How do you drink your tea?

[Ralf]

Today it happened again; someone saw me pouring milk into my (black) tea and said "You English are strange!". The cheeky git. I let the culturally ignorant comment pass and simply pointed to a difference in taste.

What tea do you prefer? And how do you drink your tea?
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[Alan]

Hi Ralf,

Tea first. Then the milk, only a little. Can't stand weak tea. And that reminds me. When I first visited Germany 50 years ago, I met a charming family who invited me to stay with them a couple of days. At a certain point (around tea time I suppose) they ceremoniously offered me a hot drink. As I sipped it before an expectant audience, I remarked: I've always wanted to have a cup of real German coffee. There was a silence. The father of the family with an anguished look on his face said: But that's tea, Alan.

Alan
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[Ralf]

Hi Alan,

[Lost_Soul]

I like tea tepid and not too strong (even weak).
But most of the time I drink coffee.

[Ralf]

Hi Alex,

Some Brits call their tea 'char' and someone once told me that this colloquial expression is derived from the Russian word for tea. Is that true?
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[Lost_Soul]

Hi, Ralf

I'm not sure, but the word chair very closely resembles the Russian word for tea (which is Чай [chai])

[Ralf]

All right, that sounds more like chai then. Maybe you should try this variety since it's supposedly just as strong as coffee. But ever so much healthier
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[NinaZara]

I swear by this beverage. There is no single day that I go without it.

My favourites in any order are:

1)Milk tea-with ginger, cinnamon,cloves,star anis-chai like
2)Karada meguricha-it's a brand actually and it contains eight Eastern ingredients including Korean ginseng, and four types of tea including pu-erh tea and oolong tea
3)Houji-cha
4)Oolong
5)Green tea-known here as Ocha
6)Matcha-thick green tea

Any tea, really. If people make tea out of green grass, I think I'll drink it too.

[Yankee]

[Stew.t.]

Hi Ralf

Any habits of one culture seem strange to another, innit.

Just point out the habit of pouring (ruining) condensed milk into good coffee (typically German, and regional to Saxony).

cheers stew.t.
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[Yankee]

[Torsten]

[Ralf]

[Ralf]

[NinaZara]

Yes, green tea can be intimidating for some. In Malaysia, they add sugar to it.

It was around two years ago when green tea started gaining its popularity in Malaysia. I tried it, assuming it was the usual green tea, like the one I am used to in Japan. I nearly spat it out. Who on earth would add sugar to green tea? Preposterous. Simply outrageous. Down right blasphemous.

Although my sisters enjoy it, me, never again.

Whenever they refer to it as green tea, I always reply "Oh, the one you think is green tea?"

By the way, black tea is already good enough for health.