etymology: 紅 for black as in 紅茶


Someone recently posted a question about お茶 and whether it's correct to use お茶
to describe something like 紅茶 instead. Knowing that 紅 usually means 'crimson',
was wondering what the etymology for 紅茶's usage of 紅 goes for black.

This might be a case of assuming a translation from what an item is called in
one culture versus another (i.e. in English this is "Black Tea" but in
Japanese this is "Crimson Tea", literally speaking) but since I'm not fully
certain about the kanji choice for 紅茶 just wanted to know where its origins
are?




Well, black tea isn't exactly black. You might say it isn't red either.
Nevertheless, I wouldn't get hung up on the _color_. It's just a name a kind
of tea that in English we refer to as **black** and Japanese refers to as
**紅**.

Next time you pour yourself a cup of "black" tea in a white porcelain cup,
just fill it about a centimeter deep and reflect on the color. It's neither
black nor bright red, but it is somewhat ruddy looking. I've always imagined
that's where the name of the tea in Japanese came from.

I imagine, but I don't know, that the name of the tea in English comes less
from the color of the liquid tea itself as from the color of the leaves: a
good English Breakfast or Earl Gray are, well, _not_ exactly black (in fact,
rather brown looking to me). But, in English, we tend to see the world in
black-and-white.

Here is an [interesting link on the naming
convention](http://gingkobay.blogspot.com/2010/11/why-red-tea-is-called-black-
tea.html) which seems to suggest that "black" is derived from the meaning on
Oolong in Chinese. I don't know since, at least in Japanese, Oolong, apart
from being written ウーロン茶 can also be written as 烏龍, both of which I've seen. 烏
means crow (so _black_ because crows are black?). At any rate, there seems to
be quite a lot you can find with a google search about the different naming
conventions used and theorizing about why.




Well, black tea isn't exactly black. You might say it isn't red either.
Nevertheless, I wouldn't get hung up on the _color_. It's just a name a kind
of tea that in English we refer to as **black** and Japanese refers to as
**紅**.

Next time you pour yourself a cup of "black" tea in a white porcelain cup,
just fill it about a centimeter deep and reflect on the color. It's neither
black nor bright red, but it is somewhat ruddy looking. I've always imagined
that's where the name of the tea in Japanese came from.

I imagine, but I don't know, that the name of the tea in English comes less
from the color of the liquid tea itself as from the color of the leaves: a
good English Breakfast or Earl Gray are, well, _not_ exactly black (in fact,
rather brown looking to me). But, in English, we tend to see the world in
black-and-white.

Here is an [interesting link on the naming
convention](http://gingkobay.blogspot.com/2010/11/why-red-tea-is-called-black-
tea.html) which seems to suggest that "black" is derived from the meaning on
Oolong in Chinese. I don't know since, at least in Japanese, Oolong, apart
from being written ウーロン茶 can also be written as 烏龍, both of which I've seen. 烏
means crow (so _black_ because crows are black?). At any rate, there seems to
be quite a lot you can find with a google search about the different naming
conventions used and theorizing about why.

