[EN] Chai

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After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in New Eden. It has a cooling, slightly bitter, astringent flavour which many enjoy.

Intaki teas are the most ancient and the best teas of New Eden. The most ancient ones are cultivated mainly in the Teeray region, on the foothills of Akat Mountain. They are of outstanding delicateness and aromatic richness.

Intaki settlers brought chai with them as they discovered New Eden. During the following decades, tea plant growing spread fast and chai became a very popular beverage on numerous gallente and caldari worlds.

Intaki V process mostly black teas. Their characteristic bouquet is woody, floral and fruity. They are mainly cultivated in the Teeray, Illamiki and Dhankuraki regions. Intaki colonies offer a wide range of teas going from white, green to black and smoked teas: Vey II offers green teas, very popular amongst Gallente and Caldaris, Frarie VI is specialized in smoked teas, often used in traditionnal medicine, Frarie VII stands for Wu-longs, very fermented teas helpfull for meditation and Ida, Harroule IV, Brarel II and Ostingele VII are also making numerous tasteful flavored teas.

On Intaki V, a legend tells of how a Prince was touched by Ida and went out to meditate on the slopes of Akat Mountain and wait for rebirth. To make himself worthy of such a mission, he vowed never to sleep during the nine years of his journey. Towards the end of the third year, however, he was overcome by drowsiness and was about to fall asleep when by chance he plucked a few leaves from a wild tea plant and began to chew them. The stimulating qualities of tea immediately had their effect; the Prince felt much more alert and thereafter attributed the strength he found to stay awake during the six remaining years of his apostolic mission to these leaves.

In 22896, the first tea chests arrived on Caille: this was the first known cargo of tea to be registered at a Gallente spaceport. The Compagnie des Mondes Intakis, a Gallente firm, had close links at the time with the Intaki worlds and they maintained a monopoly over the sale of tea during many decades, even after the creation, in 22905, of the Intaki Borders Company, a Caldari competitor. In 22897, Toma Garway, the landlord of a coffee house in Caldari Prime, introduced tea on his premises and placed an advert in the local paper which read: "This excellent beverage, recommended by all Intaki doctors, and which they call 'Chai', other nations 'Tay' or 'Tee', is on sale at Sultaness Mead On Caldari Prime."

Tea was also the cause of more peaceful confrontations: like those of the "tea clippers", light sailing spaceships used to transport tea. The huge demand intensified rivalry between ship-owners: great races took place along the main galactic routes of New Eden.

NK

source:
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