Parabel Gymnasium
Nesterov Danil
From 11
Teacher Batalseva Lyubov
Anatolyevna
Parabel- 2007
Contents:
1. Literature – p. 3
2. Introduction – p. 4
3. The Main Part:
a)Discovery of tea – p. 5
b)Tea moves to Japan – p. 6
c)Tea moves to Europe – p. 7
d)Tea moves to America – p. 7
e)The Japanese tea ceremony – p. 8
f)Russian tea ceremony – p. 9-11
g)Healing tea recipes – p. 12-13
h)English Tea History – p. 13-17
i)Tea in England – p. 17-19
j)Conclusion – p. 20
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Literature:
1. Horby A.S. “Oxford Student’s Dictionary of
Current English” (Moscow-Oxford 1984)
2. “Методическая Мозайка” №1/2005
(Приложение у журналу “Иностранные
языки в школе”)
3. http://teatips.ru
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Introduction
Tea is considered to be a traditional English soft drink. We read
and hear about it everywhere. Why tea? What country does
come from? What is the history of spreading tea in the world?
What kinds and sorts of tea do we drink now? How did the word
“tea” influence the English language and what is its
origination? What are the traditions of tea drinking in England
and other countries?
I decided to answer these questions and I’am sure it will be
interesting not only to me but to all those who study English.
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DISCOVERY of TEA
Tea cultivation was first documented in China in A.D. 350 but
according to Chinese legend, it had known there since 2700
B.C. The legend has it that leaves from a tree dropped into
Emperror Shen Nung’s cup of boiling water. The servant had
boiled the water for hygienuc reasons before the emperor was
drink it. But this time yhe water was turned brown by the leaves.
Being a scientist, imperor was curious and decided to try some
of this new liquid. He found the liquid aromatic and refreshing.
Since that time, tea has been a part of many CulTures down
through the Years.
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Tea moves to Japan
2000 years after the beginnings of tea, Buddhist monks traveling
between Japan and China introduced this drink to Japan. They
thought that tea had medical qualities. The monks Brought Tea
seeds back to cess that tea quickly became an integral part of
Japanese life.
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Tea moves to Europe.
Tea reaches Europe during the 1600s. With credit being claimed
both the Portuguese and the Dutch.The Portuguese with their
advanced navy created trade routes to China and brought back
tea to Portugal. From Lisbon, a seaport of Portugal, the Dutch
East India Company transported the tea to Holland, France and
Germany. Soon the Dutch were trading directly with the
Chinese. This beverage was initially popular among the
wealthy, but soon become prevalent in Russia and England as
their beverage of choice.
Tea in America
In the mid 1600`s the Dutch were actively involed in trade with
the western world, and they were the first to bring tea to the
colonists of America. These Settlers were heavy volume tea
drinkers; they consumed more tea than all of England at that
time. This fact led to one of America’s most famous events, the
Boston Tea Party. The British Government mistakely thought
that they could excessively raise the tax on the importing of tea
because many Americans enjoyed tea so mush. Instead, the
result was the Boston Tea Party, an event that led to the
American Revolution.
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The Japanese tea ceremony
The Japanese tea ceremony, or cha-noyu, is the ancient practice
of serving tea according to a strict ritual that defines the manner
in which tea is prepared and served. Rooted in Zen Buddhism,
the art of the tea ceremony symbolizes aesthetic simplicity
through the elimination of the unnecessary.
The traditional ceremony, as practiced today, takes place in a
tea room, or cha-shitsu, situated in a garden or special room
within a house. The simply constructed room is small,
accommodating a host and five guests, and the floors are
covered with mats (tatami). The most formal ceremony takes
four hours, and two types of green tea a served. A going is
sounded to signal the beginning of the ceremony. Following a
prescribed pattern, the host prepares the tea with utmost
exactness. The principal guest is served first, after which the
ritual is repeated.
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Russian tea ceremony
Tea was introduced to Russia in the early seventeenth century
by China. Prior to its introduction in Russia, the drink of choise
was “sbiten”, a brew of hot water, honey and herbs. Today, tea
remains the most popular non-alcoholic drink.
In Russia, tea is consumed after meals and during midafternoon breaks, but is not considered appropriate to drink
with a meal. Loose tea is brewed in eiter a hot teapot or a
“samovar”, a special tea-making device that produces strong
tea called “zavarka”. Zavarka is served in teacups dituled with
got water to fit personal taste. It is old Russian tradition to serve
tea from the samovar after supper. After clearing the supper
table, the samovar is put in the center and whole family gathers
around for tea.
The samovar is the central symbol of the Russian Tea
Ceremony. As a combination of a teapot and a brewing device,
is it a truly unique creation.
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The lower unit is a urn-like unit where the water is boiled, with
a tap to pour out the brewed water. A teapot rests on top using
heat generated from the lower unit to create strong infusions
(zavarka). Zavarka is then diluted with hot water from the lower
unit to suit personal tastes.
Popularity, traditions and customs of Russian tea drinking,
“chaepitie”, have helped to foster a uniquely styled system of
teapots, teacups, cozies, and more to support this tradition. By
the end of the 18th century, more than a hundred small factories
creating Russian tea wares had sprung up. One of the most
famous, “Gjel” (Ggel), takes its name from a little town located
in central Russia. Gjel is renowned for its white and blue
designs prevalent in today’s Russian teawares. Russian teaware
designs typically feature images of daily life, the most popular
being animals and scenes from folk stories. Some examples of
these truly Russian teawares are shown below.
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They are tea cozies for samovars called “baba na samovar”
(women on samovar) and a wonderful tea set with the vibrant
blue and white patterns that distinguish Russian tea sets.
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Healing tea recipes
Because tea is drunk every day and the prevailing expectation is
to keep oneself in optimum health, each family will treat minor
health problems with household tea based cures. Each of the
following recipes is a mild treatment and not an instant cure for
the ailment listed. (Note; please consult your doctor if you have
a serious or enduring ailment.) The effects of talking the tea are
mild and cunmulative. You should take at least 2-3 cups of the
tea each day.
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English tea history
Many stories end with a marriage, this story is different. It starts
with a marriage… In 1662, Prince Charles II married the
Portuguese Princess, Catherine of Braganza. The princess was
very fond of tea and accustomed her royal spouse to this new
drink. I must say that tea was familiar to the English before the
marriage of the high-standing persons; Garway’s Coffee House,
for example, traded in tea in London since 1657. However, tea
was mostly known as a medicinal drink, and was much less
popular than coffee.
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Catherine of Braganza
After Charles II became king, a whim of the foreign princess
became the Drink of the Queen. This fact secured the success of
tea first among aristocracy, and then among other English
citizens. The popularity was formed slowly but forever.
The spreading of tea in England had very serious opponents —
coffee and beer merchants. Suspecting (not without grounds)
that the new drink can be a serious business rival, they lobbied
(in 1684) high import duties on tea. The duties quintupled the
cost of the drink and led to the emergency of tea smuggling
(from the Netherlands) and wide spread of counterfeit tea. It was
in this period (the end of the 17th century) that the English began
to show preference for black tea and not green. Because black
tea was more difficult to imitate. In 1875, Thomas Lipton
opened his first shop. Then he became father of modern
aggressive advertising, founder of the tea empire, and a man
who made Ceylon a tea island. The case with Ceylon was quite
amusing. Originally, it was an island of coffee (from 1825). But
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in 1869 some detrimental fungus destroyed almost all coffee
plantations and they were promptly replaced by tea gardens.
And already in 1887, the amount of tea brought from India and
Ceylon to Britain exceeded the amount of tea brought from
China.
By the end of the 19th century, the forming of Tea Britain was
for the most part over. Brooke Bond and Lipton (now both these
trade marks belong to Unilever Company) laid the foundation of
modern tea trade; in England, blends of Indian and Ceylon teas
became more popular than Chinese tea; tea became an element
of English mass culture; tea manufactories of India and Ceylon
began to become tea industry.
In 1706, on the Strand, in London, Thomas Twining opened
Tom’s Coffee House — where one could buy not only coffee
but also tea. In 1717, in the coffee house, a dry tea shop
appeared, the whole establishment was called Golden Lyon, and
thus a new, and, probably, the main leaf in English tea history
was turned. Having started a wide retail trade in tea, Thomas
Twining provided great masses of English ladies with the access
to the fashionable drink. Who, actually, formed the phenomenon
known as English tea tradition. The matter was that in the 17th–
18th centuries ladies were not allowed into proper coffee shops.
Let the advocates of equality forgive me, but the wise English
thought that the woman should sit at home and adorn the family
house — and they we right! While gentlemen were at war,
conquering vast expanses of sea, and creating the Great British
Empire, ladies, partly — paying tribute to fashion, and partly —
in search of entertainment, created a wonderful means of human
communication — the English tea party. In its final shape
English Afternoon Tea tradition had been formed by the middle
of the 19th century — I will tell you later about it, because now
we must get back to the 18th century.
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Foreseeing possible problems with the trade with China, the
English were trying to find ways to grow tea in their own
colonies. In 1823, on the government’s instructions, Charles
Bruce smuggled tea seeds and saplings from China. In 1820
(according to another version in 1826) in Assam, an Indian state,
wild growing tea trees were discovered — and the idea of
growing tea outside China from the revolutionary one began to
become evident. In 1834 a special committee on analysing
possibilities of cultivating tea in India was created. In 1835 first
tea estates in Assam were marked out. And, finally, in 1836 the
first consignment of Assam tea appeared in Calcutta’s markets.
In 1839 the Chinese destroyed a large consignment of the
English opium — thus, starting the First Opium War. Opium
Wars continued until 1860 and ended with China’s total defeat.
While the Wars were on, the trade between England and China
fell into relative decay; and this fact, in the end, contributed to
the development of tea industry in India.
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Tea in England
Tea-drinking is quite a tradition with the English. They have it
a lot of times during the day. When people in our country have
tea only for breakfast, dinner and supper, then the English have
it when they wake up, then when they get up, for breakfast, for
elevens, for lunch, for dinner, for afternoon tea, for supper and
when they go to bed. Such impression the they can't leave
without tea. Round about 11 o'clock in the morning Englishmen
who work have their tea or coffee break. They never call it a
meal, of course, they call it elevens tea. Tea or coffee is usually
brought to the factory bench or office desk. Tea is served in
almost every house round about the same time. Afternoon tea is
taken at about 5 o'clock. It's a cup of tea with bread and butter
and cake or biscuits. It is often not served at a table; each
person has a cup and saucer, a spoob and a small plate in his
hands. Even Englishmen themselves do not always find it
convenient. But when they have guests they usually lay the table.
They lay out the tea-cups and saucers with the tea-spoons, milkjug and the sugar-basin. Small plates with bread and butter or
bread adn jam, or biscuits are also on the table. When the
mistress of the house in England offers her visitors a cup of tea,
she sometimes asks: "Russian or English tea?" By "Russian tea"
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the English mean tea with a slice of lemon in it. "English tea"
means very strong tea with milk in it. Originally tea was quite a
good drink. So a group of the most eminent scientists made
complicated biological experiments to find a way of spoiling it.
To the eternal glory of British science their labour bore fruit.
They suggested that if you not drink it clear or with lemon or
rum and sugar, but pour a few drops of milk into it and no sugar
at all, the desired object is achieved. Once this refreshing
aromatic, oriental beverage was successfully transformed into
colourless and tasteless water, it suddenly became the national
drink of G.B. and Ireland – still retaining the high-sounding title
of tea. There are some occasions when you must not refuse a
cup of tea, otherwise you are judged an exotic and barbarous
bird without any hope of being able to take your place in a
civilized society. If you are invited to an English home, at 5
o'clock in the morning you get a cup of tea. When you are
disturbed in your sweet morning sleep you must not say:
"Madam? I think you are a cruel and spiteful person who
deserves to be shot". On the contrary, you have to say with your
best 5 o'clock smile: "Thank you so much. I do love a cup of
early morning tea, especially so early in the morning". If they
leave you alone with the liquid, you may pour it down the washbasin. You must not refuse any additional cups under the
following circumstances: if it's hot; if it's cold; if you are tired;
if you are nervous; before you go out; if you are out;of you have
just returned home; if you feel like it; if you don't feel like it; if
you had no tea for some time; if you just had a cup; and even if
you don't like tea at all, don't refuse all the same. There was a
time when drinking tea was almost unknown in European
countries. Many people had never even heard about tea. This
story is about an old woman and her son, who lived before teadrinking became popular in England. He was a sea captain and
every time he returned from a far-away country he brought his
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mother a gift. He tried to bring smth. Unusual, that she could
show to he frriends. Once the young man came back from India
with a box for his mother. She didn't know anything about tea,
but she was proud of her son and she invited all her friends to
try what her son had brought her. When he came into the room,
he sea cakes and fruit and jam on the table and a big plate full
of brown tea-leaves, his mother and her friends were eating the
leaves with butter and salt. When the captain asked where was
the water, his mother answered that of course she threw if away.
And now I'd like to tell you how to make a cup of tea. First of all
you boil the water, warm the tea-pot, put the tea into the tea-pot,
then fill hte pot with boiling water, pour the tea into the cup, stir
the tea, then add some milk and sugar, leave the tea for 5
minutes. Tea is ready. Enjoy it.
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Conclusion
At eight o'clock in the morning
For our breakfast we'll see
Cornflakes and buttered toast
And let's have a cup of tea!
At four o'clock in the afternoon
There'll be food for you and me!
Cream cakes and sandwiches
And let's have a cup of tea!
At seven o'clock in the evening
A lovely supper we'll see
Chips, peas and fish-fingers
And let's have a cup of tea!
At ten o'clock at night
We'll have a piece of bread
And I'll make a cup of tea
And then we'll go to bed
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