Summer Chinary Black

By June the hillside has changed. The sun is higher, the leaf grows fuller, and the same century-old Chinary bushes that gave the spring its brightness now give the summer its depth. This is the second flush — plucked through June and July, at the peak of the Darjeeling year.

Fuller leaf allows a longer oxidation, and the orthodox rolling draws out everything the summer put in: caramel, roasted chestnut, honeyed fruit. The liquor pours a deep amber. Where the first flush is the garden waking, this is the garden in full voice.