The Pacific

Sara was sitting on my desk, wearing her black jacket - the same one she had been wearing the day I had first saw her. She was holding a cup of tea in her hands. The sweet scent brought me several decades back - back in Tlosa, back to this warm night of '67 when had met for the first time.
Sirma Findabair, The Owl and the Dove, final chapter, 1985

Tea is an important symbol in Isilanka, being both a cultural cornerstone and one of the country's biggest agricultural exports as of 2018. It's particularily telling of the history of Isilanka as a whole that tea, of all things, came from outside the country. The first contact between what was to become Isilanka and the plant from the south-east of Asia happened somewhere around the late middle ages, but it's only in 1763 that the first tea varieties were planted in Isilanka, in the wet valleys of the Alanka province. The climate of continental Isilanka only allows tea plantations in very specific places, under greenhouses namely the plateaus of the southern Alanka province and, of course, the sunny hillsides of Tlosa. Since the late XXth century, tea is also cultivated in the Wotan archipelago.

Notable tea varieties in Isilanka

Blue Leaves : The most famous Isilankan variety and the most produced one, it probably comes from Indian tea imported in the late 1850s. Very well-known for the distinctive blue tint of its leaves, this variety was originally cultivated by the famous - and still active - East Isilankan Tea Company (EITc) in Tlosa, but most of the current production comes from the Wotan archipelago, more specifically the southernmost part of the Shiraki island. When people abroad think "Isilankan tea", they think "Blue Leaves."

Gold Sun : The second most-cultivated Isilankan tea, it is the byproduct of decades of botanical experiments led by Tsuno Industries in the Wotan Islands. Though not a GMO by any stretch (it's just the result of years of careful selection) it doesn't correspond to any other known tea variety. Most tasters refer to it as "harmless, but alright" and it has never reached the popularity of the Blue Leaves variety. In terms of taste, it's very close to the Earl Grey varieties.

Flower of Silence : A very old, very rare variety, probably imported in Isilanka a century ago. The Flower of Silence has earned this nickname due to the very specific nature of its leaves : thick and dark, they tend to mute the sounds around them when many plants are gathered in the same place. Particularily bitter, the Flower of Silence is rarely cultivated for its taste.

Blacksight : Only cultivated in greenhouses the outskirts of the Kadija Desert, this variety is extremely rare, and very little is known about its origins aside from the fact that it has probably been genetically engineered and the Lodge of oniromancers had something to do with it. The Blacksight is known to interfere with the nerve system upon ingestion, to the point it can even temporarily suppress vision and enhance other senses, or improve an oniromancer's abilities.

Sirona : [CENSORED] I mean come on it's not like [CENSORED] Alright alright [CENSORED]