Whenever the conversation turns to tea or coffee, we somehow always end up in a debate about what one should drink and what one shouldn’t. Some people prefer tea, while others prefer coffee. There are also those who say, “Anything will do,” and there are those who don’t drink either because of the science behind tea and coffee. If the conversation starts with tea, then it’s usually, “If nothing else, at least a cup of tea.” Tea or coffee is time, or rather, a way of taking time. But what really is tea? After all, that is something worth knowing too. If we look into history, some believe that tea existed in China more than 2,000 years ago, where some tribes consumed it as medicine. And then, a few monks took it to Japan. There, it became associated with Buddhism and was embraced as a part of the culture. During the medieval period, Europeans took it much further, and English civilians began serving it as an afternoon beverage. The same plant that had already been used in the tribal regions of Assam started being cultivated there, and that’s how our habit of afternoon tea, or rather the famous 4 o’clock tea, began. Tea may have started as medicine, but today it has become everything from a social symbol to a way of asking for “just two minutes.” Whether it is a wedding, a date, or even the news of someone’s death, tea is one of the first things that comes to mind in those moments. That’s our story… but is it only about tea, or is there something more?

A similar journey begins around the same time, more than 2,000 years ago, with coffee in the Kaffa region of Ethiopia, Africa, where it grew in the highlands. According to local stories, a man named Kaldi discovered it when his goat… yes, a goat… became unusually energetic after eating the fruit of the coffee plant. And that’s where its journey began. Later, some Sufi communities started using it to stay awake through the night and create an atmosphere of devotion. From there, coffee spread across Arabia and then to Europe, where drinking hot coffee became both a culture and a social gathering. Somewhere it was called Coffee, somewhere Caffè, and in France, Café. And that is where today’s café culture truly began. Speaking of India, coffee holds great importance in the culture of the South, just as tea does in the North. But coffee is also a way of meeting, of talking. Today, whether they are students or late-night corporate workers, everyone drinks coffee. Different flavours, different tastes. But, we are not here to discuss history, are we?

We are here to discuss tea or coffee. Some people assume tea belongs to the ordinary and coffee belongs to the upper class, but one thing is equally important to understand—what do they really mean? Sometimes, spending two minutes admiring someone with affection, or trying to understand what lies in someone’s heart, is what a coffee date is all about. On a date, when you know neither their personality nor their taste, it begins with “One coffee each,” and if the conversation flows, it becomes “One coffee together.” Sometimes, it is just one coffee before saying goodbye for the last time. And if love is that moment where we simply say, “Anything will do… you decide,” then perhaps, one cup of tea each is enough. In the end, it was never about tea or coffee, nor about caffeine or theanine. It is about the feeling that travels within us with every sip. It is about the atmosphere in which we drink it. Even if we don’t make it sound so romantic, it is also about the time spent with friends, outside college or the office, about giving yourself two minutes, or sometimes doing absolutely nothing except thinking, “Well… I’ve had my tea.”

People say tea is an addiction. But if it is an addiction, then there are many addictions. Everything that brings happiness, every memory that brings pain, every cup of coffee placed in front of you that you no longer feel like drinking, because it was never really about the coffee or the tea. It was always about the person you drank it with, or the thoughts you carried while drinking it. There’s a small story: when someone special once made you drink the bitterest coffee, even though you loved tea, and you drank that coffee only because it was offered by them… that habit was never about coffee. It was about that person. Just like today, you can still drink coffee, but it was never something you truly wanted to drink. You drank it because someone offered it to you. In the same way, there is something different about a cup of tea that is made with care and served to someone with love. It is not about tea or coffee; it is about being with someone… or no longer being with them.

“Khair.. Chai acchi hai”