【双语美文】倾国倾城的红茶丨Long history of the blackened leaves

来源：中国日报网    作者：叶军  整理：福建启航翻译公司

现在很多人都喜欢红茶，冲泡之后，汤色红润、香气怡人。可你知道吗，过去两百年中，在这些红色的叶片背后有多少历险、多少阴谋，甚至两个帝国的兴衰为之左右？

What Westerners call black tea is red tea for the Chinese. Although the color of the tea looks black, the leaves and soup after brewing look red.

西方人所说的black tea其实中国人叫红茶。中西思维不同，红茶干茶的颜色虽然是黑的，汤色和冲泡后的叶底却是红色的。

The Chinese side of the story about the invention of the first black tea, lapsang souchong, started in Tongmuguan, Fujian province’s city of Wuyishan. The birth of the tea, the first to reach the Western world from Fujian, originated from an accident.

中国最早的红茶当属福建武夷山桐木关出产的正山小种。正山小种是最早到达西方的茶，可它的起源纯属意外。

据说，明末年间，有一队清军人马在桐木关一家茶农家借宿。其中有的士兵当晚就睡在原本要做绿茶的茶青上了。军队离开之后，焦急的茶农把已经萎凋红变的茶叶炒制，并用松枝加温烘干。没想到这个茶冲泡之后，汤色明亮红润，具有松烟的香气和桂圆的味道。

To the tea farmer’s surprise, the unintended taste and flavor became a hit in the market, and the whole area started to make the tea to satisfy market demand.

意想不到的事情发生了，此茶上市之后，居然大受欢迎。不久之后，整个桐木关地区都开始制作此茶，以满足市场需求。

Around the end of the 16th century and the start of the 17th century, Dutch businesspeople took tea to Europe. Catherine of Braganza, when she married British King Charles II in 1662, took the tea drinking habit from Portugal to the British court.

16世纪末到17世纪初，荷兰商人将茶带到欧洲。葡萄牙公主凯瑟琳在嫁给了英国国王查尔斯二世的时候，将饮茶的习惯带到了英廷。

滇红

It was hard to say if residents in the United Kingdom had the choice of drinking green tea, because it is said that after long sea transportation, green tea from China naturally fermented into black tea.

很难说当时英国人是不是能选择喝绿茶。因为有一种很常见的说法是当时，长时间的海运之后，中国运过去的绿茶都自然发酵变成红茶了。

At the time British people still didn’t know that black tea and green tea are made from the same leaves, so Scottish botanist Robert Fortune (1812-1880) met with disbelief when he pointed out that only a different processing method made black tea and green tea different.

那个年代，英国人还不知道红茶和绿茶其实都由绿色茶叶制成。以至于当苏格兰植物学家罗伯特.福琼提出，红茶和绿茶的区别仅仅是工艺不同，原料都是绿色茶叶的时候，他备受质疑。

Fortune was sent by the British East India Co to steal tea from China. He took more than 20,000 tea plants and seedlings to the Darjeeling region of India in 1851. Although most of the tea plants he introduced to India are said to have died, trained Chinese tea workers he took there are believed to have equipped the country with the necessary technology and knowledge for tea making.

福琼接受英国东印度公司的派遣，进入中国偷茶。1851年，他从中国偷运出两万个发芽种子和茶树苗，带到印度的大吉岭地区试种。虽说大多数茶苗没有成活，他带到印度去的有经验的中国茶叶制作工人为发展印度茶行业提供了充分的制作技术和知识。

That was between the First Opium War (1839-1842) and the Second Opium War (1856-60), caused by the East India Company’s introduction of opium to China, as an attempt to make up for the trade deficit caused by huge tea import from China.

福琼进入中国的时间正是第一次鸦片战争（1839-1842）和第二次鸦片战争（1856-60）之间。而鸦片战争的起源正是因为东印度公司为了消减进口中国茶叶带来的巨大贸易逆差，向中国输出了鸦片。

 Tea was not widely consumed in Britain until the 18th century. The price of tea in Europe fell steadily during the 19th century, especially after Indian tea began to arrive in large quantities, as the British attempt to establish a tea industry in India paid off. Residents of the UK and in the West formed the habit of drinking black tea with sugar and milk.

茶叶在18世纪才在英国被广泛饮用。19世纪的时候，茶叶价格不断下降，特别是当印度茶大批量上市之后。英国在印度建立茶产业的目的达到了。英国和西方饮茶者逐渐养成了喝红茶放糖和奶的饮用习惯。

Although China’s green tea production and exportation is the highest in the world, its tea export still ranks lower than that of Kenya and Sri Lanka. Tea exports have been difficult, both because of the growing high cost of making tea and strict safety standards in other countries.

虽然中国的绿茶产量和出口量都是世界最大的。在这个红茶消费占主导的世界，中国茶出口仍然落后于肯尼亚和斯里兰卡。出口增加很困难，主要是因为制茶成本提高，以及国外茶叶检测标准特别严格。

At the same time, Chinese still mainly consume green teas. In 2015, green tea took up 53 percent of China’s market share, shows data from the China Tea Marketing Association. Black tea sales were estimated to account for 9 percent, ranking third, after oolong, which took up 12 percent of market sales.

同时，据中国茶叶流通协会的数据，中国人仍以喝绿茶为主。2015年，绿茶销量占国内市场的53%，红茶销售占9%，位居第三。第二是乌龙茶，占12%。

斯里兰卡锡兰红茶

Black tea consumption has been rising in China in the recent years. People consider black tea healthy, because it is warming to the stomach and is believed to lower blood sugar and blood fat.

中国的红茶销量近年来一直在增长。人们认为红茶有温胃的作用，而且能降血糖和血脂。

Jinjunmei, a golden-colored black tea made with early spring teas from Tongmuguan of Wuyi Mountain, has been popular over the years for its honey flavor, mellow, fruity and flowery taste.

过去10年在中国红茶市场最风靡的是金骏眉，用武夷山桐木关的春茶制作。茶汤温和圆润，花香蜜香浓郁。

Traditional black teas, such as keemum, Fujian’s Tanyang congou, and Bailin congou, which went on hot sales overseas in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), are recovering their tradition, and looking for a comeback to the market.

其它的中国传统红茶，如安徽祁门红茶，福建的坦洋功夫和白琳功夫茶，在清朝都有海外热销的光辉历史。而现在，它们都在寻求东山再起。

祁门红茶

中国的茶叶进口也在上升，以东南亚红茶为主。中国的年轻人对印度的大吉岭、斯里兰卡的锡兰红茶都乐于尝试。他们喜欢喝用这些红茶制作的奶茶。

China exports most of its best agricultural products, with the exception of tea, the best of which are mainly sold domestically, said Wang Qing, deputy director of the China Tea Marketing Association.

据中国茶叶流通协会副会长王庆说，中国大多数最高品质的农产品都出口了。只有一个例外，就是茶。最好的茶以国内销售为主。 

Luckily for the Chinese, despite the West’s attempt to steal teas from China, the country seems to have managed to keep the best for itself.

近两百年的红茶博弈之后，对于中国人来说，幸运的是，虽然西方试图从中国偷茶，最好的茶还是在中国。

作者叶军，中国日报生活方式资深编辑

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倾国倾城的红茶丨Long history of the blackened leaves