Tea has a long history in ceremony and other revered forms of consumption. Now it has been given a visual voice, combined with elements as disparate as the freezing Arctic and the setting sun, to create an ethereally beautiful, ephemeral image.

Photographer Michael H. Davies, who lives in Pangnirtung, Nunavut, Canada, took this photo of his friend Markus Siivola tossing a cup of tea into the air in front of our life-giving star as it slipped below the horizon after all of two-and-a-half hours above it in the Arctic winter. 

The resulting picture brings to life the laws of physics, nature and art into one stunning, transcendent whole. 

According to Alaska Dispatch News, the photo almost didn't see the light of day. He didn't like the photo and almost deleted it. 

More of Davies' work is at his website as well as on his Flickr page.