Chi fan le ma?

Beijing

Four years ago, when I visited the United Kingdom, I took with me a packet of Chinese green tea. I had noticed how often my English hosts drank tea, so I made some of that green tea for a friend working with the BBC. The guy, one of the nicest persons I've ever known, offered his compliments, but declined a second cup, and quickly went back to his English style black tea made in Nepal.

I stayed enough to understand my English friend, and grow used to the taste of that black tea. It was a necessary antidote to the local cuisine. It is certainly a matter of habit. But, no offence, many Chinese tea drinkers would have considered that tea undrinkable without milk and sugar.