A hundred years after
its arrival in England in 1658, tea had changed the way people
lived. Today in tea drinking countries, how people dine, work,
and enjoy their leisure time is still influenced by an ongoing
love affair with tea. This is reflected in language. The call
of, "Tea break,” for example,
announces a short rest period at work.
Drinking tea required specialist apparatus, some
of which was originally imported from China. Later the English
made adaptations to suit their own style of tea drinking. Take
the teaspoon. It started life as a spoon-for-tea, but also became
a standard measurement in cooking. Without it almost every cookbook
published in the last 300 years would need to be rewritten. In
traditional China though, the teaspoon was unknown as tea drinkers
did not add anything to their tea leaves except hot water and therefore
had no need to stir.
Some common tea words
tea (dinner), high tea, tea time, morning/afternoon tea, tea break, tea shop,
tea towel (dish towel), tea set, tea service, tea caddy, tea cup, tea saucer,
tea pot, tea kettle, teaspoon, tea cosy, tea table, tea chest.
Chinese cuisine has been exported to the world very successfully. Tea is the one singular item that has eclipsed all Chinese foodstuffs and even the cuisine itself in its influence on the wider world. A drink enjoyed in all its various forms by everyone from Japanese Emperors to Russian peasants. more …
