Where Does Black TeaCome From?紅茶的誕生

We all know that black tea is a traditional Chinese drink. But do you know where it comes from？

Black tea first appeared in the 1500s in Mount Wuyi in Fujian Province. Legend has it that an army set up camp in a tea factory there. There were many tea bags on the ground， and the soldiers just slept on the bags. By the time the army left， the farmers found that the tea leaves were black and couldn’t be sold as usual. But they didn’t want to throw the tea leaves away. Then they came up with an idea to reprocess them. They used pine wood to roast the tea leaves. This gave the leaves a pine fragrance. Surprisingly， people loved the taste and this kind of tea quickly became very popular. The name of the earliest black tea is lapsang souchong.

Because of the way of making black tea， it is easy to keep. Lapsang souchong can stand a trip that takes up to 18 months. In the 1600s， lapsang souchong was brought to Europe and it later became an important part of afternoon tea in England.

As time goes by， there are different kinds of black tea. It is an important part of Chinese tea culture and history. It also has a strong influence on the tea culture around the world.

眾所周知，紅茶是一種傳統的中國飲品。但你知道它產自哪里嗎？

紅茶最早產于16世紀的福建省武夷山。傳說有一支軍隊在那里的一個茶廠安營扎寨。地上有許多茶包，士兵們就睡在茶包上。當軍隊離開時，農民發現茶葉變黑了，不能像往常一樣出售。但他們不想扔掉茶葉，于是想出了一個再加工的辦法。他們用松木烘干茶葉，這使茶葉有了一股松香味。令人驚訝的是，人們喜歡這種味道，這種茶也變得很受歡迎。最早的紅茶名叫正山小種。

紅茶的制作方法使其易于保存。正山小種最長可保存18個月。17世紀，正山小種被帶入歐洲，后來成為英國下午茶的一個重要組成部分。

隨著時間的推移，紅茶的種類越來越多。紅茶是中國茶文化和茶歷史的一個重要組成部分，對世界各地的茶文化也有很大影響。

Word Bank

legend n. 傳說；傳奇故事

soldier n. 軍人；（尤指）士兵

reprocess v. 再加工

roast v. 烘，烤

influence n. 影響；作用