Chinese Tea Revolution

She was aware of the stare directed at her from the four customers that sat about three seats away from the counter. Her third years now since returning from Guangzhou and two since starting this small eatery and maybe one or two millionth times she has felt a surprised gaze fixed on her while she prepares for her customers chinese tea many regulars have failed to acknowledge as tea but herbal medicine. She could not stop herself from chuckling each time she received this kind of surprised eyes fixed on her while getting their teas ready.

The four entered, two male and two females. Eyed around and took their preferred position . "Hi!, what can I get for you?" Chinyere asked while her trademark smile was plastered on her face. The fatter girl among them was the one that seems to be the most extrovert among the four. She was the one doing most of the talking, "Can we see the menus please?" She asked with her own trademark smile on her face. Chinyere presented the menu to them and as they were going through it with the fat girl still doing most of the suggestions and choosing. Chinyere eyed her and concluded that she is the one that needed the Chinese tea the most among them. It's still harmattan but the weather in Onitsha is not regular on two ocassions it will suddenly go eerily cool with a kind of damp suggesting that the rain is ever so close to the ground as it's now. To Chinyere, a perfect weather for the tea.

As they finished making their choice, Chinyere told them to give her three minutes for their orders and "while I am at it, let me make some tea for you to keep your system busy" she had said with the fat girl cracking up on her utterance. "Yeah, a cup of coffee will do please" she had said and turned to her colleagues with a smile and started a bantering that told chinyere that she is the type that bury herself in western movies. That is always their way in this city of showing they know appetizer from dessert. 

Behind the counter, as her canteen helpers are busy with their orders, she had put the electric kettle on and as she poured the chinese tea leaves into the warm water at the appropriate degree as she learnt from her sojourny, she noticed how the four new customers table had gone stone cold, quietly observing her measure the tea. The murmur that came from that table her ears picked up nearly made her laugh out loud. "Is it dogonyaro she is mixing or what?" The fat one had asked. Her colleagues murmured replies Chinyere did not get. "I thought she said tea, what is she mixing over there?" 

She made her way back to their table in a deliberate measured step with four cups the size she is sure they don't use in their houses. A little bigger than the normal coffee cups he is sure they see in those western movies they watch 24 hours. "Hey! here you are," she said as she placed the tea with its odor wafting from the flasks and went on to pour it to them in the manner she sees Chinese people do to their guests. The surprise in their faces and the type of concentrated gaze they directed at the green liquid that came from the kettle made her know that the four is nothing but locals brought up in the British colony and British mentality and their ways still inside their systems despite their faces telling her they are all generation Z group. 

"Aunty excuse me please" the same fat girl once more. I saw you mixing the green leaves, have they started grinding Dogonyaro leaves and packaging them and selling them to people or something, we have two big trees in my village?" She asked with all seriousness on her face as she eyed around without any lifting the tea to their mouth. "This is chinese tea, not dogonyaro and it's good for you in particular because you are the fatest here" she said laughing. They lifted it to their mouths and kept it there and then it all disappeared once their tongues gave the go ahead orders. "Ha!, it's not bad in the mouth, do you say i need it most cuz i am fat, is it meant for the fat people or something?"  "Not only for the fat but everyone. It clears all the waste in the system ordinary water couldn't get rid of, the antioxidant in. It helps in curtailing cancers,it improves bone loss, improve its strength,active brain power,build healthy teeth and gums and that is what you see Asians not only the Chinese drink in their movies but in this country, you burry yourself a lot in western movies and that is why you talk coffee 24 hours each day. In South Eastern Asia, that is what is known as tea not bournvita or coffee but the leaves you see there."  The guy by the fatty right chinyere took to be her boyfriend was busy downloading the tea while his girl talked and laughed. "Chris, you seem to like this a lot" she commented with laughter spreading around the table as she noticed where chinyere eyes wonders to often. As Chinyere turns to go as their order makes its way to their table, Chris calls her back asking to see the package it comes in and where to buy it. 

  "This is really good for your health," Chinyere said to him. It's what I can say performs multiple functions at once and the funny thing is that it's cheaper than coffee and those beverages we consume here each day. It's even medicinal in nature somehow when properly used" she told him." It can even take the place of beer in your life when you get used to it" she said to him as he kept shifting uneasily on his chairs. "Do you want to use the toilet?" She asked him.  " haba! No,I just felt as it entered my system that it's welcomed immediately. I have seen some people drinking it before but i pegged it down to malaria herbal medicine some prefers to western medication. I never knew it's tea" "Sure, it's tea not malaria medication even though it cures that too when properly used, even reduces the quantity of oil in your system. But no doctor will recommend that as medicine but they can only suggest it to you."

The sky outside still bright but no longer sunny as the cooler air seems to assert its dominancy,they turned to their meal in silence and Chinyere can see that they even have table manners unlike many that enter there to eat that seems to up their vibration as their mouth is full of food. These four, their table went deadly quiet as they started eating, maybe it's because of the new discovery they seem to be exploring or maybe upbringing. She can see that they are hell bent on emptying the flasks, so she went and refilled it for them as they murmured their gratitude.

Chinyere was observing her customers come and go and as she introduced them to this brand of tea they did not know, most of them seemed to welcome it more and more, the positive confession that follows it is what put a lot of smiles on her face. She has phoned her younger brother still in Guangzhou and told him about the revolution as she sees it going on in that sector in the city back home. Maybe he should make a move on that aspect while the coast is still not congested. This Chris she met today and the type of questions he ask piqued her interest. He is one step ahead of him, so, the earlier the better. She had finalized the email message with PRONTO, not ASAP and she trust her brother to know what that stood for.

She seems to have little knowledge of humans, and how they react to any trending thing. Chinese tea is trending and can penetrate the market from the response she has witnessed so far, especially this year. Anyone that closes a 40ft container of chinese tea of every color will not only make millions in gain, the person will recover his pay quickly from dealers here as she see it. 

The four were still munching and drinking away as she enters inside, and starts drafting another quick fresh fire on the mountain email message to his brother. At least, those will kick him into action.