Culture in a teacup

A lot can be said about a nation through its food and drink. While almost every nation in Asia has its own food (yes you poor Singaporeans, you have national food too), the national drink of the continent can easily said to be tea. This does not mean that tea tells us nothing about Asia, because tea is a complicated bugger. It can be drunk black and without sugar, black, green or herbal, mixed with milk or with a drop or two of lemon. Every nation in Asia drinks it differently, and these are my observations:

India : tea drinking styles that reflect the (in)famous land of contrast. The brilliant darjeeling and assam teas, drunk black or white in high style in posh homes. The cheap mass produced tea grown God-knows-where cut and cooled by a street vendor and poured into the cups of the grateful on trains and streets everywhere. Even beggars have their mysterious polythene bag of tea. The way tea is drunk in India, is a testament to the nation's diversity and pragmatism.

Sri Lanka: Famous for one of the world's best black teas. Like India however, the country produces vastly different quality of tea. The black estate tea served in Colombo's five star hotels, packaged by the colonials (Tetley and Twinings), is the original deal, drunk by connosieurs all over the world. The packaged tea bags from Dilmah (the buggers who sponsor the Sri Lankan cricket team) are 3-cups-a-day sustenance for the island's middle class and people who want a touch of the exotic in their daily cuppa. Finally, but most fun, is the sweet, milky brew of cheap tea that is offered in Government offices, businesses and humbler (or stingy) homes.

Singapore: The land of efficiency and convenience has also imprinted itself on tea. Teh, Teh-O and Teh-C are variations of a sweet, cheap tea made in under 10 seconds by old women at food courts, using condensed milk and served in sturdy porcelain cups or taken away in plastic cups. I find this tea cute and uplifting (actually sipping a cup of it in class right now), though it is often subject to humilation by Singaporeans who pour it over ice (demeaning the beverage into icy vomit). The island also abounds with packaged tea of all colours and flavours in bottles and tetra packs. One can find a bewildering array of jasmine, herbal, fruit flavoured and iced teas in Singapore, one of which is is bound to catch you're fancy (my favourite is Ice Peach tea).

There you go, I'll post more tea tales when I've been to more countries. You're donations are welcome.