What is the comparison between coffee and tea? I starting thinking about it some when recently. Sure, there are similarities, but I think there are some very distinct differences between coffee culture and tea culture.
It is not as simple as saying this country drinks one and that country drinks the other. Both coffee and tea have gone global, and in true "e pluribus unum" fashion, they are both gaining influence.
I was browsing through CRI (China Radio International) and noticed several articles on Chinese tea culture, but I think they missed one thing. Oddly enough, this mistake, having not been made, would have made tea sound even more high and cultured. In their introduction to all their articles, the first sentence reads, "Just like coffee in the West, tea has long been a part of daily life in China."
They then go on to talk about the thousands of years of tea history. They just lost me. Coffee, on the other hand, even stretching it, can only claim hundreds of years of history. And if you are talking about "coffee in the West", a two hundred years or so is about the best you can do.
So, yes, coffee and tea are both integrated into many of the globe's societies, but their histories cannot really be compared. And why is that? I think it is as simple as looking at the process of making them. Tea? Basically, you add dried leaves and hot water. Coffee? Well, it is usually a bit more complex. Beans need to be roasted, then ground, then brewed. No, not complex, but certainly more complex than the tea brewing process.
They do play a similar role in modern cultures, though. They both draw a similar crowd. Whether it is a tea house or cafe, the draw for many people is a place that talking can happen. It is social.
Of course, now, green tea is growing in popularity in the Occident and coffee is gaining strength in the Orient. Countries like China are creating their own unique kind of coffee culture (albeit slowly), and the Americas and Europe are developing their own kind of tea culture as well.
