红茶 black tea

记得我有一年到墨尔本考察城市规划和城市管理，在下榻的宾馆中，经常喝一种标记为Quality Black Tea的茶，实际上就是地道的红茶，而且是“高品质红茶”。这种标记为哈里斯公司（1883年创建）的袋泡茶，很受欢迎。深蓝色的外包装上，标明“本品由进口的优质茶叶制备，在澳大利亚加工而成。”但从哪个国家进口的，是中国，是印度，还是锡兰？没有说明。

2010年冬天，我在北京出差，抽空到在新华社工作的女儿家，刚刚2周岁的外孙女小朵很聪明，只要我拿起杯子，她就会一颠一颠儿地跑过来，给我泡茶。

我告诉她这是红茶，她看着保温杯中的茶说：“是黑茶！”外孙女的话使我骤然想起了红茶翻译的事。红茶的英文不是“Red Tea”，而是“Black Tea”，很多不了解的人，都直译为黑茶了。

为什么叫黑茶？就是像小朵这样的直觉——她看到的茶叶，的确是棕黑色的。大概第一个把红茶引入欧洲的人，也是凭这种直觉而定义为“黑茶”的了。

我们叫红茶，看到的是茶的液体，欧洲人叫黑茶，看到的是发酵之后的原叶。这也算是文化差异吧。不过，我国古代也确实把发酵的茶叶叫过“乌茶”，乌者，黑也。所以，红茶在国外被称作“Black Tea”也能理解。

红茶和医药保健的关系，也一直很受关注。一项调查显示，在50岁以上的中老年人中，不少发生过牙齿过敏。怎样预防？可以饮红茶水。将红茶50克放入1000毫升水中，煎沸10分钟，放温后取汁含漱，一日3次即可。美国波士顿福塞斯（FORSYTH）牙科中心经过观察发现，对于由于糖果和细菌引起的蛀牙患者，让他们每天饮用1杯开水冲泡的普通立顿牌红茶（冲泡的时间为3分钟），竟有95%患者的蛀牙得到了控制或痊愈！

我的朋友梁月荣曾在英国留学，研究的课题之一就是红茶。他还告诉我沏红茶一定要用温度高的沸水，才能色香味泡出来；而绿茶则一定要用温度较低的开水冲泡，否则就会苦涩难喝。

“来一杯红茶！”——这是英国人流行的口语之一，目前在世界各地几乎人人皆知。为了纾解焦虑，享受生活，让我们每天都喝上一杯高品质的红茶吧！

I remember that I went to Melbourne to investigate urban planning and urban management one year. In the hotel I stayed at, I often drank a type of tea marked as Quality Black Tea, which was actually authentic black tea, and it was "high-quality black tea". This tea bag, labelled the Harris Company (created in 1883), is very popular. On the dark blue outer packaging, it is marked "This product is prepared from imported high-quality tea and processed in Australia." But from which country is it imported, is it China, is it India, or is it Ceylon? No instructions.

In the winter of 2010, I was on a business trip in Beijing and took time to go to my daughter’s house who works at Xinhua News Agency. My 2-year-old granddaughter, Xiao Duo, is very smart. As long as I pick up a cup, she will come over and give me a cup of water. Tea.

I told her it was black tea, and she looked at the tea in the thermos cup and said, "It's black tea!" My granddaughter's words suddenly reminded me of the translation of black tea. The English of black tea is not "Red Tea", but "Black Tea". Many people who don't understand it literally translate it as black tea.

Why is it called black tea? Just like Xiao Duo's intuition - the tea leaves she saw were indeed brown and black. Probably the first person who introduced black tea to Europe also defined it as "dark tea" based on this intuition.

We call it black tea, and what we see is the liquid of the tea. Europeans call it black tea, and we see the original leaves after fermentation. This is also a cultural difference. However, in ancient my country, fermented tea was indeed called "black tea", black and black. Therefore, it is understandable that black tea is called "Black Tea" in foreign countries.

The relationship between black tea and medicine and health care has also been attracting much attention. A survey showed that many middle-aged and elderly people over the age of 50 have experienced dental allergies. How to prevent? You can drink black tea. Put 50 grams of black tea into 1000 ml of water, boil it for 10 minutes, let it warm, take the juice and rinse it, 3 times a day. Forsyth Dental Center in Boston, USA, has observed that for patients with tooth decay caused by candy and bacteria, let them drink 1 cup of ordinary Lipton brand black tea brewed with boiled water (brewing time is 3 minutes) every day. 95% of patients had cavities under control or healed!

My friend Liang Yuerong once studied in the UK, and one of his research topics was black tea. He also told me that black tea must be brewed with high-temperature boiling water so that the color and aroma can be brewed; while green tea must be brewed with lower-temperature boiling water, otherwise it will be bitter and unpleasant to drink.

"Have a cup of black tea!" - this is one of the popular colloquialisms in the UK and is now known almost everywhere in the world. In order to relieve anxiety and enjoy life, let's drink a cup of high-quality black tea every day!