Chaga, the charred-looking fungus of the northern birch forests, wild-harvested in Finnish Lapland and brewed dark as coffee. High in oxalates, so not for anyone prone to kidney stones.
At a glance
A winter evening, a fire, and a cup the deep reddish-brown of old wood. Chaga is Inonotus obliquus, the charred, clinker-like mass that erupts where the bark of a birch has been broken, across the northern boreal forest.