How Do You Take Your Tea?

Tea is often referred to as the Buddhist drink. 

Tea is a universal beverage, consumed worldwide in greater quantity than any other drink except water.

But “tea” means different things in different places.

In Britain and Ireland tea is black and hearty, usually made with leaves from Sri Lanka and India. It's served with milk (poured into the cup before the tea) and sugar.

In China, tea may be made from long, flat Oolong leaves and served in a covered cup.

Ask for tea in Japan, and you'll get green tea—and green tea only.

A cup of Indian “chai” may be made with spices and canned milk.

If you order tea in the United States, you'll have to modify your request: iced or hot.

Tea leaves are eaten as food in Myanmar (Burma), where they are steamed or pickled to make salads.

Archaeological evidence indicates more than 500,000 years ago, in Southeast Asia where tea bushes grow wild, Homo erectus pekinensis was boiling water and eating tea leaves.

---Information gleaned from the book Tea Chings, by The Republic of Tea---