The cup is Peacock Chai, and in the swirl of colour and steam, there’s one thing in the blend that stays sealed, a pale pod holding everything inside. The rest is open—roots in fragments, bark split, seeds scattered—but this one waits, whole, until the moment is right. Some things in the cup, and in life, don’t open on anyone else’s schedule.

Today's cup: Peacock Chai — Camellia sinensis, ginger, cloves, pepper berries, cinnamon, fennel, cardamom, black pepper, pink peppercorns, agave.

1 tsp, 200mL, 100°C, two minutes black or four with milk.

A tea and a musing every weekday morning.

Before It Begins is made by Impala & Peacock Artisan Teas, blended by hand in Melbourne. This week's cup is waiting for you at online.

To join our tea ritual - click here .

The cup is Peacock Chai, and the colour arrives before you can name it—amber, copper, then a red-brown you can't see through. In the swirl, dark twisted leaves open beside curls of bark, seeds, pods, and peppercorns, each shape holding its own story. There is no single recipe for this blend, only the version handed down, argued over, and made real by the person who taught it. The variation is the recipe, and every cup is the original to someone.

Today's cup: Peacock Chai — Camellia sinensis, ginger, cloves, pepper berries, cinnamon, fennel, cardamom, black pepper, pink peppercorns, agave.

1 tsp, 200mL, 100°C, two minutes black or four with milk.

A tea and a musing every weekday morning.

Before It Begins is made by Impala & Peacock Artisan Teas, blended by hand in Melbourne. This week's cup is waiting for you at online.

To join our tea ritual - click here .

Pour a second cup from this morning's leaves and something has already changed. Jasmine's scent is carried by compounds that are highly volatile, which means most of it leaves in the very first pour — by the third infusion it's barely a suggestion, and what's left is simply the tea, quieter and more itself. Three cups from one leaf, and only one of them was ever the loudest.

Today's cup: Jasmine Pearl Tea — Camellia Sinensis. 1 tsp, 200mL, 80°C, three minutes. Takes three infusions.

A tea and a musing every weekday morning.

Before It Begins is made by Impala & Peacock Artisan Teas, blended by hand in Melbourne. This week's cup is waiting for you at online.

To join our tea ritual - click here .