Tea drinking modes around the world

Egypt

Tibet

It seems like they don't want anyone using their images outside of their content.
A link to the article works, but links to the image (the monk with the teapot) or inserting the image doesn't.

That's odd. I can see the photo of the monk in the post itself just fine.
FWIW, using MS Internet Explorer as my browser.

>5 tealadytoo: I think it is a decision made by the server software, that delivers the picture. The picture shows up at my home pc but not on the work pc.

Syrian Refugees In Lebanon

meet 4 yr old Mohamad, who is quoted: “If I had a super power, it would be to fly. I would tell other children from around the world to come and play with me and my sisters, and to drink tea together!”

Little man after my own heart!

A cup of tea is a hot, wet, aromatic Swiss army knife (Guardian)

How do teachers of English as a second language convey that ‘I’ll stick the kettle on’ means so much more?...

>9 John5918: That's a good read, John. Thanks very much for sharing it. The first line made me laugh out loud.

Actually, the rest of it reminds me of a book my study group once read, The Cup of Our Life.

Will Coronavirus end India’s tapri chai culture? (BBC)

Tea stalls are a staple meeting place for workers to vent, network and socialise. Can they survive?...

I really like Tinariwen's song about tea. Even better, their music video shows how to make it, Twareg-style: Iswegh Attay (I Drank some Tea). It's quite impressive!

And googling for "Ichrakat Askram" will give you lots of pictures of the tea caddy.
41022AA is a green Chinese tea very similar to the one in my cup right now!
But I'm putting a bit less sugar in it :-)

Thanks for posting.

Caption:
1939 - British soldier takes tea to comrades working to repair banks of River Ravensbourne which flooded south London.

Very inefficient, but sweet.

Maybe inefficient, but I imagine the morale boost that probably came with, having cups and saucers and all, was probably worth it. :).

Heh, what a coincidence--I was just looking for a cover of a Cecil Beaton book and came across this photo by him:

Women workers at the Gas Light and Coke Company at Bromley By Bow, London, serving tea on top of a gasometer in 1918. Photograph: AR Coster/Getty Images

>13 Dilara86: Thank you for the link to the video. I loved it!

>13 Dilara86:, >19 gmathis:

It shows very clearly the small glasses from which tea is drunk in various parts of the Arab world, including Sudan. I find the music soothing and relaxing. But assuming it is from north west Africa it also demonstrates how different the dialects there are from other parts of the Arab world. Iswegh Attay (I Drank some Tea) would be "sharabta shai" in Sudanese Arabic.

>19 gmathis: Glad you loved it!
>20 John5918: Tinariwen's band members come from Mali. They speak Tamasheq, which is only loosely related to Arabic (they're in different branches of the same language family). Am I right in guessing that "shai" means tea in Sudanese Arabic? It's interesting that the original hard "ch" sound softened to a "sh" sound... I like it!

>7 2wonderY: Thanks so much for that link with the wonderful little boy and his tea. I'm sure he generates a lot of donations.

>21 Dilara86:

Thanks for that explanation. Yes, shai is tea. In Kiswahili it is chai, and I think in India too. Sudanese Arabic has softened a number of the more guttural consonants, and to my ear sounds much nicer than, say, Egyptian Arabic.

India imposes restrictions on Kenyan tea to protect its farmers (Business Insider)

India’s tea regulator has issued fresh rules to curb shipments of low-priced Kenyan tea into the Asian country to protect its farmers from loss of market, stoking fears of a trade spat between the two countries...

Kenyan tea exports to Pakistan hits Sh39bn (Business Daily)

Pakistan purchased tea worth $350.9 million (Sh39.8 billion) at the Mombasa auction in the 10 months to October, cementing its position as Kenya’s leading market for the beverage. Industry performance report from the Tea Directorate shows that the Asian country bought 37.1 percent of the total exports in the review period, surpassing the $306.5 million (Sh34.75 billion) it ordered a year earlier...

Tea House Hike: A tiny, tasty secret deep in the Canadian Rockies (BBC)

Every summer, thirsty hikers make the 19km roundtrip to visit two century-old teahouses for a brew in the mountains above Lake Louise...

I visited Lake Louise thirty years ago but sadly I didn't then know about the tea houses!

>26 John5918: Thanks for sharing that article! What a setting that has to be...

>26 John5918: Ooh, I've been there too, went up to that teahouse on horseback. Love ♥️ love Lake Louise & Moraine Lake!

Pausing for tea, whether in reflection or in celebration, brings us together (Guardian)

You might sit down for a cuppa with a book, with friends or to mark a special occasion – however you take it, tea time allows us to slow down...

Or just a routine tea break where you stop working or whatever else you're doing and chat for a few minutes over cups of strong builder's tea.

>29 John5918: That's a nicely written piece!

Tea if by sea, cha if by land

The variations of the word around the world:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8C9bsXX/

A Guardian article about tea relations between the US and Great Britain

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/jan/24/perfect-cup-of-tea-needs-a-pinch-of...

I cringed through the whole article. Still spasming.

>32 2wonderY: Salt?

Salt works in coffee.

>32 2wonderY:

But she's spot on with her comment, "You get some awful cups of tea in the US. People here often use lukewarm water straight from a tap. It’s horrific”. I can't count the number of times I've ordered tea in the USA and received a cup of tepid water with a tea bag sitting on the saucer.

It's terrible staying in a hotel in the USA, as there are usually no tea making facilities in the rooms. I found that you can jam a teabag into one of those ubiquitous coffee making machines, but it's not the same as having a proper kettle so that you can pour boiling water onto the teabag.

Our first night in Las Vegas last year I ordered tea with dinner. Asked for Earl Grey, but the guy said they only had mint tea or regular orange pekoe. Asked for the orange pekoe. He couldn't find that, so I agreed to mint tea. It turned out to be green tea, not mint and it arrived beside a styrofoam cup of hot water. Sigh.

>36 tardis: We’ve learned to carry our own tea gear traveling. The electric kettle makes that feasible and a steel thermos for brew container. And our own supply of tea bags, of course.

Ten or so years ago I was accompanying an elderly retired South Sudanese Catholic bishop on a trip to the USA. He preferred drinking hot water rather than tea or coffee, and I recall that in a diner in New York the only way we could get a cup of hot water for him was to order tea and discard the tea bag. Their hot water machine was linked to the till, so to coax any water out of it at all you had to pay for tea or coffee.

i put my tea bag in a cup of tap hot water then after that the tea has spred i take out the tea bag and put sugar in it

>38 John5918: For Lent, my mother in law has been known to sacrifice tea and coffee. She'd have hot water with a dash of milk instead, which always reminded me of Asterix in Britain, with ancient Britons drinking exactly that, since tea hadn't reached their island yet...

>39 Arson_lover: You have not been taught properly, young person. Try actually brewing your water. You might discover a better taste.

>41 2wonderY: ok i just into tea and im in my early teens so it makes sense

>42 Arson_lover: Welcome to the group!

>43 2wonderY: thanks

>42 Arson_lover: I remember starting my tea journey in my teens. MANY moons ago. I didn't want to appear juvenile by ordering milk or soda in restaurants. I couldn't abide coffee, but tea seemed OK. My idea of tea then was Salada in a bag. I would not drink it now, but it was the start of a beautiful friendship.

Hope you enjoy your tea journey just as much!

>45 tealadytoo: ok thanks

>37 2wonderY: After that experience (and because in our hotel room the only way to get really hot water was to run it through a coffee maker - ugh!), I bought an immersion heater. Not as good as a kettle, but easier to pack. Hotels are very hit-and-miss when it comes to in-room supplies. I always carry tea, because the relatives I generally visit with are coffee drinkers, and if they have tea at all, it's likely not very fresh. We also carry steel travel mugs.

I must say, though, that that was the worst tea of the trip. The only place it was really excellent was a Chinese restaurant, but none of the other places we ate were as dire as the first.

>42 Arson_lover: Glad to have you! You have a great tea future ahead of you! Do you have a favorite variety yet?

>48 gmathis: lipton black tea

>49 Arson_lover: For fun, look at your local grocery stores for similar brands: Yorkshire, Ty-Phoo, Tetley, Twinings, PG Tips. They are all strong black tea blends, but each just a little different. Steep them strong and add a little milk!

>50 gmathis: ok thanks for advice

Constant Comment was my gateway tea.

>52 2wonderY: Me, too! The decaf of CC is pretty good, too, for what it's worth.

>32 2wonderY: Check out this short you tube video for a response to salt in tea from a tea expert and purveyor of fine teas.

And now Aunty Beeb weighs in: The mythos of drinking tea: What makes it essentially British?

When a US chemist suggested adding salt to tea, a storm brewed online. But why does tea, and the right way to make it, strike such a nerve for so many people, especially in the UK?... "The Chinese sip it from tiny cups, the Japanese whisk it. In America, they serve it iced. The Tibetans add butter. Russians serve with lemon. Mint is added in North Africa. Afghans flavour it with cardamom." The list of valid tea preparations from around the world goes on. But for many in the UK, tea somehow still strikes close to home. "By drinking tea, Britons were participating in a process of national myth-making"... And people love to talk about tea because it's, well, everywhere. "Tea punctuates our day... It's something that's a really important part of your daily rhythm – it's like your commute"...