tea

茶 is composed of the radical 艸 (grass) and a variant of 余 (surname, me), with its original form being the character 荼. The original meaning of 荼 was a bitter herb, which later also came to refer to tea leaves used to brew a bittersweet beverage. To distinguish between the two, people later removed a horizontal stroke from 荼 to create the character 茶, specifically designating tea leaves that brew into a bittersweet drink, as well as the beverage made from them.