On the concept of being drunk on tea. Enjoy!
How heartily I laughed the first time I heard someone suggest I better eat something before I find myself intoxicated by tea (茶醉了). My company must have found my amusement strange, probably to the same degree that I found their concern peculiar. Drunk? On tea?
Isn’t tea what one drinks before going to bed? Isn’t tea what one enjoys on a leisurely Sunday afternoon with scones. Tea is the go-to drink when one is sick, or even perhaps when getting over a hang-over… Hence, their concern made no sense to me. And I probably brushed it aside as some Chinese nonsense. Unfortunately, it was a default mechanism of mine when I first came; there was just too much to digest and file away. A bit like one not being able to eat olives and beef together (if your Chinese is game, have fun checking that one up on Baidu).
As with many things – not all though, let the record show – I have later come to understand better, and hereby declare: I stand corrected. One can drink too much tea. And that is the condition of being drunk on tea.
Unlike its more spirited counterpart, it doesn’t come with the giddy part at all. It skips any possible fun part completely and jumps right in to the more headier sensation of it all. Your heart races profusely, your head spins, your stomach feels like a bottomless pit, and sugar levels feel like they are a record low. One is left wondering has he or she ever eaten.
Fortunately, avoiding it is as easy as pie. Just nibble on some of the many snacks on offer in most self-respecting tea joints. Or if you find yourself already heading down the wrong way, head swooning and heart pounding – same thing – just get something in your mouth, quick! And oh, better stop drinking there. At least until the attack passes.
Whereas now I know better not to scoff at the fear of someone in one’s tea party drinking in excess, I am still highly amused by the universal truth, regardless of the beverage: if one is able to handle one’s drink, one brags about it.