英國人：無閒飲茶卻戀上咖啡

Cut me and I bleed tea. Strong builder's, dash of milk, no sugar. So the news that tea sales are in hot water, while Nescafé – Nescafé, for the love of all that is holy – is growing in popularity is not easy to swallow.
茶流淌於我血脈。濃茶，少許奶，不加糖。新聞播報正值茶葉銷售面臨困境之時，然而雀巢——雀巢，點滴皆是愛，溫馨到永遠——正在坊間悄然興起，猛然間有點讓人難以接受。

Research by the Grocer shows that volume sales of shop tea are down by 6% in the past 12 months, while supermarket Nescafé sales have increased by 6.3%. Every year, home coffee systems such as Nespresso gain more willing disciples. We are in danger of becoming a nation of coffee drinkers. Some think we have been seduced by the sweet, milky depths of American coffee culture, and it's easy to see how. Exotica from restaurant menus eventually filter through to the home front – why should drinks be different?

由《食品商》雜誌主持的調研顯示在過去的12個月商店茶品批量銷售下降6%，而超市中雀巢的銷量卻增長了6.3%。像Nespresso這樣的家用咖啡機所受到的青睞逐年倍增。我們陷入了淪爲咖啡愛好者的險境。有些人認爲我們是被充溢着甜美奶香的美國咖啡文化所誘惑，而且是顯而易見爲何這般如此。餐廳菜單上的異國風味總是濾過本土菜品一躍居前——飲品又何不如此。

If our out-of-home habits do have an influence on what we choose to brew indoors, the reason for tea's decline seems as clear as a Jing teapot. Having never had a culture of domestic milky drinks-making (cocoa doesn't count), our coffee habits have been shaped by the pints of cappuccino and calorie-dense gingerbread-flavoured cream-topped nonsense peddled by the big coffee chains. It's almost all we've ever known: for takeaway coffee – we have always been in the hands of chains such as Costa. Judging by their success we are (connoisseurs and expat Antipodeans excluded) prepared to stay in their expensive embrace. We will drink whatever they make us, and be glad of the chance.

如果在外面時的習慣對我們在家裏時的選擇產生了影響，那麼茶的衰退猶如玻璃茶壺一般明顯。由於我們從未有本土奶飲製作文化（不算可可飲品），而喝咖啡的習慣卻在數不勝數的的咖啡連鎖店荒謬兜售的幾品脫的卡布基諾和高熱量薑餅味道頂部加上奶油中養成了。衆所周知：外帶咖啡——我們一直在諸如Costa這樣連鎖店的股掌間。通過他們的成功足以判斷我們（內行、外派在英的澳大利亞人和新西蘭除外）準備繼續留在他們昂貴的懷抱中。他們做什麼，我們就喝什麼，並且爲此而高興。

Tea is a different matter. We have more exacting standards. Every British tea drinker who is in possession of both hands and a kettle has spent years perfecting their ideal method. Couples can spend a decade learning how to brew for their mutual delight. Tea is best made by you or someone you have trained. It's not the kind of thing I'm willing to entrust to a half-awake barista with a paper cup and a heavy plastic jug of – shudder - full-fat milk; I'd rather drink a coffee or (almost) a Peanut Hottie.

茶則是另外一回事。我們對此有着嚴格的標準。每位擁有雙手和茶壺的英國茶飲者花費數年完善他們理想的製茶方法。夫婦們會用十載研習如何調製他們共同的喜悅。由你自己或是你培訓過的人調製出的茶纔是最好的。那可不是這種事情：我願意輕信一個半醒拿着紙杯和一大壺全脂奶顫顫巍巍的咖啡師。如果這樣調製茶飲，我寧可喝咖啡或者（湊合）一杯花生熱飲。

But not all tea has suffered the same fate. One brand, Yorkshire Tea, has bucked the trend; their stats show a 6.8% increase in volume sales, which can't all be down to Russell Crowe. Sam Ward, of parent company Taylors of Harrogate agrees that the standard black tea market is in decline. But she says it's not coffee that's to blame. "We're moving more towards a cafe culture, but I don't think that coffee is necessarily affecting the market to the detriment of tea – people are just buying different types of tea. The standard black tea market is in decline mainly because people are putting different things, like green and herbal tea, into their baskets. Tea companies are increasing their offerings left, right and centre – they're looking to widen their nets."

但並非所有的茶都苦受着同樣的命運。有一個牌子，Yorkshire Tea（約克郡茶），逆市而上；他們的統計數據顯示了在批量銷售中增長了6.8%，這也不能都歸咎於Russell Crowe（新西蘭演員）。來自總公司Taylors of Harrogate（英國皇家泰勒）的Sam Ward認同標傳統茶市場在衰退。但她也指出這並不應該歸罪於咖啡。“我們正向咖啡文化邁進，但我並不認爲咖啡必然損害茶飲市場——人們只是買不同種類的茶飲。傳統紅茶市場的衰退主要因爲人們做了不同的選擇，把其他種類的茶加入了他們的購物籃，例如綠茶和花草茶。茶飲公司們開始提供越來越多的選擇，左邊、右邊和中心——他們打算拓寬他們的網。”

Frankly, if you are foolish enough to enjoy the musty waft of herbal tea, then you're welcome to it. The same goes for the bitter reproach of instant coffee. For each person who walks past the builder's towards the chamomile or the coffee powder, there's one more box of bags on the shelf for those of us who know the true strength of tea. Will you raise your mug to that?

恕我直言，如果你真蠢到享受黴味四散的花草茶，那歡迎你繼續。同理適用於速溶咖啡的苦澀斥責。從濃茶到甘菊茶或是咖啡粉一路走過，對於我們這種深知茶的真正力量的人，架子上總會有那麼一盒紅茶茶包。你不會爲此舉杯嗎？