Coffee and tea are two of the favourite drinks that share the same market. While tea, as a drink, has been around longer then coffee, the last one has gained more fame then the first.
Both, coffee and tea, have been used as medicine and social drinks.
During centuries the tea lovers have developed the tea ceremonial in Asian countries and coffee lovers have build the coffee houses all over the world. Both drinks contain caffeine, the active substance that keep us alert and energize us during day, and awake during night.
So far, looks like there are major similarities between coffee and tea. Then why we usually chose one over another?
Is a coffee drinker different the a tea dinker?
Well, according with Bennett Allen Weinberg and Bonnie Bealer, the authors ofThe World of Caffeine, the Science and Culture of the World’s Most Popular Drug,there are lots of “aspects” of coffee and tea that are not only different but opposite.
Personality aspects
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Male (The
first customers of the coffee houses were men. Women were not allowed. For
more info read mu hub Coffee role as a social drink)
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Female
(Not sure why, maybe because in England the tea ceremony was
hosted in a private house and the host was, usually, the housewife)
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Bohemian
(There were lots of writers and artists that used to attend the coffeehouses
late in the night bringing with them nonconformist behaviour and strange
ideas)
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Conventional
(The 5 o’clock English tea or the Japanese tea ritual speaks about order and
rules, appropriate social attitude, freedom within limits)
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Sordid(Again,
coffeehouses and their libertarianism)
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Beautiful(Didn’t
Japanese used to make haiku’s at this tea gatherings. In oriental graphics
representing the tea ceremony every piece of art looks polished, refined. In
English society the conversation had to be not only proper but intelligent.)
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Common(Everybody
could have a cup a coffee, even women, at home. The coffeehouses were open to
all without social status discrimination)
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Refined(The
tea thing was more upper class, an exclusive practice of people of noble
condition.)
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Indulgence(No
limits can be set for ideas or attitude. Turks drank coffee while smoking
tobacco or other pleasing herbs.)
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Temperance(Au
contraire - lots of limits were imposed, from serving the tea, to the right
clothes and right small talk.)
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Vice(Maybe
because the indulgence, described above. Or because the subjects that were
discussed in a coffeehouse were sometime very bold. Even today some think
that drinking coffee is a bad habit!!!!! )
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Virtue(I
don’t see the connection unless is opposing the vice aspect of the coffee.)
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Excess(This
aspect is obvious, from staying late at night, to plotting political strikes)
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Moderation(I
occasionally drink tea and I even like it but I think tea is the only drink
you won’t go crazy about it)
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Passion,
Earthiness(From the first mention of coffee to a world wide consumption have
past very centuries...that speaks passion)
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Spirituality,
Mysticism(On the other hand, tea is associated with a sophisticated mind and
spirit)
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Vivacious,
Extroverted(Due to the caffeine effect, I believe)
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Shy,
Introverted(Because the imposed social restraining?)
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Hardheaded
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Romantic
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Promiscuous(Maybe
because coffee was accessible to everyone....)
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Pure(...while
tea was only for upper consumers, at least in England)
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Work(I
have never heard anybody that had a tea to stay up late...)
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Contemplation(What
is your mind doing when not concentrating to the task on hand? Wondering..)
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Other aspects and comparisons
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Yang
(Chinese philosophy - masculine, motivation, mover and shaker)
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Yin
(Chinese philosophy - feminine, the yang ‘s opposite)
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Kinetic
Energy (The energy of motion)
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Potential
energy(Stored energy)
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Topology
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Geometry
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Beethoven
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Mozart
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Heidegger
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Carnap
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Balzac
(Honore De Balzac, 1799 to 1850, french writer and coffee lover)
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Balzac
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