The Rarest Cup: Inside the High-Stakes World of International Tea Auctions
In the rarefied corridors of Kolkata's auction houses and the private bidding rooms of Taipei's specialty dealers, a single kilogram of tea can command a price that rivals fine art. For a growing circle of American collectors and investors, rare tea harvests have become serious luxury assets — objects of obsession, speculation, and profound connoisseurship. This is a world where provenance matters as much as flavor, and where the right harvest, acquired at the right moment, can define a collecti