It's amazing how life goes around in circles. My family has been in the tea business for well over 200 years. My grandfather was a wholesaler of teas in the Middle East and although he dealt with many other commodities, his passion was for tea. As it was in most of the Middle East, social life centered around tea. In the 1950s, my grandfather, sensing that it was time to leave, moved his sons out of the Middle East and by the time of the first war in the early 90s our tea business was closed.

I grew up neither interested nor uninterested in tea. It was a part of my history, but nothing more.

However, as I grew up, I discovered that I was a man of nose and palate—which means I love all things related to the senses. I have always loved food and the intricacies of cooking. I became a connoisseur of find foods, wines, spirits, beers, and tobacco. I'm one of those people who get's passionate about things. I can't help it: it's who I am.

When I started to make changes in my life, when I gave up coffee and started drinking tea, it became not only my passion but my life. Now my father laughs at how life has come full circle from his father to his son.

After owning and running dr. tea's in L.A., I have come to realize that tea has a long way to go in our country until it reaches the understanding and acceptability it has worldwide. It is with books, like the pages of the one herein, that we as a country will take our first steps to becoming a Tea Culture!

So, start your journey towards good health, "ONE CUP OF TEA AT A TIME!"
Mark "Dr. Tea" Ukra