From AuroraWiki
a cuppa on the way home from work
play the same part in "Chai Nations" as coffeehouses and pubs do in other cultures. If one is buying the week's worth of Samlaong Oolten for home brewing, one simply must take a seat and enjoy a bowl of some stronger blend at the shop with one's neighbor-shoppers. If travellers stop by from out of town, well, one simply must walk down to the corner and buy enough of their favorite leaf, to be properly hospitable. If a business deal is to be concluded, one seals the agreement over a pot and an hour or more's multiple infusings.
The proprietor of a village tea shop may have more influence than the mayor
"Showroom" for a tea grower is a classy tea house at the plantation itself
Villages far from tea-producing areas will have far fewer choices than ones in cities or in
Danetia's Ghandu Than highlands. Still, those village shops tie even the most remote hamlets to the world of international trade. Even in a certain leaf's nation of origin, the price of that variety of tea will rise and fall on its demand five thousand kilometers away. Townspeople in
Antara know at least a little of the last winter's harsh weather on the far side of Danetia. Conversely, the rice farmer in a thatch hut in 447,
Becassashar,
Sam'thuma may know a bit of the teamsters' strikes last month in
Odessa—that situation having freed up unshipped lots of prime Douloon Black for the Sam'thuman market.
Kijana Hian's woes with a dry summer force
Lusitierran cafe owners to try to find their pickiest customers a Danetian equivalent for Ruby Minsa Hu (there aren't any).
Tea shops in Sam'thuma sell fresh tea, aged tea, and second-hand tea. Trade in the latter is largely an offshoot of the custom of teapotlach.
