q+a

You wrote a book about tea for kids. Tell us about that.

My interest in teatime started at a young age. Growing up, I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' farm in the Canadian Prairies, where there was always a pot of tea steeping, ready to welcome guests. The idea of tea as a means of hospitality is one that stuck. As I started to travel as a young adult, tea often acted as a gateway to meet new friends and learn about different cultures. For example, by enjoying the regional Dragon Well tea at a local tea house in Hangzhou, China, or tasting the deliciously sweet teh tarik (meaning ‘pulled tea’) at a night market in Singapore, or accepting the invitation of a shopkeeper in India to sample masala chai (while browsing the store), I’ve always met new and interesting people, and learnt about different places, people and cultures. I wanted to translate this openness and curiosity into a children’s book, as kids are the most open, warm, friendly, curious people I know. That’s how the idea of Teatime Around the World was inspired.

What draws you to tea?

I think of tea as a universal language of sorts, which has many different dialects. While the drink itself dates back thousands of years, and has a very eventful and colourful evolution, I’ve always known it to be a source of hospitality, welcoming and friendship. Seeing the world and learning about different people and cultures through the lens of tea (how it’s manufactured, prepared, celebrated, consumed, shared) is a very grounding and eyeopening experience. You can learn a lot about others, and a lot about how you see yourself in the world, through tea.

What’s the first cup you remember drinking?

My first tea cup was a small (child-size) white porcelain mug, decorated with small red roses and rimmed in delicate gold. My grandmother won it at a Bingo and gave