Devotee: He's asking why we shouldn't take tea.

Prabhupada: Because intoxication. You become addicted. You are asking because you cannot give up tea. Therefore you are asking. Therefore it should be given up. You become servant of tea. [laughter] Otherwise there is no question of asking. His asking means you want to drink. That means he has become servant of tea. Our original position — we are servant of God. So we are going to be servant of God. So if we remain servant of this material world, we cannot become servant of God.

So much useless labor for growing tea, that will be stopped. You can grow food. If you drink tea, you'll require sugar. Then unnecessarily producing so much sugarcane. And the by-product of sugarcane, molasses, you'll have to utilize. Then produce wine, liquor. One after another.

Srila Prabhupada — October 2, 1975, Mauritius