@zoomiepet.co: Why do some countries say tea and others say chai? 🍵 Same plant, same drink, two words. Tea left China by two roads. Overland, along the Silk Road, traders said “cha”, so Persian, Turkish, Russian and Hindi say chai. By sea, Dutch merchants picked up the Fujian word “te”, so we got Dutch thee, English tea, French thé, German Tee and Spanish té. Portugal is the exception: it came by sea but traded at Macau, where Cantonese says cha. Which word does your language use? Distances on the map are great-circle estimates. #tea #chai #etymology #geography #maps #History #silkroad #language #DidYouKnow