There will be a spring next year.
But never again this same rain, this same wind, this same stretch of warmth, and the young buds growing on this land at this moment.
That is what makes the seasons compelling.
They return, yet never truly repeat.
For tea, a vintage is not a number printed on a package.
It records what truly happened that year.
A little more rain, a faster turn of temperature, a spring arriving earlier or later — any of these can bring the tea to a different state.
Human judgment shifts 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.
This is why we choose to record the year.
Not to turn time into marketing language, but because time has always been part of a cup of tea.
The spring of 2027 will not become 2028.
And 2028 need not copy 2027.
Every year should keep an expression of its own.
The season will return, but this one will not.
This is the true pull of seasonality.
We do not need every tea to appear all year round. Some works should belong to a particular time.
When it comes, drink it with attention.
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 things are worth remembering precisely because they come only once.
SPRING COMES ONCE. MULAN SEASONAL