A Nice Cup of Tea

文/喬治·奧威爾 譯/劉春芳

If you look up ‘tea’ in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned;or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling1ruling判定。on several of the most important points.

[2] This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays22 stay支柱。of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire3愛爾蘭共和國舊稱。,Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

[3] When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I fi nd no fewer than eleven outstanding points.On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely4acutely（描述不快的感覺）極其，強烈地。controversial.Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues

要是你在手邊任何一本烹飪書中查找“茶”的信息，很有可能發現書中并未提及；或至多只有幾行簡略的介紹，對最重要的幾點也未作說明。

[2]這種現象很奇怪，因為茶不僅是我們這個國家，也是愛爾蘭、澳大利亞和新西蘭等國家主要的文明支柱之一。更重要的是，泡茶的最佳方法也是人們激烈爭論的話題。

[3]我把自己的泡茶方法認真梳理了一下，發現其中至少有十一條值得注意的地方。可能其中兩條大家已形成共識，但至少有另外四條是極富爭議的 。下面是我個人總結的十一條，每一條我都奉為金科玉律：

首先，應該挑選印度茶或者錫蘭茶。中國茶固然有其which are not to be despised nowadays—it is economical, and one can drink it without milk—but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase ‘a nice cup of tea’ invariably means Indian tea. Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities—that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn5urn（帶龍頭的）茶水桶。is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash6whitewash（粉刷用的）石灰水，白涂料。. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel7enamel瓷漆；瓷釉。pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter88 pewter白镴（質）的。teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad. Thirdly,the pot should be warmed beforehand.This is better done by placing it on the hob99 hob（舊時放在爐側用于加熱鍋等的）火爐擱架。than by the usual method of swilling10swill沖洗。it out with hot water. Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart11quart夸脫（液量單位，在英國和加拿大等于 2 品脫或 1.14 升，在美國等于 0.95 升）, if you are going to fi ll it nearly to the brim, six heaped122 heaped滿滿的（一匙等）。teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong,優點，對這個優點至今我們還頗為賞識——更經濟實惠，而且喝時無須加奶——但不是很刺激。喝完中國茶，不覺得自己更聰明、更勇敢，或者更樂觀。大家說到“一杯好茶”這句讓人感到安慰的話時，幾乎無一例外地指的是印度茶。其次，泡茶以量少為宜——要用茶壺。茶桶泡的茶水總是無味，軍隊里用大鍋爐煮的茶有一股油脂和石灰水的味道。茶壺應該用瓷質或陶質的。銀質或者銅質茶具泡的茶味道不好，搪瓷的更差。用镴質茶壺是個不錯的主意，雖然這種想法有點古怪（這種茶具當今已很罕見）。第三，泡茶之前應該預熱茶壺。最好的辦法是把茶壺放在爐架上燒熱，而不是像通常那樣用熱水涮一涮。第四，茶濃些才好。容量為一夸脫的茶壺，要想沖滿滿一壺茶水，就要放六茶匙茶葉。在食物配給的年代，這種做法很難每天實現，但是我堅信一杯濃茶好于二十杯淡茶。真正愛喝茶的人不僅喜歡喝濃茶，并且對茶的濃度要求會隨著年齡增長越

but like it a little stronger with each year that passes—a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to oldage pensioners. Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers13strainer濾網。, muslin14muslin細平布（舊時尤用于做衣物和窗簾）。bags or other devices to imprison15imprison禁錮; 使不自由。the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling16dangling（晃來晃去地）吊著；懸掛著。baskets under the spout17spout（容器的）嘴。to catch the stray18stray雜散的。leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tealeaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses19infuse泡，沏（茶）。properly.Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact,which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil200 boil沸騰；沸點。,but I have never noticed that it makes any difference. Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better,give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle. Eighthly,來越高——給領養老金的老年人多配給一份茶葉，就印證了這一點。第五，應該把茶葉直接放入茶壺中。不要使用濾網或棉布袋等把茶葉包起來。在有些國家，茶壺嘴上會掛上小籃子，以便倒茶時將茶葉渣兜住，人們認為茶葉渣不好。實際上即便是吞掉大量茶葉，也不會對健康有害。如果不讓茶葉在茶水里散開，那茶就泡不徹底。第六，應該把茶壺拿到開水壺旁邊，而不是提著水壺去找茶壺。應該用沸騰的水沏茶，這意味要用還在火上沸騰的開水沖泡。有的人還說，只用剛剛燒開的水，但是我并沒有發現這有什么區別。第七，沖好茶后，應該攪動茶水，要是能輕輕地搖動茶壺效果會更好，然后讓茶葉沉淀。第八，應該用上等的早餐杯來喝茶—— 一種圓柱形的杯子，而不是用平平的淺口杯。早餐杯能容納更多的茶水，而要是one should drink out of a good breakfast cup—that is, the cylindrical21cylindricaltype of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one’s tea is always half cold before one has well started on it. Ninthly,one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk- fi rst school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable222 unanswerable無可爭辯的；不容反對的。. This is that, by putting the tea in fi rst and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.

Lastly, tea—unless one is drinking it in the Russian style—should be drunkwithout sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tea lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a使用淺口杯的話，在開始好好品茶之前，茶水就開始變涼了。第九，如果加牛奶，要把奶油撇掉。如果摻入的牛奶含太多乳脂，茶水會很難喝。第十，應該先倒茶水，再倒牛奶。這一條是最有爭議的，每個英國家庭對此都有兩派觀點。主張先倒牛奶的人論據充分，但是我認為我的觀點也是無法辯駁的。我的理由是，如果先倒茶，一邊攪拌一邊倒，對于該放多少牛奶，就能控制得恰到好處，然而要是先倒牛奶，很有可能會倒多了。

最后，除非你想喝俄式的茶，否則不要加糖。我知道持這種觀點的人只占少數。但是我仍認為，如果你用糖毀掉了茶的味道，又怎能自稱是一個真正的愛茶之人呢？這跟往茶里放胡椒粉或鹽一樣沒道理。茶和啤酒一樣，應該是苦的。very similar drink by dissolving23dissolve使（固體）溶解。sugar in plain hot water.

Some people would answer that they don’t like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.

[4] These are not the only controversial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are suf fi cient to show how subtilized24subtilize趨于精細（或微妙）。the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot(why is it considered vulgar25vulgar粗俗的；不雅的。to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary26subsidiary附帶的；次要的。uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing27wring用力絞出，擠出。out of one’s ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces,properly handled, ought to represent. ■

（FromThe Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell,Volume 3, 1943—1945.）如果加糖使之變甜，那么你品嘗的就不再是茶水，而是糖水；要是想喝這種飲料，不如直接把糖溶解在熱開水中。

有些人說，他們本來不喜歡茶本身的味道，喝茶是為了暖身或者提神，因此他們需要加糖來淡化濃茶的味道。我想告訴這些誤入歧途的人：堅持喝不加糖的茶，一直堅持兩個星期，你就會發現再也不想加糖來破壞茶的味道了。

[4]關于怎樣喝茶引起的爭論還不僅上述幾點，但從中我們可以看出喝茶是一件非常講究的事情。喝茶時還有很多讓人琢磨不透的社交禮節（比如，為什么大家會認為喝茶時不用茶碟是不雅的？）；關于茶葉的附帶用途，還有很多可以寫的，比如茶葉能預測運勢，預見客人來訪，可以喂兔子，還能治療燒傷和清潔地毯。我們應該留意預熱茶壺和用沸水沏茶這些細節，這樣才能使配給的茶葉量得到充分利用——方法得當的話，兩盎司茶葉能泡出二十杯濃香的好茶。 □