Ask about preferred tea spots in Jamaica, Antigua, Grenada, St Lucia and Barbados and you’ll end up with enough names to keep you sipping for eternity.

Ask, however, for the one where the Dalai Lama, just to name one such notable, sips tea in the Caribbean and you might be shocked to discover that it’s in Trinidad and Tobago at a spot that’s home to the oldest guest house in the English-speaking Caribbean, as well as the largest Benedictine establishment in the region.

This is where SunDay Cuisine recently strained Darjeeling tea, embracing the calm and lapping up from our host, Gerard Ramsawak, the remarkable history of Pax Guest House. But first things first.

Elizabeth, our server, is ready to present the tea tray. Eschew thoughts of traditional tea fare. This one reflects the diverse culture of the region with various First Ladies of the embassies (in T&T) offering menu suggestions of their own, like steamed pow (a mini and not-so-spicy version of our sow bow), smiley Chinese – a sweet dough rolled in sesame seed and deep-fried (it cracks into a smile when deep-fried, hence the name) – cheese scones, creole sweet bread, lemon crunch cakes, pumpkin breads and curried egg sandwiches.

Perched as we are, 800 feet above sea level on the edge of the northern range, with a misty-blue-green forest to the back and the lush plains of Caroni at its front, as well as the University of the West Indies campus below, it’s easy to be transported back to 1912 and the arrival of three Dutch monks from Bahia, Brazil, fleeing persecution.

These monks would settle on the mountain range above the old Spanish capital of St Joseph and from the primitive ajoupa developed into what we call today The Mount-with the church, dwellings of the monks, the seminary, the vocational school, the farm, the apiary and, of course, Pax Guest House.

This, the Caribbean’s best-kept tea secret, is worth a visit when next you venture down south.