Why do you think that the Chinese way is the only way to prepare authentic tea? It’s so weird dude. We have an ancient tea tradition in India. That’s my point. That a purist might think this method as the proper way too. And it’d be just as valid.
It’s not weird at all. China invented tea (Camellia sinensis). The cultivation techniques, the drying and fermenting, and the brewing techniques for various types of black, white, green, and oolong tea. They named it, too. Both “tea” and “chai” are derived from the Chinese word for tea.
Tea wasn’t cultivated in India until the nineteenth century, when it was introduced by colonial British who literally stole tea plants and seeds from China in an act of corporate espionage. At that point in time, China had been cultivating tea for multiple millennia, and exporting it around the globe for several hundred years. India initially produced CTC (cut, tear, crush) tea on colonial plantations for export, only later (in the 1900s) selling tea to the domestic Indian market, when the practice of adding CTC black tea to masala chai took off in India.
What’s weird is that you’ve bought into some kind of alternate history where India invented tea.
Sure, if you think preparation and ingredients don’t matter. Enjoy a hot, steaming, cup of Saturn.
Why do you think that the Chinese way is the only way to prepare authentic tea? It’s so weird dude. We have an ancient tea tradition in India. That’s my point. That a purist might think this method as the proper way too. And it’d be just as valid.
It’s not weird at all. China invented tea (Camellia sinensis). The cultivation techniques, the drying and fermenting, and the brewing techniques for various types of black, white, green, and oolong tea. They named it, too. Both “tea” and “chai” are derived from the Chinese word for tea.
Tea wasn’t cultivated in India until the nineteenth century, when it was introduced by colonial British who literally stole tea plants and seeds from China in an act of corporate espionage. At that point in time, China had been cultivating tea for multiple millennia, and exporting it around the globe for several hundred years. India initially produced CTC (cut, tear, crush) tea on colonial plantations for export, only later (in the 1900s) selling tea to the domestic Indian market, when the practice of adding CTC black tea to masala chai took off in India.
What’s weird is that you’ve bought into some kind of alternate history where India invented tea.