What do you have in mind when you hear a word of "tea"? “Milk Tea”, “Herbal Tea”,“Black Tea” or something else.
Tea is one of the greatest cultural treasures of Chinese civilization. Tea was historically discovered by the legendary emperor, Shennong, who believed that water was safe to drink only by first boiling it.
For Western people, most of them might prefer coffee to tea and know litter about Chinese tea culture. So today, I would like to introduce more our tea culture to you.
As we all known, tea is more and more popular nowadays. Especially in China, tea is an indispensable part of Chinese life.
As a saying goes: Rather go without salt for 3 days than without tea for one.
Tea is a type of beverage of creating wisdom, it is helpful for thinking, writing and creating a good atmosphere to talk with your friends.
As a foreigner, you might still exist misunderstanding about tea, you might conceive the function of tea is good, but tastes bad. Why? Why do you think so? Because Chinese people used to export poor tea to other countries and keep good tea for their home use. You have never ever tasted good tea in Western.
Actually, Tea usually has a cooling, slightly bitter flavor.There are 6 kinds of tea: Green tea, Black tea, White tea, oolong (tea) and Yellow tea, but Black tea and green tea are the most popular in China.
A nice cup of green tea is always a real boon in Summer days, but it is not good to drink in the early morning with an empty stomach.
While Black tea is suitable for the people whose stomach is upset and who are experiencing diarrhea, then one cup of black tea may be just the answer. It also could boost heart health and prevent tooth decay.
There is no doubt that more and more young people drink alcohol, some people drink it because they are addictive to alcohol, but some of them might be for business engagement, festival party, etcetera. They will get terrible hangovers and headaches in the following day. In this case, to prevent any troubles. You’d better to drink some tea, which is also good for your health. A cup of strong tea will pick you up after getting drunk.
For Chinese people, we usually use tea plant to serve our relatives and guests with small talk before a rich meal. Furthermore, most of staff also drink tea in the office with some desserts, fruits, and snacks nowadays, especially in the afternoon., which is so-called afternoon tea. While Cantonese people would like to drink morning tea for breakfast in a teahouse .
Ok, now, let’s discuss the procedure of mixing tea with hot water. Firstly, clean your hands. Secondly, clean the tea set. After that, put the tea into the hot water and pour-out the tea plant at the first soaking. Then, you might drink the tea immediately once you get it from tea makers. But in China, we usually view and appreciate tea in the first place, then smell it and taste it at last. What’s more, if you would like to thanks for someone who passes the tea to you, you could knock the table twice with 2 fingers if you are a junior or knock the table once with 2 fingers if you are an elder.
All in all, Chinese tea culture places emphasis on the taste, color and effect of the tea as well as on the presentation of the tea set. Tea has become more than a mere drink. Rather, it is a symbol of the Chinese people and culture.
