At nineteen, I left my home Urumqi for the States, and my sense of home began to shift but my Uyghur identity stayed with me, an unbroken thread as I learned to move between cultures, languages, and landscapes.

This first edition reflects on my first home and the roots that shaped me, a celebration of joy and pride. It centers Hotan, a historic Silk Road oasis along the southern route linking China, India, and the West, long known for jade, silk, and heirloom roses. Grown in mineral-rich soils under intense desert sun and nourished by Kunlun glacial meltwater, Hotan roses bloom once a year at peak intensity, developing a deep, complex scent shaped by dramatic day-night temperature shifts and the life-giving rhythm of the oasis.

Along my travels, the road to Uji felt like a return I didn't know I needed and translated memory into presence. Uji is renowned for centuries as the gold standard of matcha within Kyoto. Uji's single-origin matcha is shade-grown, harvested, and stone-milled on site, cultivating a slow-built depth and delicate aroma shaped by tradition, patience, and the ritual of the tea ceremony guiding the heart of this edition.