Foreword

Whatever the name, whatever the place, whenever the time, the uncomplicated infusion of the leaf in water awakens the body, refreshes the senses, and soothes the spirit. A Beijing mother start's her day by lighting the fire that heats the family kettle. A Mumbai street vendor, anticipating the afternoon scurry, balances a tray of tettering glassfulls. A British ends his evening meal with sips from an heirloom cup.

Tea knows no boundaries. It is available everywhere and within the reach of everyone, costing just pennies per cup and requiring only hot water and the patience to linger a few minutes while the leaves impart their singular flavour. Next to water, tea is the world's most consumed beverage.

From Australia to Zanzibar, more then seven hundred billion cups a year are prepared in one way or another ------ some are the result of elaborate rituals, others the product of an unceremonious drinking of store - bought tea bag. Some are sipped slowly with the kind of relish often reserved for a fine wine. Some are slurped hastily on the way from here to there. Many are enriched with milk, sweetened with sugar or honey, brightened with lemon, or enhanced with the bouquet of herbs and spices. The preparation is a matter of traditon and taste, the time spent a question of priorities, but the enjoyment of dry, wrinkled leaves steeped in water is universal.