Pu’er Tea and Mocha Coffee： Mirror of Sino—Western Cultures

陳日燦

【Abstract】Pu 'er tea and mocha coffee are two important drinks in today's world of daily life， they are also deemed to the representative traditional drinks of China and the West. Tea is a representative lifestyle of the Chinese people while coffee is a kind of spirit.

【Key words】 Puer tea； mocha coffee； cultural differences

1. Introduction

Tea and Coffee， the representatives of the east and the west， are not just two kinds of drinks， but symbols of two cultures which convince people of their own splendid history. China is the homeland of tea. There is a common saying： “Firewood， rice， oil， salt， sauce， vinegar and tea are the seven necessities to begin a day.” Though tea comes last on the list， we still can see the importance of tea in daily life. In west， people also say： “If Im not in the coffee house， I will be on the way to the coffee house.” Even it is a simple joke， it reflects the real life of western people. It is also the necessity of life and the motivation of the development.

2. Research on Pu 'er Tea and Mocha Coffee

Pu 'er tea culture is the sum of material and spiritual culture of the Chinese nation of tea discovery process， domestication， cultivation， utilization produced culture. From AD 180， Payanleng who led the Puren began to use tea， then Pu 'er tea closely linked with Yunnans nature， geography， ethnic， economic， cultural， related to the customs of various ethnic groups， production， ideology ideas， religion， arts and culture and other aspects. As well as the Tibetan people say， “Xia added heat， Gaca heat， add hot comb”， Chinese meaning is： tea is blood， tea is meat， tea is life. It is this process that the Chinese nation has created many legends and tea-related stories， novels， poetry， opera， dance and other culture arts about Puer tea went into the Dream of Red Mansions， War and Peace and other great works of literature， forming a rich connotation of the Pu 'er tea culture.

Mocha coffee is one of the oldest coffees， its history need to be traced back to the origins of coffee. It is composed of espresso， chocolate sauce， whipped cream and milk mixture， named after the famous Mocha Port. The fifteenth century， the entire Middle East country transport of non-coffee was not flourish， Yemen Mocha was the main output of a commercial port near the Red Sea， then concentrated mocha coffee to Mocha Port and re-exported out of the African， those were all called mocha. Although emerging port replaced the status of the port of Mocha， the origin of Mocha Port period still retained， these origin produced coffee beans were still called Mocha coffee beans.

3. Comparison between Puer Tea Culture and Mocha Coffee Culture

Tea culture of China has over 5000 years history. Speaking of tea culture， we will have to mention the Ancient Tea Horse Road， it is winding in southwest HengDuan mountains of China， linking the folk commerce of mainland people and Tibetans. In the thousands of year， Sichuans tea transported to Tibet， and transported the specialty of snow-covered plateau to the mainland， linked with the mainland and Tibets economic and cultural exchanges.

Mocha， the word has multiple meanings. A long period of time， some people began to use “mocha” as the nickname of coffee， similar to the “Java” nowadays. Later， due to the lingering charm looks like chocolate， the word “mocha” has been extended to the mixture of hot chocolate and coffee drinks. Todays Yemen Mocha is as same as one thousand years ago， still is the highest level of traditional manual dry beans， even though they are variety in size and a few impurities in the raw beans.

4. A Review of Comparison of Tea Culture and Coffee Culture

During this period， many researchers have paid attention to tea and coffee culture. Some of them compared the two cultures with the drinking places. And some focus on the similarities and differences by comparing their background， but seldom focus on the comparison of their social function. Actually， social function is the most potential part we should absorb in. By study their social function， we would get a better understanding of the similarity and differences of the social function and have a better command. And the study will lay solid foundation of improving the communication and cooperation between China and western countries.

5. Conclusions

Culture of each country spread outside through various ways. American fast food culture swept the world. Also， French coffee culture spreads all over the world. It is not an exception for China. Modern people， especially the youngsters are more adaptive to the tastes and feeling of coffee， and consider it as the mark of fashion； drinking tea seems the replacement of acting as an older， and the “patent” of the older and the recluse. Such change can be attributed to the coffee itself and the charm of French culture.

References：

[1]David K，Coffee and health：health benefits of coffee，The Coffee Review 2001（archived）.

[2]Li Guiliang.Chinese Tea Culture.China Week，2003（02）.