Intercontinental tea culture

[Risu-chan]

I went to a Chinese takeout restaurant in campustown recently... behind the counter was this very puzzled Chinese girl who was obviously used to hearing English spoken with American accents, and just in front of me in line was this group of very puzzled British exchange students who couldn't believe their ears. The exchange went something like this:

Student: You mean you have NO MILK AT ALL in this WHOLE RESTAURANT?

Waitress: No milk.

Student: Then how do you drink tea? I can't drink tea without milk in it! You've got to have some milk somewhere...

Waitress (blinking a few times, realizing what was just said, and trying not to look revolted): I'm sorry... we don't have milk. At all. No milk. Would you like lemon?

Student (loudly and slowly): No milk at all?

Waitress (loudly and slowly): No milk.

At this point I was so severely tempted to jump in with "Besides, doesn't everyone know that the proper way to drink tea in Illinois is iced with sugar and mint sprigs?" but I restrained myself.

I told the British students about the milk for sale at the Walgreen's across the street, and they looked like they were about to burst into tears and proclaim me their savior and they immediately dispatched one of their cohorts to fetch milk as another one commiserated with me about what terrible undrinkable stuff Lipton is and give her a proper glass of Tetley Tips any day.

I tried not to shudder at the thought of their reactions to milk in green tea, and took my takeout, and left grinning from ear to ear.

England and America may be two countries divided by a common language; I think England and Japan are two imperialist island nations divided by a common beverage... they both have tea ceremonies of a sort, but each would think the other's variety of tea ceremony was completely undrinkable...

I don't know, I was just greatly amused by the widely differing concepts of the "right" way to drink tea...

me, I like all of them in the right places -- but some kinds of tea just don't belong with some foods. I'd never drink green tea with Welsh cage bach and custard, and I'd never drink black British tea {inc. cream and sugar} with sushi. And I'd never drink hot tea with a midsummer barbecue. It'd just be wrong. In my less than humble opinion. ^_~

Anyone else got random contemplations on the "correct" variety of tea to be drunk with your type of food? ^_~ {since I don't like alcohol, I have to get all food-debate-ish over something, I guess...}

[tenjou_sama]

Milk and green tea? [img]confused.gif[/img]

I don't really have a preference on what foods should go with tea...I only drink iced tea XD Must be since I live in the south...when people usually have hot tea it's with desert or finger foods.

[crisisdreams]

Ooh! Tea discussions...hmm...well, I like many different types of tea. Japanese tea (cold), Chinese tea (The kind made of flowers...mmm...light and tasty), English tea, etc. etc. I really love Hong Kong's invention...milk tea. It's loaded with milk, sugar, and tea that's stronger than coffee. ^___^
Oh! And we have "Pearl Milk Tea" too, but that went out of style four years ago...

I mainly drink the cold asian tea types (milk tea, green tea, etc.) with asian type food. ^^** Oh, but I like iced tea with anything, and I only drink hot tea with their respective foods...chinese tea with dim sum and so on.

And...this is a very random and strange conversation. ^___^

[Risu-chan]

Is "pearl milk tea" like "bubble tea"? (has tapioca in it?) If so, that's just starting to catch on around here -- we've now got two bubble-tea-and-Internet cafes in town. Odd combination to me (hot drinks, delicate circuitry, recipe for disaster, I'd have thought; go figure)...

(sweatdrop) oh yeah, did I mention I was insane? It didn't start out that random though... honest... I was drinking tea at lunch and thinking about culture shock moments to possibly toss at the Yami/Cain crossover and had a flashback and had to babble about it some... ^^;;

[rev.tsukiyama]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> England and America may be two countries divided by a common language; I think England and Japan are two imperialist island nations divided by a common beverage... they both have tea ceremonies of a sort, but each would think the other's variety of tea ceremony was completely undrinkable...</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

So, I've been doing it wrong all these years???

I'm a brit and although I'm predominately a coffee drinker (black, no sugar) I also take my 'british' tea black. (very weak earl grey for preference). Having said that if I'm drinking tea, it'll probably be green. Apart from the fact I'm a vegan, you just CANT put milk in tea. Bleh. Cream would be even worse. Now putting rum in it, that's a different matter...

Having experienced both Japanese and American culture, I have to say that I can identify with the Japanese as an island race, with similar cultural nuances. In a similar way Britain doesent feel truly part of continental europe.

Oh yeah, and last night I was eating miso soup with beer - so figure that one out [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

[david a go go go]

I am pretty sure in China(north-Tianjin/Bejing area) tea whether it be oolong,green,jasmine,orange-flower etc. is drank only after or before a meal, it's used as a sort of mint that cleanses the senses. So it looks really strange when a person drinks tea and eats food at the same time. ^^;; I know from experience that my family is really into tea, the chinese treats tea like people here treat wine and a person can tell a good batch of tea from a bad batch with a single smell. *_* It's not uncommon for my grandmother to spend $500 for a ounce of tea. Personally I can never taste the difference that well and my grandmother got really mad at me for chugging down a cup of really really good tea without savoring it. XO

[Risu-chan]

Wow... $500 for an ounce of tea? Were there gold shavings in it somewhere?

(sweatdrop) For $500 I'd buy myself a new computer and a box of Lipton... I have no class, I suppose... ^^;;;

[Elf]

Illinois! You never really hear about Illinois so I feel bad for it... (Illinois: You should.) Er...um...getting back on topic ^^;;

The only "cold" tea I really like is the tea my grandmother used to make. She'd fill the pitcher up with tea...stuff...and would set it out in the sun. It was my favorite! ...As for "hot" tea, though...I like green tea, but I'll admit, I never would have tried it if my friend hadn't forced it down my throat... ^^;;

So anyway, I thought that I'd add my two cents worth!

[Risu-chan]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by tsukiyama saunt:
So, I've been doing it wrong all these years???

I'm a brit and although I'm predominately a coffee drinker (black, no sugar) I also take my 'british' tea black. (very weak earl grey for preference). Having said that if I'm drinking tea, it'll probably be green. Apart from the fact I'm a vegan, you just CANT put milk in tea. Bleh. Cream would be even worse. Now putting rum in it, that's a different matter...</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

^___^ Fascinating... so both tea and coffee ought to be black, and never mind this frilly cappuccino or chai stuff? How positively American of you. (No offense! ^_^ Speaking as an American, I don't see that as an insult... ^_~)

I can't drink coffee (something in it gives me migraines -- sometimes there's enough of it in tiramisu or coffee-flavored ice cream to do the same thing)... Most of the time I drink tea "black" (whether it's black or green) too, but when I was in Carmarthen, nearly everyone who watched me drink a cup of tea black stared at me like I'd grown another head...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">
Having experienced both Japanese and American culture, I have to say that I can identify with the Japanese as an island race, with similar cultural nuances. In a similar way Britain doesent feel truly part of continental europe.

Oh yeah, and last night I was eating miso soup with beer - so figure that one out [img]biggrin.gif[/img] [/QB]</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

ROTFL! ^___^ Ah, but was it Ebisu beer? There's the sticking point...

Having been in America and Britain, but never having been in Japan, from what I can see, it does seem to have some common cultural assumptions. 'We're a little isolated, we're unique, we have centuries and centuries of history but not much space, so every place has layers and layers of history in it.'

As opposed to the American 'we've got yonks of space but no history worth sneezing at in terms of the grand scale of things because the newcomers who got here just a couple hundred years ago did their damnedest to commit near-total cultural genocide and so we don't know most of what happened before they hit the place like a swarm of locusts...'

who me, bitter? Heck yeah... unfortunately I'm several generations too late and the wrong gender to be able to have done anything about it though. @_@ Boy am I in a rambling-off-topic mode lately... ^^;;;

[Breze]

Would anyone believe me if I told them I've tried iced pearl milk green tea? ^^; I'm serious here. A sucker for cold drinks I am (fruit juice excluded), I tried it at this small chinese cafe/restuarant place we were eating dinner at. Not bad, kinda like normal milk tea but with a dash of the bitter tanginess you find in green tea.

So English, Japanese, and Tawainese all mixed into one. Go figure, I live in 'multicultural' Australia. ::rolls eyes::

Speaking of green tea, am I the only one who hates it cold? I brought one in a bottle once, and it was just so... blegh? Gimme iced coffee anyday. And the cans of iced coffee in HK and Japan are so nice. ^o^ And Gloria Jean's coffee! ...

::coughs:: Oops. Sorry Got carried away. Caffeine addict here. Anyway, I like iced lemon tea, too. ^o^

<font color="#660033" size="1">[ February 14, 2003 02:20 AM: Message edited by: Breze ]</font>