Art through Tea Anonymous

I carefully pour matcha into my glass mug, watching as the mug’s ice cubes go from reflecting sunlight to deflecting tea. The matcha rose latte I perfected consists of three clean stripes: red from the homemade rose syrup at the bottom, white from the milk in the middle, and green from the matcha at the top.

When I began crafting drinks, I focused solely on the sweet, soothing notes of tea as they met the tongue, but as I came to recognize the beauty of tea over time, I began placing an equal emphasis on aesthetics. Physics plays a significant role in the drink-creation process. To create drinks with well-defined layers, I consider the densities of different liquids and calculate ratios so drinks appear exquisite in appearance and taste. Then, I start experimenting to refine recipes. For the drink above, I adjust the quantities of dried rose petals, hot water, and sugar so the rose syrup achieves a density of approximately 1.35 g/mL. A more defined separation requires a greater difference in density. I slowly decant ingredients when pouring to achieve a clean separation, especially when the differential is small. As a deflector, ice has become a crucial addition in helping to spread the lightest ingredient’s horizontal layer...