This is Planet Money from NPR.

Ben Poole runs a high-end T-shop in the UK.

I don't think there will be a better smelling work environment personally.

Not only is the place rich with the aroma of exotic teas, it is also rich with history.

The building was built in 1177.

Sorry, did you say 1177?

1177, yes, by the Normans when they conquered England.

Ben's business specializes in fancy, far-flung varietals that he buys in bulk from countries

like China and India.

Any time from early spring to mid-fall, depending on what type of leaf is being harvested.

And for months now, he has been biting his time to make a big purchase from Taiwan,

of a very particular kind of tea.

It's called Honey Han Cha.

It's a tea that smells like a perfume.

To buy that Honey Han Cha, Ben will have to use British pounds.

Which, if you haven't been following international currency fluctuations, have been on something

of a downward spiral the last few months.

So he's been holding off on sealing the deal.

Hoping the pound would regain enough value to make that fancy tea just a little bit less

expensive before it whithers on the vine this fall.

But then, a couple weeks ago, things got even worse for Ben and the pound.

In the form of a speech given to Parliament by the new Conservative Chancellor of the Ex-Checher

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