Volume 16　ティータイムでリラックス


Tea or Coffee?

Michael Rhys: Hello everyone and welcome to the October edition of Cultural Crossroads. I'm Mike.

Ann Slater: And I'm Ann.

Michael: And today we are talking about one of my favorite subjects. We're talking about tea or . . .

Ann: Coffee.

Michael: Mm. Now, Ann, I associate America very much with coffee and Britain very much with tea. Does that kind of work for you? Is the States very, very caffeine dependent?

Ann: I think so.

Michael: Do they love their coffee?

Ann: I think so. Yeah, it's, uh, very, very much a habit in the States, more so, of course, than tea. I mean, some people do drink tea but not like in England.

Michael: Right. Do you drink a lot of coffee?

Ann: No actually. I, ha-ha, I don't. Uh, my preference, I always have tea in the morning.

Michael: Ah.

Ann: But, uh, again I think that's not common for the States. That's just me. What about you?

Michael: Oh, I am very much a tea drinker. I might have coffee. Maybe two or three times a week.

Ann: Uh-huh.

Michael: But tea, I'm gonna have at least five or six a day.

Ann: Do you drink a particular kind?

Michael: No, I don't. Um . . .

Ann: Tea bags or loose leaf or . . . ?

Michael: Regular blended tea bags. Nothing special. Uh, and that's what I enjoy. And I've been making tea since I was eight years old. I was the family tea maker. 

Ann: Now . . .

Michael: My responsibility. 

Ann: Which brings us to the next question, which I have to ask you. Is there a preferred method of making tea? I mean, I'm, you know, Americans we just like take the bag and pour the water over it. But is there some other way that makes it more delicious?

Michael: Well . . . I don't know. I have my own method and it seems to work. People like my tea. But as I said I'm not a tea snob so I'm not very strict about the method. So what I do is, OK, you boil the water, of course, and the water must be boiling.

Ann: Rolling boil right?

Michael: Very, very important. OK. When the water is boiled, you pour a little bit into your teapot. OK, don't make tea in the mug.

Ann: Why?

Michael: Well you can I suppose but, you know, it's not quite there when you do that. Pour the boiling water into the teapot. Swirl it round a little bit to warm the pot, OK. Pour it out. Put your tea bag in. Then I boil the water again. Even though it's just been boiled, I make sure it's freshly boiled. Then I pour it in; then I leave it. I cover it with a tea cozy, uh, and I'll leave it for maybe four or five minutes. 

Ann: Uh-huh.

Michael: And then I'll take the mug and I'll put the milk in first and the sugar.

Ann: Uh, why does the milk go in first?

Michael: I have no idea. It's just my habit. OK.

Ann: Ha-ha, it just does.

Michael: Originally, actually originally, that was done because the cups, this is hundreds of years ago, were very fragile. So, the milk was put in first to cool the tea when it was poured in so the cups wouldn't break.

Ann: Sure.

Michael: That was the original reason for putting the milk in first. I do it out of habit and it seems to work.

Ann: Now I heard that some tea connoisseurs believe that milk dilutes the real thing. Like, if you're really a connoisseur, you would just drink the tea as is. Is that right? 

Michael: I would say so, yes. It's a completely different taste.

Ann: Yeah, it is, it is.

Michael: With milk, without milk - they're two really quite different drinks. And I can drink tea without milk. My preference is with though. 

Ann: I mean, I too prefer, much prefer it with milk, but . . .

Michael: But interestingly in, in the U.K. you'd never ask somebody, "Do you take milk?" because everybody does. It's just assumed the person will take milk.