I was perfectly prepared for a life in tea because I had previously written a book about wine. Wine and tea are both agricultural products which at their best become works of art yet may be enjoyed even at their humblest. To come into existence, both of them require the hand of man, his understanding and skill, to join with the hand of God, His plant, weather and terroir. The only reason to produce either is that we humans like the way they make us feel: Felicitous Phenomena!

You will discover the parallels between wine and tea—in names, tastes, history, religious origins and symbolisms, and in human culture and use over the centuries. I wish to delineate the unexpected ways each beverage sheds light on the other, quite beyond Lord Byron’s contrast
“Tis a pity wine should be so deleterious
For tea and coffee leave us much more serious".