Teh-Cha

Dedication to the enjoyment of tea

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Teh-Tea-Tee : Cha-Chai

In China, probably, the word for tea (as we learn in English) is probably "Teh" in the southern and south-eastern part of China (as in Minnan dialects) and "Cha" in the northern Mandarin dialect. This is a very broad assumption unless we know all the dialect terms for tea. For instance, to the Cantonese, tea is "Cha" (in a different intonation) which is closer to the northern dialect.

It is interesting that following the tea routes to the other parts of the world, the words of tea are also in one way or another related to the Chinese terms. To the English, it is tea. To the Germans, it is tee. To the Northern Indians (Hindi), it is Chai.

In this blog, we hope to share our experiences from the drinking of different teas available in Singapore and the world.