tea without tea
As a kid I only knew black tea, slowly learning about different sorts of it, then about the diversity of green teas, then about flavored teas, and only in Germany about pure fruit teas. One of new friends turned my world upside down by saying that he only drinks fruit teas, and that he tried the black tea once and didn’t like it. The missing piece of a puzzle was put into place and I have followed my friend’s suit. When several months later I tried the black tea again I was surprised I could drink it previously. And by the way I haven’t even noticed the absence of caffeine.
That made me wonder why on Earth do Russians and Europeans mostly drink black tea. Well, for the same reason why supermarkets sell tasteless fruits: they can be stored longer. This feature allowed transporting them across the oceans centuries ago. And then it became a tradition and an acquired taste.