Is it called "middle-aged man's disease"?! Gout and brown tea

When I open the fridge, three bottles of tea are lined up side by side. Roasted hojicha, a light green tea, and, depending on my mood, lotus tea, jasmine tea... and so on. Since coming to Vietnam, our household has taken to brewing tea all the time.

⚫️Tea Shelf Not only because it's hot, but because it's delicious. When I go back home for a short trip, I buy plenty of tea leaves and bring them back with me.

⚫️ Various kinds of tea And there's another reason why I drink tea. My husband came down with it — that condition. Yes, the "middle-aged man's disease" — gout. It happened about three years after we moved here. "We really need to get fluids into you!" That's what I was told, so I started keeping chilled tea on hand at all times. Barley tea and hojicha, the ones I like. The toasty, brown-colored teas somehow give me a sense of comfort, but my husband loves green tea and genmaicha, and he drinks them like crazy morning, noon, and night. But when I think about not consuming too much caffeine, barley tea seems to be the best choice. Next in line is hōjicha (roasted green tea), apparently. Speaking of drinks, Vietnam is also famous as a coffee country, but tea is popular there too. What you get served at restaurants and cafes is mostly jasmine tea or lotus tea. There's also oolong tea, cacao tea, and even tea made from coffee husks. Flavored teas blended with tropical fruits like lychee, peach, apple, and passion fruit — the kind women often order at cafes — also come in a huge variety. Vietnam has this side to it as a nation of fragrant tea. But it has another characteristic too — it's also a "beer nation." In 2024, it was announced that Vietnam consumed about 4.6 billion liters of beer over the year, ranking 8th in the world in consumption. (By the way, Japan ranks 11th.) (Tuoi Tre News / Kirin Holdings report). https://news.tuoitre.vn/vietnam-ranks-eighth-globally-in-beer-consumption-in-2024-103260112154925637.htm Since numbers alone don't really give a clear picture, let's try to make it more concrete. Approximately 30.3 liters per person per year. If we convert this using Vietnamese cans (330ml),

30.3 ÷ 0.33 = approximately 92 bottles. That's about 90 to 95 per year. Monthly, that's 8 bottles. Weekly, just under 2. Looking only at the average, it seems surprisingly modest... maybe. But this number is calculated including everyone, from babies to the elderly. Of course, what you actually feel on the streets is different. Beer isn't something people drink "steadily, little by little every day" — it's "all at once, at a big party. If beer-loving countries like the Czech Republic and Germany have a culture of "one glass every day," then Vietnam seems to have a culture of "ten glasses at one drinking party!!" With the call of Một (1), Hai (2), Ba (3), Yo~~~, everyone shouts cheers, cheers, and cheers again! People drain their beer mugs filled with ice and shake hands. And this happens over and over again throughout the banquet. This is what's called "drink-nication" (bonding through drinking). I think that's probably where the problem lies. There's also a culture of "ikki" (forced chugging of drinks) that seems to have gone extinct in Japan. (Though it's not persistent or malicious - you can refuse if you want, and there's a tolerance that says you don't have to force yourself) That said, when it comes to beer consumption, there still isn't enough nationwide statistical data on just how common gout is in Vietnam. However, it's said to be increasing as a lifestyle disease, mainly in urban areas. When my husband developed it, the Vietnamese staff, rather than showing concern for the illness... Ah~~~ that one," she laughed, they said. It's medically known that drinking alcohol, like beer, tends to raise uric acid levels. The reason talk of "expats getting gout" doesn't sound like a joke at all is, I think, because the toasting culture sits right next door to everyday life here. Today too, a chorus of "kanpai!" drifts up from the floors below in the apartment complex. And in our fridge today, once again, sit two bottles of brown tea. There's one green tea bottle lined up.

⚫️ Made a big batch of houjicha (roasted green tea) — the flat kettle that can go straight into the fridge like this is really coming in handy. For now, in our fridge, tea is taking up more space than beer. This is our household's own little health revolution. Fixing the bugs in life, little by little〜〜〜〜. *Beer consumption statistics are from a Kirin Holdings survey (2024). Relocation Life Ranking