WEBVTT

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Thank you for joining us for today's
Spotlight Advanced. I'm brucekulland and I'm Lis

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Wade. Spotlight uses a special English
method of broadcasting. It is easier for

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people to understand no matter where in
the world they live. Some people drink

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it with food in the afternoon.
Some people drink it to give themselves energy

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in the morning. Some people drink
it as part of a ceremony. Some

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people drink it when they're sick.
Some people drink it hot, some people

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drink it very cold. People have
been drinking it for hundreds of years in

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hundreds of countries. What is it
tea? Tea comes from the Camellia sinensis

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plant. People pick the leaves off
the plant. They set the leaves to

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dry. The tea leaves are ready
when all the water from the leaves is

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evaporated. There are many ways to
prepare the leaves before making the tea drink.

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Some tea leaves are left open to
the air before they are dried.

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This makes the leaves darker they will
taste stronger. Some people mix tea leaves

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with flowers, oils, and other
plants to give teas different tastes. The

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people who originally discovered tea developed these
methods many years ago. The story of

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tea begins in China. Chinese history
says that over five thousand years ago,

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Chinese emperor Chennung discovered tea. Stories
say that a dry leaf from the tea

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plant fell into the emperor's cup of
hot water. The empress saw that his

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water turned dark. He tasted the
water and liked it. This was the

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first cup of tea. However it
started, tea became very popular in China.

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People believed that tea was healthy.
People in China also created many different

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ways to prepare tea. In fact, a man named lu Yu wrote a

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book just about tea late in the
eighth century. Soon after this, tea

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traveled to Japan. Japanese Buddhist priests
traveled to China, and they brought tea

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back with them. In Japan,
people developed special ceremonies to serve tea.

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Serving tea became a new form of
art. It was most common among wealthy

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people. Tea was an important part
of both Chinese and Japanese culture. It

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had traveled to other Asian countries too, but tea had not yet traveled anywhere

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else in the world. Finally,
in the late fifteen hundreds, Portuguese travelers

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brought small amounts of tea back to
Europe. Portugal was one of the first

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European countries to trade with China.
Portugal worked with the Netherlands to move the

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tea through Europe. Dutch ships took
tea to France and other countries on the

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Baltic Sea. Only very wealthy people
had enough money to drink tea in Europe.

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It took many months to transport the
tea from Asia and only a limited

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amount was transported. But more countries
started to trade with China, they also

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brought tea back to Europe. Prices
became lower and more people could drink tea.

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Today, England is the European country
most known for tea. British traders

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started shipping tea to England in the
late sixteen hundreds. Tea trade had become

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a very profitable business. England imported
about eighteen thousand kilograms of tea a year

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in sixteen sixty nine. Ten years
later, the country imported six times that

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amount of tea. British colonists also
brought tea wherever they settled. Tea became

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very important in India. It is
still a very important crop there, and

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Indian tea is known around the world. Tea played an important part in one

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British colony you might know. This
colony is now known as the United States

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of America. England sent tea to
America, but as time went on,

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England raised the taxes on the tea
and other goods it sent. The people

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living in the colonies did not like
these taxes. To protest the high taxes,

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a group of colonists took a large
shipment of tea and threw it into

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the ocean. Today this event is
known as the Boston Tea Party. It

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was one of the most important events
in the American Revolution. Tea has also

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changed over many years. In the
past, people drank tea by putting the

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leaves directly into the water, but
around nineteen hundred eight, an American inventor

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developed a new method, tea bags. Thomas Sullivan put the tea in a

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small silk bag. This bag of
tea could be put directly into the hot

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water. At first, people in
Britain did not like tea bags, but

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during World War Two people could not
get their normal tea, so they had

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to use tea bags. Today,
most tea bags are made of paper and

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they are very popular in many parts
of the world. Today, people on

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every continent drink tea, but people
in different places drink tea differently. In

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the United Kingdom, tea became part
of the daily meal. Traditionally, two

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meals involved tea in British homes.
These meals became popular in the sixteen hundreds.

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The first was afternoon tea or low
tea. This was popular among wealthy

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people. They would drink tea and
eat small sandwiches of meat and bread.

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This meal happened around three o'clock in
the afternoon. The other meal was called

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high tea. High tea was a
larger meal eaten later in the night.

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It was popular among poorer people in
Western Asia and the Middle East. A

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popular way to enjoy tea is as
massala chai. Massala chai is a drink

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made from black tea, but this
drink has sugar, spices and milk in

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it. Around the world, people
boil plants and flowers to make drinks similar

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to tea. These are called tissans. A tisan is any drink made from

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hot water and any plant material except
from the tea plant. They are also

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often called herbal teas. In areas
of South America, people enjoy a particular

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tissan. The drink is called matte. People make it from the leaves of

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the yerba mate plant. A person
puts dry yerba mate leaves into a dry

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gourd. This is a container made
from a dried vegetable skin. He then

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adds water to the gourd. He
drinks the liquid through a thin metal tube.

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A Bombia. People in Southern Africa
make a drink called roibos. This

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hot drink is made similar to tea, but instead of tea leaves, it

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uses the leaves from the roibos plant. The drink is a red color and

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is often called red tea. However, you drink tea, the next time

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you have a cup, think of
all the people around the world who are

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joining you enjoy. Do you drink
tea? What kinds of tea do you

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drink? Tell us what you think. You can leave a comment on our

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website or email us at Radio at
Radio English dot net. You can also

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comment on Facebook at Facebook dot com, slash Spotlight Radio. The writer of

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this program was Joshua Leo. The
producer was Mitchyozaki. The voices you heard

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were from the United Kingdom and the
United States. You can listen to this

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program again and read it on the
internet at www dot Radio English and dot

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net. This program is called The
Amazing History of Tea. Visit our website

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to download our free official app for
Android and Apple devices. We hope you

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can join us again for the next
Spotlight program. Goodbye one