History of Western Tea Culture

As we all know, China is the hometown of tea, and tea culture has a history of thousands of years before it was spread. However, it was not introduced into the UK until the late seventeenth century. At that time, tea was regarded as a luxury product in the UK, and only members of the royal family could purchase it at high prices. It was not until 1750 that it slowly became popular across the country and became a drink for all the British. . Later, when some British immigrated to the United States, tea was brought there.

Unlike in China, where everyone likes to use whole leaf to make tea, some modern Western countries prefer to use tea bags. As for the invention of tea bags, it was an accident. In 1904, an American tea importer put loose tea leaves into a silk bag. He originally planned to let customers pour out the tea leaves and use it to make tea. Instead, they put the bag in as well, so the tea bag was called? Invented?

Another more advanced way to drink tea is tea capsule (Tea capsule, also called K-cup). The principle is to use a capsule coffee machine to inject high-pressure steam into the tea capsule to instantly brew the tea. The main brands of capsule tea include Nestlé Nespresso, Senseo, Tassimo, etc. The classic of Western tea

English breakfast tea is actually a mixture of Indian Assam, Ceylon tea and Kenyan tea. It is the most representative tea in the UK. One of the most popular black tea drinks. It has a mellow and strong taste, full aroma, and a light floral aroma. It is usually paired with English breakfast, grilled foods and strong-flavored foods.

Earl Gray is a flavored tea based on black tea with oil of bergamot added to it. It is usually available in the form of tea bags. Bergamot is also called fragrant. It is native to Italy and is a citrus plant. Some people mistake it for bergamot licorice. Because of its sesame oil, the orange flavor will overflow from the moment you pour boiling water into it. Earl Gray tea is very popular in the West, and some tea bags also say double bergamot oil (twice the bergamot essential oil) to attract consumers.

As for green tea, most people like to drink pure green tea, but some Westerners like to add lemon, ginger, jasmine, or mint ( peppermint) and so on.

It is also worth mentioning that matcha products are becoming more and more popular now, but in fact there is a big difference between green tea powder and matcha powder. The production of matcha The process is relatively rigorous. Not only does it have particularly high requirements for tree species (usually imported from Japan), but it also has to go through various steps, so the color, aroma, and flavor are different from green tea powder. The price of authentic matcha powder is as high as 250 for 100 grams. Yuan, you can imagine that authentic matcha products are not expensive.

For white tea, because it is only dried in the sun or slow fire after picking, the taste is light. It is generally like to be paired with various fruits, such as blueberries, pomegranates, etc.

There are too many examples of herbal teas, so I won’t describe them one by one. The most common ones are chamomile, dandelion, and various fruit teas. The fusion of Chinese and Western tea cultures

At the beginning of the 17th century, after tea arrived in the Netherlands, the trend of tea drinking soon spread to Britain, France, Germany and other countries. In 1637 AD, the British first shipped tea from Xiamen, China. In 1662 AD, the Queen of Tea Drinking, Catherine, advocated tea drinking in the royal family. She used Yuzhao as the trademark for Chinese black tea and promoted the use of tea instead of wine, making the trend of tea drinking very popular. .

During this period, Chinese black tea began to enter the London market in large quantities, and tea drinking became popular throughout the British Isles.

In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the British trafficked large quantities of tea from Xiamen and Guangzhou in my country. In addition to supplying their own needs, they also transported large quantities of tea to the American colonies. Later, they were successively sold to Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, In Hungary and other countries, the Boston Tea Destruction Incident in 1773 broke out the American War of Independence. It can be seen that Chinese tea had a profound influence in Europe at that time.

The drinking of black tea in China is not as demanding as the "Kung Fu Tea Method" of drinking oolong tea, which requires brewing techniques and the spirit of the tea ceremony. Black tea only follows the traditional drinking method, with clear drinking as the main drink and mixed drinks as a supplement. After spreading to foreign countries, black tea was blended with milk to make milk tea with a unique flavor. This not only deepened the black tea drinking method, but also led to various tea drinking customs. Take the UK for example. Since the Portuguese princess Catherine married King Charles II of England in 1662, she has not only become the first "tea-drinking queen" in British history, but also enjoys a high reputation for promoting the British tea trade and advocating the tea-drinking trend. After the queen entered the palace, the custom of drinking tea first became popular in the British court and became a kind of court etiquette. Then it became popular among wealthy families, becoming their panacea and a popular social drink. Due to the queen's advocating tea drinking, it became a fashionable trend for noble ladies. In the 18th century, the price of tea became increasingly low, and tea became the main beverage of the British. Tea drinking gradually became popular among the people. At this time, there were many popular teahouses, and tea drinking became popular among all walks of life. In British life, tea is an indispensable thing.

As one of the three most popular non-alcoholic beverages in the world, tea drinking is a hobby all over the world. In the UK, tea is regarded as a beauty and beauty drink, forming a fashionable custom of drinking morning tea and afternoon tea. Tea is called: "the liquid of health, the drink of the soul." ?In the eyes of the French, tea is the most gentle, romantic and poetic drink. ?Korean people believe that tea culture is the root of Korean national culture, and May 24th is National Tea Day every year. In Japan, tea is not only regarded as a "cure for all diseases", but also in the long-term practice of drinking tea by the Japanese, tea drinking has been separated from the scope of daily material life needs and developed into an elegant cultural art. tea ceremony.