Chengdu is known for its laidback outlook on life and relaxed lifestyle – a big difference from what people are like in New York City. In New York, I generally drink three Venti-sized cups of coffee a day just to keep myself bouncing from school to work and everything in between, allowing myself very little down time to just stop and smell the roses. Of course, all the coffees I drink are for on the go. Nothing thrills me more than the kick that an iced-cold coffee provides. With bodega shops and Starbucks littered on every corner in New York City, coffee is the primary choice of drink for most city folk.
In Chengdu, as in many other parts of China, coffee might be at the bottom of the top ten list of most popular drinks. The drink that takes the first spot is, of course, tea. Tea has played a dominant role in Chinese history – everyone from farmers and peasants to members of the royal family and the Emperors drank tea.
Tea drinking in China is a tradition that has been passed down over numerous years and countless generations. In fact, the art of brewing tea properly is a process that has been perfected over centuries of Chinese history. In present day there are still tea shops, or cha guans, in China that will uphold this tradition and serve tea as part of a tea art ceremony.
