Jason Goodwin was born in 1964 and studied history at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was the joint winner of the Spectator/Sunday Telegraph Young Writer of the Year Award in 1987 and has travelled extensively in the Far East and India. He has written four books:The Gunpowder Gardens: Travels through India and China in Search of Tea, which was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1991;On Foot to the Golden Horn: A Walk to Istanbul, which was winner of the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1993;the highly acclaimed Lords of the Horizon: A History of the Ottoman Empire; and Greenback: The Story of the Almight Dollar.He divides his time between West Sussex and the south of France.

Jason Goodwin, inspired by his grandmothers who spent their lives in China and India observing the custom of afternoon tea, set off to explore the relics of this imperial age and its worldwide trade, delving into the extraordinary history of tea.