The 1872 Clipper Tea Co.

The company tells its own origin like this: in 1872 a young Ceylonese named Balage Porolis De Silva settled in Singapore and began serving Ceylon tea inside his jewellery boutique on High Street, as hospitality rather than as a business. The tea outlived the gesture. In the 1980s his great-grandson Sunil Amarasuriya, the fourth-generation head of the family firm, turned it into a brand, with a clipper ship on the label drawn together with designer Thayne Madrid.

What is actually on the shelf today is short and deliberate. Five loose-leaf pouches: Classic English Breakfast, the only 100 g bag and by some way the cheapest per gram; Alishan oolong and Milk Oolong in 50 g; and chamomile and peppermint, also 50 g, covering the caffeine-free end. No tins and no teabags in this list — just pouches, between S$ 23 and S$ 35. It is a range built for people who want one good tea rather than a wall of choices.

The flagship is at ION Orchard, unit #B4-07, four levels below Orchard Road, where the boutique doubles as a tea bar; by the company's own account Rehan Amarasuriya, who took over from his father, rebuilt it around Modbar tea extraction. Counters follow at Jewel Changi, the Botanic Gardens and every Changi terminal, which makes this the easiest of Singapore's tea shops to reach on the way to a plane. The same range is online.