I take a few quick sips. "This is really good." And I mean it. I have never tasted tea like this. It is smooth, pungent, and instantly addicting. "This is from Grand Auntie," my mother explains. "She told me 'If I buy the cheap tea, then I am saying that my whole life has not been worth something better.' A few years ago she bought it for herself. One hundred dollars a pound." "You're kidding." I take another sip. It tastes even better.

Tan is also in a band with several other well-known writers the Rock Bottom Remainders. When Tan was 15 years old her older brother Peter and father both died of brain tumors within a year of each other. She is the second of three children born to Chinese immigrants Daisy (née Li) who was forced to leave her three daughters from a previous marriage behind in Shanghai and John Tan an electrical engineer and Baptist minister.

In addition to these Tan has written two children's books: The Moon Lady (1992) and Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat (1994) which was turned into an animated series which aired on PBS. Tan is also in a band with several other well-known writers the Rock Bottom Remainders. Her most recent novel Saving Fish from Drowning explores the tribulations experienced by a group of people who disappear while on an expedition in the jungles of Burma.