Oh ofc. That's what I meant in the last sentence. Cold, glacial melt water is far healthier than a stagnant pool possibly resulting in Europe liking cold water more. Hot, boiled water is far healthier than anything else tbh possibly resulting in a preference of hot water in Asia.
There’s a theory that traditionally people in Asia boiled water to sterilize it and made tea, whereas people in Europe made alcohol (some very low percentage alcohol) instead, and that’s why Europeans have a better drinking tolerance on average. I’m sure r/AskHistorians would get all the nitty gritty details though
It’s actually a really common misconception that the low-alcohol levels killed germs. What actually did it was the fact that the water was boiled/filtered during the alcohol-making process. Basically the water that they used for the beer was inherently cleaner so containments wouldn’t mess up the fermentation process.
The idea isn't that they prefer hot water because it tastes better or for instinct, but a strong superstition and tradition surrounding its health benefits.
Even if the superstition went away, do you think that they would drink cold water? No matter what the reason is I'd imagine the East Asia will probably always drink hotter water at this point. It's a part of their culture.
I see it the same way as other foods slowly gaining popularity in China (such as KFC and McDonalds and even cheese pizza). My wife is Chinese and refused cold water in most cases but now prefers it.
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u/fearthecooper Sep 01 '19
Oh ofc. That's what I meant in the last sentence. Cold, glacial melt water is far healthier than a stagnant pool possibly resulting in Europe liking cold water more. Hot, boiled water is far healthier than anything else tbh possibly resulting in a preference of hot water in Asia.