The Royal Encounter

They say nothing is impossible, especially with a little faith and a good cup of tea.

In Brampton, a small city outside of Toronto, there was a little teashop that could. Founders Daniel & Renata Lewis dreamed of bringing fun and exciting flavours of loose leaf tea to their community and little by little their dream started to catch on. People from all across the province would stop into the little teashop to experience a cup of a wide array of tea blends, and were always welcomed with excitement and passion. As years passed, their story and drive peaked the interest of many. Daniel began receiving  invites to speak to youth audiences to share his story of his love for tea and tenacity within the small business community. 

One of the places that invited him to share his journey was the Prince's Charities of Canada, were Daniel built the lasting connections that would change and shape the direction of T By Daniel in an unprecedented way.

In 2017 Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall announced that they would be making a special Royal Visit to Canada in honour of the 150th Canadian anniversary. 

The tour would consist of an eventful 3 day adventure for the Royal couple, that was planned months in advance. 

But as the wheels of fate would have it, just two weeks before they would touchdown, the Prince made a special request at one of his stops. 

In great British fashion, his last minute request was a request for tea.

Thanks to the connections at Prince’s Charities of Canada, the T By Daniel team was requested to provide tea for the King. There was no guarantee that Daniel & Renata would actually be allowed to present and serve the tea, but there was hope that the Prince himself- the future King of England, would be sipping T By Daniel. 

Ecstatic, Daniel & Renata agreed and immediately starting to figure out what they would serve to His Royal Highness. 

"Would it be something traditional? Something unique? How do you serve a Prince and what does he even like?" As they rattled their brains over the days that followed, an email from the Government of Canada landed in their inboxes.

An unbelievable message with an application for the 2017 Royal Tour to be a participant! 

With only one week to prepare what would be the most monumental moment for their business, Daniel and Renata landed an unlikely opportunity not only to have the Prince sip their tea, but to actually be present to serve it to him.

The preparation that followed was a whirlwind of excitement as an entire community worked together to send off Daniel & Renata. For a moment in time- T By Daniel became small-town Royalty.

On June 30th 2017, history was made. A young Canadian couple with a dream served tea to The Prince of Wales. So what did we end up serving him? Of course the Famous Lion Chai while also gifting him with a specially curated blend "Polo with the Prince" and life and business has never been the same since.

And that friends- is a little business fairytale!