The United Kingdom Tea Company - and laterly, The English Butler Tea Shop and Tea Room, on Martha's Vineyard - was born of a transatlantic partnership between two women, of the same mind.

Tracy Powell, of Rochester, New York, and Alison David, of Bristol, England, met quite by chance in the infamous ferry queue on Martha’s Vineyard, off America’s East Coast.

They struck up a friendship, over a flask of tea that resulted less than a year later in the formation of this company.

Alison said: “Tracy has had a home on the island for years, and obviously loves it! I had been there for only a few days, and had a great time. My only complaint, as an English woman, was that I couldn’t get a decent cup of tea, anywhere!”

“I had joked about it with the landlord of the Twin Oaks guest house, where I had stayed. He said: “So, set up a tea business here! We gave you coffee. Now you give us TEA”. Little did he know the effect those words would have on me.

Tracy said: “The islanders would really enjoy the concept of a “proper cup of English tea”.

Four months later the United Kingdom Tea Company was resurrected from annuls of English tea history. Dating from the early 1800s, it had been the purveyor of fine quality teas to; The House of Commons, The House of Lords, and the ruling classes of Great Britain.