Sample Sale Spirit Lamp

Spirit Lamp should smell like the flame on a silver tea service in a place of ill repute in colonial era Boston. The spirit lamp was used for light and heating fueled by alcohol or “spirit.” I can picture the teapot—perhaps smithed by Paul Revere (he crushed silver when not shouting alarms on horseback).

Inside the water boils with legendary bohea tea (an oolong probably from near the Wuyi Mountain preserve). The steam is peachy, airy, with touches of bleached ginger and coconut milk.

The air of a colonial brothel given respite by the freshness of this rare tea drunk to stay up all night reading fortunes in a smoky den.-D.S.