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The Amazing History of Tea (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:07
  Thank you for joining us for today's Spotlight Advanced. I'm brucekulland and I'm Lis
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  Wade. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for
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  people to understand no matter where in the world they live. Some people drink
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  it with food in the afternoon. Some people drink it to give themselves energy
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  in the morning. Some people drink it as part of a ceremony. Some
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  people drink it when they're sick. Some people drink it hot, some people
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  drink it very cold. People have been drinking it for hundreds of years in
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  hundreds of countries. What is it tea? Tea comes from the Camellia sinensis
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  plant. People pick the leaves off the plant. They set the leaves to
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  dry. The tea leaves are ready when all the water from the leaves is
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  evaporated. There are many ways to prepare the leaves before making the tea drink.
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  Some tea leaves are left open to the air before they are dried.
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  This makes the leaves darker they will taste stronger. Some people mix tea leaves
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  with flowers, oils, and other plants to give teas different tastes. The
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  people who originally discovered tea developed these methods many years ago. The story of
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  tea begins in China. Chinese history says that over five thousand years ago,
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  Chinese emperor Chennung discovered tea. Stories say that a dry leaf from the tea
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  plant fell into the emperor's cup of hot water. The empress saw that his
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  water turned dark. He tasted the water and liked it. This was the
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  first cup of tea. However it started, tea became very popular in China.
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  People believed that tea was healthy. People in China also created many different
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  ways to prepare tea. In fact, a man named lu Yu wrote a
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  book just about tea late in the eighth century. Soon after this, tea
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  traveled to Japan. Japanese Buddhist priests traveled to China, and they brought tea
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  back with them. In Japan, people developed special ceremonies to serve tea.
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  Serving tea became a new form of art. It was most common among wealthy
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  people. Tea was an important part of both Chinese and Japanese culture. It
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  had traveled to other Asian countries too, but tea had not yet traveled anywhere
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  else in the world. Finally, in the late fifteen hundreds, Portuguese travelers
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  brought small amounts of tea back to Europe. Portugal was one of the first
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  European countries to trade with China. Portugal worked with the Netherlands to move the
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  tea through Europe. Dutch ships took tea to France and other countries on the
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  Baltic Sea. Only very wealthy people had enough money to drink tea in Europe.
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  It took many months to transport the tea from Asia and only a limited
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  amount was transported. But more countries started to trade with China, they also
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  brought tea back to Europe. Prices became lower and more people could drink tea.
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  Today, England is the European country most known for tea. British traders
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  started shipping tea to England in the late sixteen hundreds. Tea trade had become
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  a very profitable business. England imported about eighteen thousand kilograms of tea a year
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  in sixteen sixty nine. Ten years later, the country imported six times that
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  amount of tea. British colonists also brought tea wherever they settled. Tea became
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  very important in India. It is still a very important crop there, and
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  Indian tea is known around the world. Tea played an important part in one
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  British colony you might know. This colony is now known as the United States
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  of America. England sent tea to America, but as time went on,
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  England raised the taxes on the tea and other goods it sent. The people
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  living in the colonies did not like these taxes. To protest the high taxes,
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  a group of colonists took a large shipment of tea and threw it into
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  the ocean. Today this event is known as the Boston Tea Party. It
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  was one of the most important events in the American Revolution. Tea has also
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  changed over many years. In the past, people drank tea by putting the
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  leaves directly into the water, but around nineteen hundred eight, an American inventor
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  developed a new method, tea bags. Thomas Sullivan put the tea in a
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  small silk bag. This bag of tea could be put directly into the hot
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  water. At first, people in Britain did not like tea bags, but
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  during World War Two people could not get their normal tea, so they had
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  to use tea bags. Today, most tea bags are made of paper and
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  they are very popular in many parts of the world. Today, people on
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  every continent drink tea, but people in different places drink tea differently. In
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  the United Kingdom, tea became part of the daily meal. Traditionally, two
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  meals involved tea in British homes. These meals became popular in the sixteen hundreds.
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  The first was afternoon tea or low tea. This was popular among wealthy
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  people. They would drink tea and eat small sandwiches of meat and bread.
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  This meal happened around three o'clock in the afternoon. The other meal was called
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  high tea. High tea was a larger meal eaten later in the night.
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  It was popular among poorer people in Western Asia and the Middle East. A
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  popular way to enjoy tea is as massala chai. Massala chai is a drink
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  made from black tea, but this drink has sugar, spices and milk in
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  it. Around the world, people boil plants and flowers to make drinks similar
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  to tea. These are called tissans. A tisan is any drink made from
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  hot water and any plant material except from the tea plant. They are also
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  often called herbal teas. In areas of South America, people enjoy a particular
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  tissan. The drink is called matte. People make it from the leaves of
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  the yerba mate plant. A person puts dry yerba mate leaves into a dry
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  gourd. This is a container made from a dried vegetable skin. He then
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  adds water to the gourd. He drinks the liquid through a thin metal tube.
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  A Bombia. People in Southern Africa make a drink called roibos. This
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  hot drink is made similar to tea, but instead of tea leaves, it
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  uses the leaves from the roibos plant. The drink is a red color and
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  is often called red tea. However, you drink tea, the next time
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  you have a cup, think of all the people around the world who are
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  joining you enjoy. Do you drink tea? What kinds of tea do you
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  drink? Tell us what you think. You can leave a comment on our
• 9:07
  website or email us at Radio at Radio English dot net. You can also
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  comment on Facebook at Facebook dot com, slash Spotlight Radio. The writer of
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  this program was Joshua Leo. The producer was Mitchyozaki. The voices you heard
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  were from the United Kingdom and the United States. You can listen to this
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  program again and read it on the internet at www dot Radio English and dot
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  net. This program is called The Amazing History of Tea. Visit our website
• 9:46
  to download our free official app for Android and Apple devices. We hope you
• 9:52
  can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye one