Blog
-
茶香迷人
無時無刻的品茶享受Tea is just healthy, and it will help to relax, center, and focus you for the rest of the day.
-
茶香迷人酒香诱人，我该喝哪一种好？
来源：Austin Yoder 2013/11/29 发表于 The News Lens 关键评论网
Photo Credit: 陈镜 CHEN-CHING 翻译／红凯利
住在台湾，令我最难受、最思念的事莫过于很难喝上一杯好酒。
我发现在台湾，很多好酒都没有受到良好的珍藏与保护。要不曝晒过度，要不就是没有贮放在控制得宜的酒窖内。
但住在台湾也有外国无法比拟的幸福，就是喝茶。我爱茶远胜于酒，理由不胜枚举。其中最大的不同在于「茶」可以随时随地想喝就喝，但喝酒就完全不一样了。白天、非工作场合，想喝酒？No！这点可是令许多外国人「伤心不已」。
许多外国人视品尝好酒、顶级威士忌为一场冒险。透过一场与酒类和威士忌共同的旅程，可以感受到种种情绪，惊讶和愉悦、感性和愉快等。（Mario！）
但外国人喝茶的比例正在逐渐上升，虽然他们不像住在台湾的我们一样，可以喝到最顶级的茶叶。不可否认地，进口茶叶的质量的确越来越好，也因为如此，越来越多西方人对于「茶叶」的好奇心与日渐增。
毫无疑问，我还是十分享受优质葡萄酒和麦芽威士忌；但因为几个致胜关键，茶仍旧是我心中的第一名！
致胜关键1：数量弹性
取出酒瓶软木塞时，你大约有24小时可以好好享受这瓶酒。但如果你今天是独自一人的话，准备好「独自享受」750毫升的酒精吧！假设今天你购买了一瓶所费不赀的好酒，反而会造成一个问题，因为不想要一人独自啜饮而迟迟不打开这瓶酒，最后，这瓶酒就会白白的浪费掉了。
茶呢？没有浪费的问题。你可以打开一袋茶，取出3克（标准品茶公克），然后再将茶袋密封起来。茶也会像酒一样氧化，但是只要保存得宜，茶袋里的茶叶仍然保留最独特的芳香，而不用担心坏掉。
换句话说，当一包茶叶开封时，你不用一次牛饮掉350到750毫升的茶！除非你要招待许多人，那就另当别论了。
致胜关键2：重复冲泡率 & 成本
酒，一杯就是实实在在的一杯；一杯酒喝完，就是喝完了。一杯酒的价钱怎么计算呢？购买的价钱除以倒入的酒杯，这就是一杯酒的价钱。假设今天一瓶酒花了300美元（约八千多新台币），邀请了3~5位朋友共享，因此倒了3~5杯，平均一杯酒所花的价钱为60到100美元。
「顶级」茶叶则可以回冲数次。这样一来，成本可以逐次降低。让我用同样方法再算一次。假设20公克顶级茶叶，价钱300美元。以3公克为基准，20公克茶叶为可以倒6至7杯。然而，就像我说过的，茶叶可以回冲，从这角度来看，品茶可说是更完整的体验。从刚开封的茶叶到后来回冲数次，都有不同的芳香。3公克茶叶，依照不同茶叶特性和质量，回冲5至10次都是可接受的。
5~10（冲泡次数） * 6杯茶（茶叶比赛中，3公克的茶叶泡210毫升）= 30~60杯茶（1-2公升）
这30~60杯茶不但可以跟一大票朋友共享，也够独自一人喝上一整天了。冲泡30~60杯茶时，一杯茶的价钱只有5-10美元；和50-100美元的一杯酒，相差甚远吧。以成本而言，喝茶的确比喝酒来的划算了。
致胜关键3：无时无刻的品茶享受
茶就是一个随时随地都可以喝的饮料。酒，就不尽然了！除了社交场合适合喝酒外，白天应该没有人会想喝酒就喝吧。
想要在上班时间喝酒？
除了自己的公司或是很酷的新创公司外，我想大部分的公司主管都无法接受。
想要在上班时间喝茶？
没问题！同事们看到你喝茶，搞不好还会走过来哈拉两句，顺道问你为何喝的是茶而不是咖啡。搞不好，还会告诉你他们最爱的茶叶种类。
早、午、晚餐后都是喝茶的好时机，但不局限这三个时段，任何时段喝茶都不会造成任何的负面影响。另外，担心饮茶过量吗？别担心，绝对和饮酒过量是截然不同的结果。
茶，不仅可以达到健康、放松的目的，也会让精神变得更专注。我想没有人可以反驳茶带来的种种好处，你说是吧。
Tea Vs. Wine: Three Major Differences and Why Tea Wins Every Time
One thing that I often miss from home while living in Taiwan is being able to drink a good cup of wine. A lot of the wine in wine stores is not handled properly, sometimes left outside in the sun for too long, sometimes not stored in the right climate controlled environment.
With that said, one thing I have always loved about Taiwan is its tea, and I actually prefer tea to wine for a number of reasons. I speak with a lot of westerners who love drinking wine, and they are often sad it isn't socially acceptable to drink wine during the day – especially not in a working environment.
What many people love about a good wine or a good whisky though is the adventure of it. The ability to find something surprising and delightful, something sensual and pleasurable. They love the journey of learning about good wine, or sometimes good whisky (Mario!).
Many westerners are starting to drink more and more tea, and the quality of tea that is becoming available to them is increasingly good quality. Although they don't have access to the same time of outstanding tea those of us living in Taiwan do, more and more people are curious about.
Although I love a good glass of wine or a good single malt, I think that tea wins in a fight every time for a few key reasons, which more and more westerners are starting to realize.
Difference #1: Quantity Per Serving
When you open a bottle of wine, you have about 24 hours to finish it off before it starts going bad. This means that if you open a bottle of wine all by your lonesome self, you'd better be prepared to finish off about 750ml of alcohol, or hunt down some friends to share with. If you've invested in a relatively expensive bottle of wine, this can present a problem as you don't want to open a bottle of wine all on your own and have it go to waste.
You can open up a bag of tea, take out three grams (as is standard tea tasting practice) and close the bag back up. Although tea oxidizes just like wine, you can happily drink from a bag of tea that has been opened for two weeks or more.
In other words…
You don't have to be prepared to drink 350 – 750ml of tea when you brew up a cup. If you only want a single serving, that's ok.
You control exactly how much tea you make each time you brew without worrying about the rest of your purchase going to waste.
Difference #2: Multiple Steepings & Cost Per Serving
With wine, one serving of wine means one glass of wine.
Once you finish your glass of wine, that's it and it's not coming back. This means that the money you invest into a bottle of wine buys you between 4 – 6 servings of that wine, depending on how much you pour into each glass.
Let's look at the hypothetical example of someone who has just invested $300 into a premium bottle of wine.
Their $300 buys them 4 – 6 cups of wine that they can share with 3 – 5 friends, and each person gets to drink one glass, and that's it. Each glass of this hypothetical premium wine cost between $50 – $100 depending on how many glasses are poured.
With (good quality) tea, you get to steep your tea multiple times, drastically reducing the cost per serving of tea.
Let's look at another hypothetical example:
If you've purchased 20 grams of premium tea to sample for $300, just to keep the numbers comparable. Since a standard serving of tea is 3 grams, 20 grams of tea gets you six servings. Whereas six servings of wine is six servings of wine, you can steep your tea multiple times, and experience a full lifecycle of the tea you're tasting.
This means that when you brew your first three grams of tea, you can brew it 5 – 10 separate times, depending on the type and quality of tea.
That means that you have 5 – 10 steepings of each of your six 3 gram servings.
5 – 10 steepings x 6 servings of tea (at competitions, 1 full brew is 210ml)
= 30 – 60 cups of tea (between 1 and 2 litres of tea).
30 – 60 cups of tea is enough to share with a boatload of friends, or drink all day long by yourself. At 30 – 60 cups of tea for $300, your cost per cup is reduced to between $5 – $10 per cup of premium tea as opposed to your $50 – $100 per cup of premium wine.
Tea, at the premium end of the spectrum, is significantly more cost effective and easy to share than wine at the premium end of the spectrum.
Difference #3: Drink Tea Anytime You Want
Where alcohol has a certain social stigma associated with it, and you aren't really supposed to drink it until the later afternoon, you can freely drink tea any time of the day, in any setting or environment you please.
Want to drink wine at the office during working hours?
Probably not acceptable, unless you happen to be at a really cool startup, or own your own company.
Want to drink tea at the office during working hours?
No problem. In fact, people will probably come over to chat with you about what you're drinking, why you chose to drink tea instead of coffee, and tell you about their own favorite tea.
Tea is good (and healthy) for you to drink after breakfast, lunch, and dinner if you want to drink it three times a day. Drinking tea multiple times per day will not induce any of the negative side effects associated with drinking alcohol multiple times per day, like slurred speech, instability, or irresponsible decision making.
Tea is just healthy, and it will help to relax, center, and focus you for the rest of the day.
And who can argue with that?
Sourse：Austin Yoder 2013/11/29 The News Lens
Photo Credit: CHEN-CHING 陈镜