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English playwright Arthur Wing Pinero said,
"Where there's tea, there's hope." Similarly, a Chinese saying goes
that "Firewood, rice, cooking oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea are the
seven necessities to begin a day."
Tea is, without doubt, welcomed all over
the world. According to Statista, a German website for statistics (数据), global tea production reached about 5.8
million tons in 2018. It has become the most consumed beverage (饮品) in the world – after water, of course.
According to the UN, tea is much more than
just a hot drink. It's a big part of many cultures around the world. You
probably know that people in China use top-grade tea to show respect when
receiving important guests. Meanwhile, the British tradition of afternoon tea
is an important part of that country's identity. Making Malaysia's pulled tea
has become a sort of art form, where drinkers take pride in its entertainment
aspects.
Apart from its cultural significance (意义), tea is also a medicine, used from ancient
times to modern day. "Tea is cold and lowers the fire," Chinese Ming
Dynasty herbalist Li Shizhen once said. The health benefits of tea are still
being discovered today: preventing heart disease, obesity and cancer have all
been linked to drinking green tea, according to the National Center for
Biotechnology Information in the US.
Hot or cold, bagged or loose-leaf, tea
is more than a drink – it's a social custom and also a magic medicine, a
link to the past and a way of life.