The 22
Composed like a fragrance. Bright notes first, a green heart, a deep base.
Twenty-two ingredients. Six continents. One cup.
Orange peel
Citrus sinensisSun-dried peel of the sweet orange, from the groves of Valencia, planted since Moorish times. In the cup it opens the blend with a bright, bittersweet zest. Of all the notes tried over seven years in Amsterdam, it was orange that answered bitterness, and it stayed.
Peppermint
Mentha × piperitaA natural hybrid of water mint and spearmint, grown in the cool river valleys of Oregon and Washington, the classic home of American peppermint. It brings a crisp, clear lift that refreshes the palate. Alongside orange, it was the note that won.
Natural orange flavouring
—A natural flavouring drawn from pressed orange peel, in the manner of the old citrus essence houses of Sicily and Calabria. It rounds the zest of the dried peel into a softer, longer citrus finish.
Rose petals
Rosa damascenaThe Damask rose, gathered by hand at dawn in Bulgaria's Rose Valley, where it has been distilled for centuries. A few petals lend the cup a quiet floral perfume.
Ginger
Zingiber officinaleThe knotted rhizome of a tropical flowering plant, grown in the hills of Jamaica since the sixteenth century and once the most sought-after ginger in Europe. It gives a gentle warmth at the back of the sip.
Mace
Myristica fragransThe crimson lace that wraps the nutmeg seed, dried to amber. Native to Indonesia's Banda Islands, once worth more than its weight in gold, it adds a soft, warm sweetness.
Stevia leaf, unprocessed
Stevia rebaudianaWhole dried leaf of a small shrub of the Paraguayan highlands, long used by the Guaraní to sweeten their mate. Unprocessed, it gives a light, natural sweetness, with no sugar added.
Ironwort
Sideritis spp.Mountain tea of Greece and the Balkans, picked in flower on high limestone slopes. Its name comes from the Greek for iron. In the cup it is soft, green and faintly citrus.
Tribulus terrestris
Tribulus terrestrisA low, trailing plant of sun-baked Anatolian ground, with small yellow star-shaped flowers. It brings a grounded, herbal depth to the heart of the blend.
Damiana
Turnera diffusaA fragrant shrub of the Mexican hills whose leaves were steeped by the Maya. It lends a lightly resinous, figgy aroma.
Ginkgo biloba
Ginkgo bilobaThe fan-shaped leaf of the oldest living tree species, unchanged since the age of dinosaurs and planted for a thousand years around the temples of Japan. Its note is green and subtle.
Goji berry
Lycium barbarumA small coral-red berry grown for centuries along the Yellow River in Ningxia and treasured in Chinese cuisine. Dried, it adds a gentle, round fruitiness to the heart.
Rooibos
Aspalathus linearisThe red bush of South Africa's Cederberg mountains, its fine needles fermented to a deep amber. It gives the cup its golden glow and a naturally sweet, honeyed body.
Golden root
Rhodiola roseaA hardy plant of Norway's coastal cliffs and mountains, whose cut root smells faintly of rose. The Vikings knew it well. It adds a dry, earthy note.
Siberian ginseng
Eleutherococcus senticosusA thorny shrub of the taiga forests of the Russian Far East. Its root brings a mild, woody earthiness.
Ashwagandha
Withania somniferaA small nightshade revered in Indian tradition for three thousand years, its Sanskrit name evoking the scent of a horse. The root adds a quiet, earthy base to the heart.
Yerba mate
Ilex paraguariensisLeaves of a holly tree of the Misiones forests, shared from a single gourd across Argentina in a ritual of friendship. It brings a grassy, gently smoky depth, and the largest share of the blend.
Guarana
Paullinia cupanaA climbing plant of the Amazon basin, at home in the forests of southern Venezuela, whose red fruit splits to reveal a dark seed like an open eye. The roasted seed lends a faint, nutty bitterness.
Catuaba
Erythroxylum catuaba (attribution varies)Bark from trees of Brazil's forests, its name from the Tupi language. It gives a soft, woody, slightly spiced undertone.
Lapacho
Handroanthus impetiginosusThe inner bark of the pink trumpet tree, known in the Peruvian Amazon as tahuari. It adds a smooth, vanilla-tinged woodiness.
Oolong
Camellia sinensisA partly oxidised tea, rolled and fired in the high-mountain tradition of Taiwan. It brings a floral, toasted note and the blend's only true tea leaf.
Cacao beans
Theobroma cacaoThe seed of the cacao tree, grown for more than a century on the volcanic islands of Papua New Guinea, where smallholders dry the beans over wood fires. Broken nibs lend a dark, chocolate warmth to the base, and the final word in the cup.