爲什麼英國人如此鍾愛茶的味道(2)
So that’s what makes Tea taste how it does (not to mention energise its drinkers). But why do these melanges 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?
人類學家凱特•福克斯（Kate Fox）在其專著《瞧這些英國人／英國人的言行潛規則》（Watching the English）一書中寫道，不論何時，英國人泡茶的舉動都在明確地傳遞出一些信息。她發現，一般來說，工人階級喝的都是最濃烈的紅茶，它所含的這些分子的劑量是最大的。而隨着一個人所處社會階層的提升，其所飲用的茶也逐漸變得清淡。
Anthropologist Kate Fox writes in her book Watching the English that there are several clear messages sent whenever a Brit makes a cuppa. She observes that the strongest brews of black tea – with the largest doses of these molecules – are typically drunk by the working class. The brew gets progressively weaker as one goes up the social ladder.
飲茶時牛奶和糖的使用，有它們自身的階級慣例。她寫道：“許多人把往茶里加糖視爲一種明確無誤的下層階級的行爲標誌。即便只加了一匙糖，也足以令人對你的出身產生一絲懷疑（除非你生在約1955年之前）；如果加了不止一匙糖，那你充其量只是箇中產階級中的下層人士；超過兩匙，那你絕對屬於工人階級。”另外，如果有牛奶的話，還有一些關於何時加牛奶以及怎樣加牛奶的行爲準則。福克斯指出，品味熱氣繚繞的不加糖不加奶的正山小種紅茶，儼然已成爲中產人士對於自身階級充滿焦慮的一種象徵。無論是這種喝法，還是加糖加奶、濃烈強勁、簡單實用的“建築工人茶（Builder’s tea）”，都窮盡了所有可能的選擇。
Milk and sweetener have their own codes. “Taking sugar in your tea is regarded by many as an infallible 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 of drinking smoky Lapsang Souchong 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 no-nonsense ‘builder’s tea’.
除了奇妙的化學特性，飲茶還是一種絕對可靠的社交手段。
As for why the British drink an infusion of imported dried leaves at all, 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).
許多歷史緣故足以解釋爲何大量茶葉登陸不列顛海岸，英國人得以享用浸泡進口乾燥茶葉所得到的飲品。人們可以想出許多理由來解釋，爲什麼英國人對茶的鐘愛是不可避免的（例如，沸水烹茶可以降低你罹患胃病的可能性）。
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. You like what you like not necessarily because of any intrinsic quality, though obviously one can develop a taste for almost anything. A food or drink’s real importance in your life may be because of everything the surrounds it – the culture of it.
我曾拜訪過的一位食品科學家所提出的某些觀點適用於此。他寫道：“在我看來，一個人選擇什麼食物是由他的環境，亦即生活背景所決定的。”你喜歡你所喜愛的事物，這並不一定取決於該事物的任何內在質量。顯而易見，人對於幾乎所有事物都能發展出喜愛之情。一種食物或者一種飲品在你生活中的真實的重要性很可能取決於其周邊的事物，即其自身的文化。
Fox observes that in truth, alongside its chemical properties, tea is an infallible social space-filler. After having detailed the cultural meanings behind different methods of tea preparation, Fox writes, “Tea-making is the perfect displacement activity: whenever the English feel awkward or uncomfortable in a social situation (that is, almost all the time), they make tea.”
福克斯注意到，除了奇妙的化學特性，飲茶實際上還是一種絕對可靠的社交手段。在詳細指出不同的茶葉製備方法所蘊含的文化意味後，福克斯寫道：“泡茶時一種完美的轉移注意力的活動。每當英國人在社交場合中覺得尷尬或者不自在（也就是，幾乎所有時間），他們就會沏茶。”
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.
同樣有趣的是，與茶香有關的某些分子很可能是因爲爲了茶葉免於被鳥類、昆蟲和其他生物吃掉而進化而來的。再想想我們人類苦苦探索茶葉使人精力充沛的原因，以及我們給品茶所賦予的諸多社交意味，這多少帶有幾分諷刺意味。
