I invite you magnanimously
 to please be my guest for tea
 at a room with high standards of taste
 where the hostess remembers my face
 and greets me by name at the door
 and recalls what I've ordered before
 and inquires kindly after my day,
 and appreciates all that I say.
 She'll have orange pekoe for the pot
 and darjeeling, as likely as not,
 or if you are not in the pink
 our hostess knows which herbs to drink,
 like ginger to help with the grippe
 mixed with cinnamon and the rose hip;
 or fresh lemon balm if you wish,
 perhaps blended with sweet licorice. 
So whether you feel well or ill, 
this refreshment will quite fit the bill
 and, of course, you will quite enjoy me. 
Yours truly. RSVP 

-Aubrey Henslow

The History of Tea

Tea is one of a handful of plants that have shaped the world. Countless lives have been enriched by it - and more than a few sacrificed for it.

Across cultures and centuries, tea has been endlessly adapted and reinvented. Fresh, yet timeless, tea is both the flavour of the moment, and the taste of the past.

Tea may be steeped in history, but history is steeped in tea.