TEA BY REGION

America

TEA
Although coffee is considered THE American drink, about 50 percent of Americans drink tea, but 80 percent of that is Iced Tea (yes, Snapple counts) and a lot of us Yankees are starting to drink herbal teas because of the mounting holistic discoveries.



Great Britain

TEA
Tea in Britain is considered a meal. Whenever there is a crisis or catastrophe, the standard response is,"I'll put some water on for tea, dear." Served at 4 p.m. Most Brits swear that it is important to pour the milk first, but rumour has it that the Queen herself prefers adding milk after. So did George Orwell, evidently.



China

TE (Fujian province) and CHA(Cantonese)
A Chinese saying identifies the seven basic daily necessities as fuel, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea. And why not? The Chinese were drinking tea long before anyone else, in fact we anglophiles (and Swedes and French and Italians, etc.) get the word for Tea from the Fujian province, 'te', from whence the Dutch first started importing it. But Russia, Turkey and far eastern countries get there word for tea from the Northern Chinese (Cantonese) "Cha"(for example in India, tea is "Chai"). One exception, in portuagal, tea is "cha", while Spain says "te", Portugal still retains it's one coloney, in Asia, Macau.



Tibet

TSAMPA
Here tea is churned with yak butter, sometimes nuts, egg, salt and sugar.



Japan

O CHA (meaning honorable tea)
Chado, meaning "the way of tea", was practiced by tea masters,Chanoyu (literally meaning "hot water for tea") began to be taught to women after the 19th century. It had typically been the warriors and men who had the priveledge of preparing and serving the tea. Among them, is:

Sen Rikyu (1522-1591), the greatest sixteenth century tea master, identified the spirit of the Way of Tea with the four basic principles of harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility.

Here is a link to to the Tokugawa Museum which shows a variety of ancient tea instruments.



India

CHAI
Today India and Sri Lanka are the world's largest tea producers with over half of their crops being consumed inside India. Chai milk tea is made in India, and has been recently introduced to cafes in the USA. Darjeling and Assam come from India.



North Africa

SHAYE
In Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, Tea is commonly served in Mosques. Green Tea is served hot and with sugar and mint. It is poured masterfully by a tea server from a few feet above the small shot-type glass. Here is a Moroccan Tea Recipe.



Russia

YAU (pron. CHAI)
By 1689 the Trade Treaty of Newchinsk established a common border between Russia and China, and Tea began its importation.T he Russians use a Samovar to prepare tea, which is a combination water boiler and tea pot, somewhat akin to the turkish way. Tea is usually sweetened with sugar, honey or jam and sipped from a glass in a silver holder. The Russians introduced adding lemon to tea (sometimes studded with cloves), and the british adopted this costume after Queen Victoria visted Russia. Caravan tea, a blend of China and India black teas, is a popular Russian variety.

Tea (along with vodka) is the national drink of the Russians today.(compare that with coffee (along with beer) for America.(yeek).

Tea In 27 Languages