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cosThe English drink tea.
One of my cousins, with Majorca's standard ice tea
The French drink wine.
The Finns drink vodka. (Oh yeah, so do the Russians, though not as much :)
Sure, they drink other things, but some places have their endemic drink of choice. In Italy, it's espresso everywhere. When I ordered tea at some restaurants, they gave me strange looks. In Kenya, passion fruit juice is their parallel to our orange juice - the standard juice you can assume will be available.
I'm not sure what Spain's drink is, but on Majorca at least, the ice tea niche is rather odd: Wherever I ordered ice tea, it was always the same. At a fancy hotel's restaurant, or an even fancier one, at a sidewalk cafe or a streetside bar, an expensive restaurant, anywhere - they always gave me a glass bottle of Nestea, and a glass with ice. Always the same Nestea logo, and exactly the same tea. Well, except for one place: they gave me a can of Nestea (same logo, same stuff) and a glass with ice. Apparently, there is no other ice tea on that island.
I'd always associated Germany with beer. But now that I've been to Germany, or at least one part of it, I think it's actually sparkling water. At restaurants and at people's homes, sparkling water is what they pour by default. If you want just water, you have to ask for "still water". Beer is something they might offer, or ask if you want, but plain sparkling water is what they assume you want without asking.
Got any others to add to the list?
One of my cousins, with Majorca's standard ice tea
The French drink wine.
The Finns drink vodka. (Oh yeah, so do the Russians, though not as much :)
Sure, they drink other things, but some places have their endemic drink of choice. In Italy, it's espresso everywhere. When I ordered tea at some restaurants, they gave me strange looks. In Kenya, passion fruit juice is their parallel to our orange juice - the standard juice you can assume will be available.
I'm not sure what Spain's drink is, but on Majorca at least, the ice tea niche is rather odd: Wherever I ordered ice tea, it was always the same. At a fancy hotel's restaurant, or an even fancier one, at a sidewalk cafe or a streetside bar, an expensive restaurant, anywhere - they always gave me a glass bottle of Nestea, and a glass with ice. Always the same Nestea logo, and exactly the same tea. Well, except for one place: they gave me a can of Nestea (same logo, same stuff) and a glass with ice. Apparently, there is no other ice tea on that island.
I'd always associated Germany with beer. But now that I've been to Germany, or at least one part of it, I think it's actually sparkling water. At restaurants and at people's homes, sparkling water is what they pour by default. If you want just water, you have to ask for "still water". Beer is something they might offer, or ask if you want, but plain sparkling water is what they assume you want without asking.
Got any others to add to the list?
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I like that it's a kind of social glue.
I like that people who have nothing in common but want to show each other they're trying to get along will drink a cup of tea together.
I've noticed that people often put the kettle on to smooth things over after there's been a fight or any other sort of group tension.
Also, in a society where social awkwardness seems to be the norm, it's a nice "reason" to go and visit someone you don't know very well. You "stop by for a brew" -- so you have a pretext for being there, and your host has something to do with his or her hands during the first (and potentially most awkward) few minutes of the visit.