Tea
Yaoyao comes home from school. She looks a bit worried. “What is the problem with our little girl?” asks Grandpa. “It's my homework, Grandpa. Our teacher asks us to find something old from home. I need to make a presentation about it.”
“That's easy. I'm old.” Grandpa laughs out loud.
“But you are not old enough. It should be over 100 years old.”
“Well, I'm too young for your homework.”
Grandpa looks at the table. He has an idea. “Yaoyao, maybe you can talk about tea. Its history is much longer than 100 years.”
“I didn't know that, Grandpa. Please tell me more.”
“It is said that tea was first discovered by Shennong. Later, people used it as a medicine to get rid of tiredness.”
“That's why Dad often drinks tea!” “At that time, people ate fresh tea leaves. They boiled tea in soup or porridge.”“How different!”
“In the Tang Dynasty, tea was made into a kind of cake.”
“Did they eat the cake?” “No, people took a piece of the cake. They baked it and ground it. Then they boiled the tea powder and drank the tea soup.” “That took a lot of time.”
“It changed in the Song Dynasty. People put hot water into the tea powder. They stirred them fast to mix them. They even had competitions.” “What did they compete for?” “To see who can make the better tea soup and foam.”
“A Japanese monk brought Chinese tea to Japan. The Japanese still make matcha this way today.” “I like matcha ice cream.”
“In the Ming Dynasty, making tea became easy. People just needed to put tea leaves into the pot and pour hot water in.”
“Besides Japan, do people in other countries drink tea?”“Yes, all over the world.” “How did it travel?”“People in other countries liked it. They brought it back home. It became a popular drink around the world.”
“Do they drink tea in the same way we drink?”“Well, very differently. For example, the British people have afternoon tea. They add sugar and milk to their tea. And they drink tea and eat snacks.”“That sounds very nice.”
“Thank you, Grandpa!” Yaoyao smiles. “For what?”“For telling me the history of tea. Now I know what to talk about! Chinese tea!”