文/韋羅妮克·格林伍德 譯/王錫

英人嗜茶為哪般？

文/韋羅妮克·格林伍德 譯/王錫

The British drink more than 60 billion cups of tea a year—so what is it about this humble brew1brew（茶）一次的沖泡量。that refreshes them so?

Whether they take their tea with milk, sugar, lemon or just plain,it’s clear that the British have a fondness for its fl avour. There’s something about that fi rm bitterness that sparks devotion:the British consume 60 billion cups per year, according to the Tea and Infusions Organisation. That’s more than 900 cups a year for every man, woman and child in Great Britain—though we no doubt all know someone who likes many more than that.

[2] Tea has become entrenched2entrench （sth）使處于牢固地位。in the British way of life, from the humble tea break to the afternoon tea to be enjoyed—in a jacket and tie, of course,gentlemen—at the very swankiest3swanky擺闊的；時髦且豪華的。of London hotels.

[3] But what are the molecules behind the taste of this beloved beverage?And does how you take your tea say something about who you are?

[4] To answer that, it’s worth first trying to work out what it is exactly that makes tea taste the way it does. Tea’s flavour is intimately4intimately密切地。affected by how it is grown, processed, and brewed—beginning with the light. Tea bushes—Latin name camellia sinesis—are grown in terraces55 terrace梯田。all over the tropics and subtropics. But if the intent is to make certain kinds of green tea from them,like matcha6matcha抹茶。, growers will make sure they are carefully shaded with nets or mats. Less sun causes them to produce more chlorophyll7chlorophyll葉綠素。as well as fewer polyphenols8polyphenol多酚。, a class of molecules that imparts tea’s singular astringency99 astringency澀味。.

[5] Of course, some of us may like that taste, and tea processing can amp it up10amp up增強，放大。. After the new leaves and buds have been plucked from a bush, they are laid out to dry. How long they lie again depends on the kind of tea intended.For green teas, the leaves are almost immediately tossed in a hot pan or steamed (tea might look like the rawest of edibles111 edible可食物；食用品。, but it is actually cooked,or at least heat-treated). An oolong results when the leaves are dried a little,bruised12bruise搗爛，研碎。and only then cooked. And a black tea—the most popular variant,accounting for 78% of the tea drunk world-wide—results when the bruised leaves dry quite a long while before being fi nished in the pan.

[6] What’s behind all this is that as the tea leaves are drying, enzymes13enzyme酵素。native to the tea plant are busily transforming simple molecules into more complex ones. The longer the tea spends drying,the longer those enzymes have to work—and the more these molecules build up in the tea leaves. The most famous in tea-chemistry circles is probably theaflavin14theaflavin茶黃素。, a tangle15tangle纏結(jié)的一團。of carbon rings responsible for some of the ruddy colour of black teas as well as some of the astringency.

[7] Firing the tea leaves calls the process to a halt by destroying the enzymes. As a result, there’s very little thea fl avin and related molecules in, say,green teas. But aside from polyphenols,hundreds of other compounds build up in the tea over time; their roles in crafting tea’s bouquet16bouquet氣味；芳香。and taste are not yet clear. Regardless, the end result is a different chemical pro fi le for each kind of tea.

[8] Brewed tea has roughly half thecaffeine of an equivalent volume of coffee, but it is still plenty for a midafternoon pick-me-up17pick-me-up提神物品，興奮劑（尤指藥物或酒精飲料）。. You might have heard that caffeine in tea gives a different high18high興奮感。from the caffeine in coffee. Many studies have found that if this is the case, it’s because of an amino acid called theanine19theanine茶氨酸。, which occurs in tea. When volunteers consume both caffeine and theanine—versus caffeine and other tea molecules—they show moderately more alertness and better ability to switch between tasks than with caffeine alone. The amount in a given cuppa20cuppa〈英口〉一杯茶。may not be the same as the doses given during a study,however, and the effect of theanine is not enormous. But all on its own, the caffeine will give you a nice lift21lift情緒高昂；精神振奮。.

[9] So that’s what makes tea taste how it does. But why do these melanges22melange混合物。of molecules mean so much to British people? And what does your preference,in terms of tea type and how you drink it, mean about you?

[10] Anthropologist Kate Fox writes in her bookWatching the Englishthat there are several clear messages sent whenever a Brit makes a cuppa.She observes that the strongest brews of black tea are typically drunk by the working class. The brew gets progressively weaker as one goes up the social ladder.

[11] Milk and sweetener have their own codes. “Taking sugar in your tea is regarded by many as an infallible23infallible確實可靠的，絕對無疑的。lower-class indicator: even one spoonful is a bit suspect (unless you were born before about 1955); more than one and you are lower-middle at best; more than two and you are definitely working class,” she writes. Other rules involve when and how milk is added, if any.Making a point of24make a point of強調(diào)，特別注意。drinking smoky Lapsang Souchong25正山小種紅茶，原產(chǎn)于福建省武夷山市。with no sugar or milk can be a sign of class anxiety in the middle class, Fox suggests: it’s as far as possible as one can get from sweet, strong, milky mugs of the nononsense266 no-nonsense簡單直接的；實際的?！癰uilder’s tea”.

[12] There are historical reasons aplenty for why tea came to wash up on Britain’s shores. And one could come up with any number of rationales for why the current state of affairs was inevitable (boiling water to make tea,for instance, made it less likely to give you a stomach bug).

[13] A food scientist I once corresponded with pointed out something that seems to apply here. “In my opinion,food choices are driven by one’s environment—the context,” he wrote. A food or drink’s real importance in your life may be because of everything that surrounds it—the culture of it.

[14] Fox observes that in truth,alongside its chemical properties, tea is an infallible social space-filler27space-filler填充材料。.She writes, “Tea-making is the perfect displacement activity28displacement activity〈心理〉替代性活動；轉(zhuǎn)移行為。: whenever the English feel awkward or uncomfortable in a social situation (that is, almost all the time), they make tea.”

[15] It’s also interesting to note that some of the molecules involved in the flavour of teas likely evolved as defenses against being eaten by birds,insects and other creatures. That is somewhat ironic, given how vigorously we humans seek it out—and how many social meanings we’ve attached to it. ■

每年，英國人都要喝掉600多億杯茶。是什么讓這種司空見慣的飲品如此提神振氣呢？

不論他們喝茶時是加牛奶、糖、檸檬，還是什么都不加，英國人顯然對茶情有獨鐘?？M繞在唇齒之間的這種苦澀茶味讓人欲罷不能：據(jù)英國茶葉與熬煮協(xié)會的估計，英國人每年都要喝掉600億杯茶。也就是說不管男女老少，平均下來大不列顛的每個人每年都要喝掉900杯茶；當然喝得比這個量多得多的也不乏其人。

[2]茶已然根植于英式生活方式之中：從常見的茶歇時間到見于倫敦最為奢華的賓館、需要悠然消享的下午茶——紳士們，這時當然得著短上衣，系上領(lǐng)帶。

[3]人人愛茶，然而茶之味源自何種化合物？一個人喝茶的方式是否也多少透露出他的個性呢？

[4]要回答這些問題，我們可以先嘗試弄明白到底是什么讓茶有這般的風味。茶的味道與它的生長、加工和沏制的過程緊密相關(guān)，始之于光照。茶樹（拉丁學(xué)名camellia sinesis）遍布于熱帶、亞熱帶的梯田，然而倘茶農(nóng)想制作某種綠茶（比如抹茶），必須得悉心使用網(wǎng)子或席子為茶樹遮陽。減少光照會使茶葉的葉綠素增多，多酚（一類賦予茶葉其獨特澀味的分子）減少。

[5]當然了，有些人可能就是喜歡茶的苦澀味，而茶葉加工過程可以加重這種澀味。茶葉、茶芽從茶樹上采摘下來后會被鋪開脫水；至于這一過程要持續(xù)多長時間，取決于要制作哪種茶。制作綠茶的時候，鮮葉幾乎是立即被拋入熱鍋翻炒或是蒸制。（在各種食品中，茶雖看似頗為純天然，但其實也是經(jīng)過炒制而成，起碼是經(jīng)過熱處理的。）將茶葉略加脫水，捻糅，然后才烹制，便制成了烏龍茶。而紅茶（最受歡迎的種類，全世界喝掉的茶中78%都是紅茶）是將糅制后的茶葉長時間脫水，然后在鍋中翻炒而成的。

[6]這背后的奧妙即是：當茶葉脫水時，茶樹自身含有的酶會馬不停蹄地將簡單分子轉(zhuǎn)化為復(fù)雜分子。茶葉脫水過程越長，酶的作用就發(fā)揮得越久，復(fù)雜分子也就積聚得越多。在茶葉化學(xué)界最有名的恐怕得數(shù)茶黃素了；這是一種復(fù)雜的碳環(huán)，它部分地導(dǎo)致了紅茶的苦澀味，也是為其帶來紅潤色澤的因素之一。

[7]加熱茶葉的時候會破壞酶，從而終止上述轉(zhuǎn)化。結(jié)果便是在諸如綠茶這樣的茶葉品種中，茶黃素及其相關(guān)分子的含量就很少了。但是，除了多酚之外，數(shù)以百計的其他化合物也逐漸在茶中累積；它們在茶葉的芬芳氣味和口感中扮演了什么角色目前尚不清楚。無論如何，其結(jié)果便是每一種茶都有不同的化學(xué)結(jié)構(gòu)。

[8]沏制茶中所含咖啡因 大約是等量咖啡的一半，而這對緩解下午三點多鐘的無精打采狀態(tài)來說已經(jīng)是綽綽有余了。你可能已經(jīng)聽說過，茶葉中的咖啡因和咖啡中的咖啡因?qū)θ说拇碳ぷ饔貌煌?。許多研究表明，如果這種說法屬實，這是由于茶中含有一種叫做茶氨酸的氨基酸。同時服用咖啡因和茶氨酸（區(qū)別于咖啡因與其他種類的茶分子）的參與試驗者表現(xiàn)更機敏，在不同任務(wù)之間轉(zhuǎn)換的能力也比只服用咖啡因時有所提高。不過一杯茶中所含的咖啡因與研究中所給的劑量可能并不一樣，而茶氨酸的效用也并不很大。然而光靠茶中含有的咖啡因就足夠讓你精神抖擻一會兒了。

[9]這就是茶之味的奧妙所在。但是為什么這些分子的混合物對英國人意義非凡呢？而人對茶葉種類和飲茶方式的偏好又透露出飲茶人的什么信息呢？

[10]人類學(xué)家凱特·?？怂乖谄渲鳌队嗣婷嬗^》中寫到，無論何時，英國人泡茶的舉動都會傳達出一些清晰的信息。她注意到，工人階級一般都喝味道最濃烈的紅茶。一個人的社會地位越高，喝的茶也就越淡。

[11]牛奶和甜味劑也有其特殊含義。福克斯寫道：“許多人認為在茶中放糖絕對是下層階級的表現(xiàn)：除非你出生于大約1955年以前，否則即使加一勺糖也會讓人對你的身份存疑；多過一勺，你便頂多算下級中產(chǎn)階級；超過兩勺你便是板上釘釘?shù)墓と穗A級了。”其他的規(guī)則包括該什么時候加牛奶（如果選擇加的話）和加多少。她說，講究喝富含煙熏味的正山小種紅茶且不加糖或牛奶，可能透露了中產(chǎn)階級的階級身份焦慮：這和加糖加奶、茶味濃郁、簡單樸實的“建筑工之茶”相比，可謂天差地別。

[12]英國人為什么會大量進口茶葉，有很多歷史原因。英國人愛茶為何勢所必然，人們也可以想出許多原因（比方說，用沸水煮茶和可以降低患胃病的風險）。

[13]一位和我有過通信往來的食品科學(xué)家說過的一些話在這里也適用。他寫道：“在我看來，人們?nèi)绾芜x擇食物是由環(huán)境——即生活背景驅(qū)動的。”一種食品或飲料在生活中真正有多重要，可能在于其周遭的一切，即其文化。

[14]?？怂乖u論道，事實上，除了其化學(xué)功用外，茶也是可靠的社交活動填充劑。?？怂箤懙溃骸芭莶枋且环N完美的替換活動。每當英國人在某種社交場合中感到別扭或不舒服時（他們幾乎一向如此），他們便要沏茶。”

[15]有個有趣的事實也值得一提：一些使茶產(chǎn)生苦澀味道的分子可能是茶樹為了防止被鳥類、昆蟲以及其他生物吃掉而進化而來的。想想我們?nèi)绱朔e極地探求茶味背后的原因，還附上了很多社會內(nèi)涵，這多少有些諷刺。 □

Why Do the British Love the Taste of Tea So Much?

ByVeronique Greenwood

（譯者曾獲第五屆“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽二等獎）