Tea Culture and Tea Consumption Trends in Australia.pdf

茶叶Journal of Tea 2013，39(4)：493～494 Tea Culture and Tea Consumption Trends in Australia Xin—Qing Xu CSIRO Animal，Food and Health Sciences，67 1 Sneydes Road， ：Corresponding author：XQ Xu．e—mail：xingqing—xu@csiro． Abstract Werribee，VIC 3030，Australia． aU Tea is a large part of modern Australian culture with its British origins．Australians drink tea and have afternoon tea and morning tea much the way the British do．Tea was introduced to Australia through colonisation by the British．In fact，tea was aboard the First Fleet in 1788．Tea was the staple drink and considered a necessity， even when other items were scarce．Much of the time tea drinking is not the delicate，refined cultural expression that the rest of the world imagines—like a more formal tea ceremony．Tea is usually black tea served with milk with or without sugar．Strong tea served with lots of milk and often two teaspoons of sugar．Even very slightly formal events can be a cause for cups and saucers to be used instead of mugs．For most people，a cup(or commonly a mug)of tea is something drink very often． Key words Australian tea；tea culture；tea party；cream tea． Tea is not only the name of the beverage，but also the name of a mea1．Even more confusing is that the kind of meal that a person means when talking about tea depends very much on their social background and where they live．For some，especially in the upper social classes，tea is of an afternoon light meal，often just cake，buns， scones or sandwiches served，irrespective of the beverage consumed with it． For the working class，tea breaks are an essential part of any day．Employers generally allow breaks for tea and sometimes biscuits to be served．At work．the time for having tea the drink is known as a”tea break”and”tea time”．At home．tea the beverage is drunk at any time so”tea time”will not refer to a time for drinking the beverage but a meal，supper or dinner． A tea party is a formal，ritualized gathering for the small meal called afternoon tea．Formal tea parties are often characterized by the use of prestige utensils，such as porcelain or silver．The table is made to look its prettiest，with cloth napkins and matching cups and plates．In addition to tea，larger parties may provide punch，or in cold weather，hot chocolate．The tea is accompanied by a variety of foods that are easy to manage while in a sitting room：thin sandwiches such as cucumber or tomato，cake slices，buns or rolls，cookies，biscuits and scones are all common．Tea parties are also created by young children where the guests consist of stuffed animals，dolls，friends (both real and imaginary)and family members． Afternoon tea and the variant cream tea(also known as a Devonshire tea，Devon cream tea or Cornish cream tea)are teas taken with a combination of scones，clotted cream，and jam．Cream teas are served at home or offered for sale in tea rooms throughout the United Kingdom and the rest of the Commonwealth． Tea is often offered to guests by the host and small food portions are often served during”morning tea”and ”afternoon tea．”Black tea is most popular and often milk is added．Australians often drink tea at home．It has been found that in out—of-home establishments where tea and coffee are sold together．tea accounted for only 2．5％ 0f tota】sa1es． The Aboriginal Australians drank an infusion from the tea plant or Camellia sinensis)．Upon discovering Australia plant species leptospermum(a different plant from the in 1770，Captain Cook noticed the aboriginal peoples 494 茶叶Journal ofTea 39卷 drinking it and called it tea．Today the plant is referred to as the”ti tree”，”teatree”，or manuka．Foliage and flowers were used to produce an infusion drank by tribes of Aboriginal Australians．Due to Australia s climate．tea is able to be grown and produced in Australia．In 1884．the Cutten brothers established the first commereial tea plantation in northern Queensland．Tea production in Australia remains very small and is primarily in northern New South Wales and Queensland．Most tea produced in Australia is black tea，although there are small quantities of green tea produced in the Alpine Valleys region of Victoria． Australia was，from 1788 to 1900，a collection of British colonies in which culinary tastes were strongly influenced by British and Irish traditions．Post—war Australia s muhicuhural immigration program lead to a diversification of the cuisine of Australia，particularly under the influence of Mediterranean and East Asian migrants．Due to the diverse mix of races and cultures in Australia since the 1950s，these days most cultural variations of tea are available． Australian consumes 0．6 kg tea per year in average which was ranked 53 in the world．Tea was among the top 20 imported commodities in Australia for more than a half century．Australia tea import was peaked in 1 965 of 3 1， 931 tonnes and dropped to 12，910 tonnes in 201 1，with 1．27％decreasing each year．Black tea consumption was continuously decreasing from 14，000 tonnes in 2000 to 1 1，000 tonnes in 201 1。

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