My wife loves tea. She gets pretty good stuff. Twinings, Typhoo, Taylor of Harrogate

Very nice. I admit I was being a bit unfair, for rhetorical purposes: there are lots of places in the US where you can get really good tea. There are also lots of places where you can't, though, such as the old Sonicblue/Rio building in Santa Clara, and the unnamed hotel in this classic account (search for "California") of lack of understanding of how to make a proper cup of tea (i.e. that the water must hit the tea while still very near boiling).

The last time I was in the US I was introduced to the masala chai latte (or just "chai latte" despite the fact that "masala" -- "spiced" -- is really the operative word). It's not tea as we know it, but it's much more widely available, and is a splendid thing in its own right.

Peter