Tea VS. Coffee Essay Example
Tea and Coffee both have their differences in origins, botany, and social impact. However, they still have their similarities in these areas. Like they were both introduced to Europe. Coffee and Tea are also members of the evergreen family. They are used in meetings, whether it’s for diplomatic problems or to discuss the latest gossip. Tea is treated as a drink of relaxation, whereas Coffee is used to take a break from work and charge up.
Coffee and tea were discovered in two different places yet were both originally used as medicine. Coffee originated from Arabia around 850 A.D whereas tea originated from China around 2737 B.C. (Ukers,1) At this time in China the people didn't think of tea as a relaxing drink, but as a medicinal drink that could help with pain and increase better thinking. Coffee was also thought of a medicinal drink in Arabia, but they used it for smallpox, headaches, measles, and pimples. Tea also helps tumors and bladder problems and coffee helps prevent liver diseases.
Tea and coffee are more different than they are alike when it comes to botany, but there are a few similarities between them. One of these similarities is that they both take a few years to grow, another is that they both have small flowers before they bloom. Now there are also many differences between coffee and tea in botany one is their height a tea plant grows 3-4 feet, whereas a coffee plant can grow from 14-20 feet.(Ukers,133) One fundamental difference is their classifications, Coffee’s classifications are Kingdom: Vegetable, Class: Dicotyledoneae, Order: Rubiales, Family: Rubiaceae, Genus: Coffea, and Species: C. arabica. The classifications of Tea are Kingdom: Plantae, Order: ericales, Family: Theaceae, Genus: Camellia, Species: C. sinensis.
Coffee in Europe was used as a drink for relaxation and a drink to bring people together, but tea was a drink that brought people conflict and it tore people apart. Originally coffee in Europe was considered a drink for the upper class intellectuals that studied at places like Oxford. (Biderman, 67)They enjoyed coffee in their houses ever since they were introduced to it when they were pursuing their academic interests in the Middle East.
Eventually this gave way to the building of coffee shops, where merchants and traders met up to exchange information and ideas. One day this gathering became the stock exchange. Coffee became so popular that it created a demand in some countries such as England, France, and Holland. The need for coffee kept growing and growing so this made the Europeans search for alternative ways to acquire coffee beans, this search led to plantations in countries like Haiti. Tea had a very large impact in England and their American colonies as well. After the seven year war England passed all tax responsibilities of the colonies to the British government which was under George III.
He thought that the colonists should help pay part of the soldiers' pay for protecting them. So he made the Stamp Act, which put a tax on tea and other items. Yet the colonists were not happy with this so around 1770 a group called the opposition protested that the British government had no right to tax the American colonies without their consent. This eventually led to the Boston Tea party. When three ships came into Griffin's Wharf the people dressed up like Mohawk Indians with axes and hatchets. They warned the crew on the vessels to stay out of the way while they opened all the tea boxes and emptied them into the harbour.
This comparison between tea and coffee has shown both similarities and differences between origins, botany, social impact. While originating from diff places, both tea and coffee have been used in the past for medicinal purposes. There are a few botanical similarities between these two plants. However, they essentially differ in the scientific classifications. The social impacts of tea and coffee are vast and far-reaching.
Yet, a focus on early modern Europe has shown that coffee and tea can be a catalyst to both unite and tear apart.
