🇮🇳 India
Chai, black tea simmered with milk, sugar and spices, is sold by chaiwallahs at every corner and served in clay cups, kulhads. In Assam and Darjeeling, tea estates have their own traditions.
Masala chai, being writtenTea, coffee and the drinking ceremony: compared across 19 places
The same idea in 19 places, grouped by region. Each entry is a short portrait; follow the link for the full tradition.
South Asia 2Southeast Asia 1East Asia 3Central Asia and the Caucasus 1Middle East 3North Africa 1Sub-Saharan Africa 1Europe 4North America 1Latin America and the Caribbean 1Oceania 1
South Asia
🇳🇵 Nepal
Sherpa and Tibetan communities drink butter tea, po cha, made with tea, salt and yak butter, which is offered in a wooden cup at a welcome. Chiya, sweet milk tea, is served everywhere.
Read: Butter teaSoutheast Asia
🇻🇳 Vietnam
Green tea and lotus-scented tea are served to every guest in small cups, and tea is offered at the ancestor altar on festival days. In the highlands of Thai Nguyen, tea growing is a source of regional pride.
Vietnamese tea, being writtenEast Asia
🇯🇵 Japan
Chanoyu, the way of tea, is a ceremony in which a host whisks powdered matcha and serves it to guests in a quiet tea room, guided by the principles of harmony, respect, purity and tranquillity. A guest bows, admires the bowl, takes the tea in three sips and returns the bowl with thanks.
Read: Japanese tea ceremony🇨🇳 China
Gongfu cha uses a small Yixing clay teapot and tiny cups, with repeated short infusions and attention to aroma and taste. Offering tea to elders is a sign of respect at weddings.
Read: Gongfu tea🇰🇷 Korea
The darye ceremony, with green tea and small cakes, has been revived, and a traditional teahouse serves jujube and citron tea. Barley tea, boricha, is the daily drink.
Read: Korean tea ceremonyCentral Asia and the Caucasus
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan
In the chaikhana, a tea house, a host pours green tea into a bowl and returns it to the pot three times before serving, to let the leaves mix. Tea is offered to guests with bread, sweets and dried fruit.
Teahouse, being writtenMiddle East
🇹🇷 Turkey
Tea in tulip-shaped glasses is served at all hours, and Turkish coffee, brewed in a cezve with grounds, is part of the engagement ritual, with the bride-to-be preparing it for the groom's family. The tea is served from a double kettle, and a guest is offered at least a second glass.
Turkish coffee, being written🇸🇦 Arabia
Qahwa, cardamom coffee, is poured from a dallah into small cups, and the guest shakes the cup to signal that he has had enough. The tradition is listed by UNESCO.
Read: Arabic coffee🇮🇷 Iran
Tea is served black in small glasses with sugar cubes, from a samovar, in every home and shop. The teahouse, chaikhaneh, has long been a place for storytelling and conversation.
Read: Tea cultureNorth Africa
🇲🇦 Morocco
Mint tea is made with gunpowder green tea, fresh mint and a lot of sugar, and poured from a height into small glasses, with three glasses served in a set order. Pouring from a height aerates the tea and gives it a foam, and the host's skill is admired.
Maghrebi mint tea, being writtenSub-Saharan Africa
🇪🇹 Ethiopia
The coffee ceremony, buna, has green beans roasted, ground and brewed in a jebena in front of guests, with incense burning and three rounds, abol, tona and baraka. The roasting is done in front of the guests, who waft the smoke towards themselves to breathe in the scent.
Read: Habesha coffee ceremonyEurope
🇷🇺 Russia
The samovar, a heated urn, brews strong tea concentrate, zavarka, which is diluted with hot water and served with jam, lemon or sweets. A tea table is a mark of hospitality.
Read: Samovar🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Afternoon tea, with sandwiches, scones, jam and cream, and cake, arrived in the 19th century. A cup of tea, with milk, is the offer of comfort in any crisis.
Read: Afternoon tea🇮🇪 Ireland
Ireland drinks more tea per person than almost any country, and a visitor will be offered a cup and often some brack, a fruit bread, with the kettle always on. Irish tea is strong, brewed in a pot and drunk with milk, and a visitor who refuses may be thought unwell.
Read: Tea culture🇮🇹 Italy
Espresso is drunk standing at the bar, in a few swift sips, and cappuccino is only for the morning. A coffee is an excuse to meet, and offered to a friend as a treat.
Espresso, being writtenNorth America
🇺🇸 United States
The Boston Tea Party of 1773 is a national story, and sweet iced tea is the drink of the South. Coffee, in a diner mug or a cup to go, shapes the working day.
Sweet tea, being writtenLatin America and the Caribbean
🇦🇷 Argentina
Mate, a bitter infusion of yerba, is sipped from a gourd through a metal straw, and passed round a circle by the cebador, who refills it. It is a symbol of friendship, shared in Uruguay and Paraguay as well.
Mate, being writtenOceania
🇳🇿 New Zealand
Morning tea and smoko, the mid-morning tea break at work, are taken seriously, with a plate of biscuits, and the flat white coffee was developed in Australia or New Zealand, an enduring friendly dispute. A Maori or Pacific gathering often begins with a cup of tea and a shared plate before the formal part starts.
Flat white, being writtenAbout this page
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.