Northern Chinese (Mandarin, etc) call it Cha which became chai etc. Southern Chinese (Min Nan, etc) call it Teh which became tea etc. You can see that coastal

Northern Chinese (Mandarin, etc) call it Cha which became chai etc. Southern Chinese (Min Nan, etc) call it Teh which became tea etc. You can see that coastal nations got their tea from the seafaring southern regions whereas much of Central Asia, North Africa, and Eastern Europe got it from the northerners via the Silk Road. https://www.reddit.com/r/etymologymaps/comments/g4bmh3/chai_tea/ https://www.reddit.com/r/etymologymaps/comments/g4bmh3/chai_...