appear without weight. Strawberry introduces gentle sweetness and lift, while papaya adds rounded softness and a subtle creaminess that echoes the silky undertone beneath a fresh iris blossom. Floral impressions remain suggestive rather than explicit, present as atmosphere rather than declaration.

Iris Poème is not a meditation on loss, but on presence. A blend shaped by the understanding that beauty does not endure by remaining, but by being fully felt in the moment it appears.

Caffeine Level: Medium 

Storage and Care: Store in a cool, dry place, away from light and strong aromas. Proper storage preserves the delicacy and aromatic clarity of the tea over time.

For optimal aromatic expression, we recommend enjoying within two years of opening, as the more delicate notes will gradually soften over time and become less pronounced beyond this period.

Important Notice
This product is intended for enjoyment as a tea beverage. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Individual sensitivities to ingredients may vary. Please review all ingredients before consumption.