Tea in Hot Water —熱湯の中の紅茶—

Recently a controversy erupted in the U.K. over an American researcher’s suggestion for how to make “the perfect cup of tea.” 

The researcher, Michelle Francl, who is a chemist, suggested adding a little pinch of salt to tea.  She advised that this would make it taste better, since it would remove some of the bitterness from the drink.  She then demonstrated the chemical reactions between the salt and the tea which made this happen. 

“I grew up in the midwest, which is deep coffee-drinking country, but tea has always been my preferred drink — and I have invested a lot of time into studying it,” Francl said. 

Many in Britain were outraged.  Adding salt to tea?  There were so many newspaper articles and opinion pieces written about the suggestion, and the overall reaction to it so negative, that the American embassy in London put out a statement. 

The statement read, “an American professor’s recipe for the ‘perfect’ cup of tea has landed our special bond with the United Kingdom in hot water. Tea is the elixir of camaraderie, a sacred bond that unites our nations. We cannot stand idly by as such an outrageous proposal threatens the very foundation of our Special Relationship. Therefore we want to [assure] the good people of the U.K. that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain’s national drink is not official United States policy. And never will be.” 

Okay, so maybe the embassy staff were trying to be funny. 

I haven’t tried the salt recipe.  I don’t find my tea unbearably bitter.  And why search for a “perfect” way to drink tea?  Surely it is better to allow a variety of ways of preparing tea to flourish.

 

Vocabulary:

to land (someone/ something) in hot water – to get (someone) into a lot of trouble

[eg., When you told my wife that you saw me drinking with a young woman in a coffee shop, you landed me in hot water.]

an elixir – a potion or drink with magical or healing properties

[eg., Legend says that if you drink the elixir of life, you will live forever.]

a sacred bond – a connection which has religious importance

[eg., Marriage is a sacred bond between two people.]

to stand idly by – to do nothing to help or intervene, even though you were in a position to do so

[eg., The world must not stand idly by while this famine kills thousands of people.]