Hang Out

in the Bridge of Tea Culture and

Coffee culture

TITTLE : Chinese Tea and American Coffee Cultures  

 

NAME:Wei  Wenjia  University:HNU  E-­‐mail:2769322408qq.com  Phone  number:15716693250          

1    

Abstract：Tea and coffee play important roles in our life. And tea and coffee

cultures are also broad and profound.

Keywords: tea coffee culture history exchange wealthy exchange

friendship

Introduction: Tea and coffee cultures have long histories and they are our

valuable culture wealths. Through our culture communication, we can know more

about each other and promote our friendship. So at this time, I want to choose the

topic of tea and coffee cultures to make people better understand the eastern culture

and western culture.

Body: Tea culture and coffee culture recently have been given more and more

attention. Ok, today we will concentrate on these two fomous drinks ---- tea and

coffee.

In the first place, let’s study the Chinese tea clture. You can see, we Chinese

people, in our drinking of tea, place much significance on the act of "savoring."

Snatching a bit of leisure from a busy schedule, making a kettle of strong tea, securing

a serene space, and serving and drinking tea by yourself can help banish fatigue and

frustration, improve your thinking ability and inspire you with enthusiasm. You may

also imbibe it slowly in small sips to appreciate the subtle allure of tea-drinking, until

your spirits soar up and up into a sublime aesthetic realm. Buildings, gardens,

ornaments and tea sets are the elements that form the ambience for savoring tea. A

tranquil, refreshing, comfortable and neat locale is certainly desirable for drinking tea.

Chinese gardens are well known in the world and beautiful Chinese landscapes are

2    

too numerous to count. Teahouses tucked away in gardens and nestled beside the

natural beauty of mountains and rivers are enchanting places of repose for people to

rest and recreate themselves.

China is a country with a time-honored civilization and a land of ceremony and

decorum. Whenever guests visit, it is necessary to make and serve tea to them. Before

serving tea, you may ask them for their preferences as to what kind of tea they fancy

and serve them the tea in the most appropriate teacups. In the course of serving tea,

the host should take careful note of how much water is remaining in the cups and in

the kettle. Usually, if the tea is made in a teacup, boiling water should be added after

half of the cup has been consumed; and thus the cup is kept filled so that the tea

retains the same bouquet and remains pleasantly warm throughout the entire course of

tea-drinking. Snacks, sweets and other dishes may be served at tea time to

complement the fragrance of the tea and to allay one's hunger.

Chinese tea culture has a long history. Tea culture entered its most prosperous

ear in Tang and Song Dynasty, which had evolved into a condition that the fashion

drinking tea had extended all over the country and tea had thus won the status as

national beverage. The Scripture of Tea appeared which promoted the Chinese tea

culture to an altitude that had never been previously attained. Those continually

emerging eminent figures in the tea industry propelled an intentional pursuit for water,

tea, tea set and decoction in tea drinking to such an extreme elegance, perfection,

delicacy and sophistication, so that in late Tang and Song Dynasty, an extravagant

fashion was formed and occurred in tea culture.

3    

Tea culture is of much elegance. In the contemporary society, tea culture plays a

role of enriching cultural and leisure life, promoting the development of tea-related

economy and trade, and propelling culture exchange between nations. In the 21st

century, tea culture will grow to an even larger scale, involve an even wider range of

fields, perform an even stronger function and bring an even closer integration of

tradition and modern times which will in turn promote tea culture to an international

level.

Tea culture is one of the common traits shared by all the 56 ethnic groups in China.

Many Chinese people believe that a day is not perfect without a cup of tea. Either in

the warm southern mountain area or on the frozen northern grassland, stuff like

Gongfu tea, buttered tea and milk tea are all among the favorite drinks. Furthermore,

both ancient and modern Chinese people tend to indulge in elaborating on poems,

essays, dances and dramas on the tea. Chinese tea is part of Chinese culture. Many

people likes drinking tea, and a lot of kinds of tea have become famous. There are a

variety of good tea which attract many foreigns. So we must do more to improve the

fame of Chinese tea .

Do you like drinking coffee? Next, let’s talk about the coffee culture. The history

and development of the beverage that we know as coffee is varied and interesting,

involving chance occurrences, political intrigue, and the pursuit of wealth and power.

According to one story, a sheepherder named Kaldi as he tended his sheep

noticed the effect of coffee beans on behavior. He noticed that the sheep became

hyperactive after eating the red "cherries" from a certain plant when they changed

4    

pastures. He tried a few themselves, and was soon as overactive as his herd. The story

relates that a monk happened by and scolded him for "partaking of the devil's fruit."

However the monks soon discovered that this fruit from the shiny green plant could

help them stay awake for their prayers.

Another legend gives us the name for coffee or "mocha." An Arabian was

banished to the desert with his followers to die of starvation. In desperation, Omar had

his friends boil and eat the fruit from an unknown plant. Not only did the broth save

the exiles, but the residents of the nearest town, Mocha, took their survival as a

religious sign. The plant and its beverage were named Mocha to honor this event.

One early use for coffee would have little appeal today. The Galla tribe from

Ethiopia used coffee, but not as a drink. They would wrap the beans in animal fat as

their only source of nutrition while on raiding parties. The Turks were the first

countries to adopt it as a drink, often adding spices such as clove, cinnamon,

cardamom and anise to the brew.

Coffee was introduced much later to countries beyond Arabia whose inhabitants

believed it to be a delicacy and guarded its secret as if they were top secret military

plans. The government forbade transportation of the plant out of the Moslem nations.

The actual spread of coffee was started illegally. One Arab named Baba Budan

smuggled beans to some mountains near Mysore, India, and started a farm there.

Early in this century, the descendants of those original plants were found still growing

fruitfully in the region. cent III heard this

Coffee was believed by some Christians to be the devil's drink. Pope Vin and

5    

decided to taste it before he banished it. He enjoyed it so much and baptized it, saying,

"coffee is so delicious it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it."

Coffee today is grown and enjoyed worldwide, and is one of the few crops that

small farmers in third-world countries can profitably export.

Tea and coffee are two drinks of the largest consumption in the world. Coffee is

irreplaceable in the lives of westerners, whether it is in schools, companies or

shopping arcade, people carry coffee and find pleasure in it. However, tea is not only

a drink in Chinese people’s life, but also carries human emotions and culture. Tea and

coffee, which have different connotation and history, are representative of the

differences between Chinese and Western cultures.  Nowadys, culture has linked west

and east, south and north. No matter western culture or eastern culture, they all belong

to the cultural heritage of human being.

Culture is a subtle thing and nothing predictable at first glance. But it surely

permeates in our daily life such as tea and coffee. The coffee made out in one

vigorous effort is the life the Westerners always try to get; the perseverance of

Chinese tea is the kind of stable and peaceful life the Chinese want. Exude fragrance

aroma as coffee does, Western culture is shone with deep and vivid tints though it also

has a not-long history. The strong straightforward taste of coffee represents the

westerners’ honest and direct way of standing in the world. As one of the

representative of the Chinese culture, tea which has carried the colorful culture of

several thousand years in China made its own tea culture at the same time. Chinese

history is varied and need people to look closely enough. It is also on the behalf of the

6    

Chinese implicit and euphemistic way of communication. From one learn all, perhaps

this is just a picture to show tea and coffee’s position in Chinese and Western

culture.

Conclusion: Tea and coffee cultures are the great wealths in China and America.

We need to treasure them. And through this culture communication, we can know

more about each other and promote our friendship between China and America.

Coffee and tea were not in dissensions and contraditions.  If we have free time, let’s

enjoy these fancy and relaxing drinks. Maybe we can carry a cup of coffee on one

hand and a cup of tea on another hand, just enjoy it .

Reference:

Baidu Library: tea culture and coffee culture