need help with tea!

[jw wren]

That was easy but I was hoping to work my way up to tea snob.

OK, if you're going to be a tea snob you just have to use loose leaves in a pot. The pot lid is important: it has to have a hole in it to let the steam escape and a lip so that it doesn't fall off when you're trying to pour the tea. There also needs to be a filter at the base of the spout to ensure that the tea leaves don't come out into your cup.

The amount of tea you use depends on the size of the pot - aim for about three teaspoons per pint. Allow to brew for a few minutes - test by pouring some and checking the colour. Turn the pot clockwise three times during the brewing period to ensure that the infusion is spread all the way through the pot.

Whether you go through the whole tea ceremony or just dunk a tea bag in a mug its the flavour of the water which is going to make or break your brew. You may want to use filtered water if your tap water is very metallic.

Then there's the question of the milk - do you put it in the cup first then add tea or vice versa. Personally, I add it last and adjust the quantity depending on the strength of the brew.

Frankly, coffee is safer - a really good cup of tea is hard to come by.

[buddhu]

Put water into kettle
Boil kettle
Put teabag (of standard Tetley variety) in mug
Pour water from kettle into mug
Dunk teabag until liquid has turned a dark golden brown
Place teabag in bin
Mix in 2 or more heaped teaspoons of white sugar
Add lots of milk

You now have a cup of tea the way we drink it.

Correct except for two things. You're not dunking the tea-bag for long enough, and leave out the sugar. Also, drink tea with a slice of cake or a hot cross bun. Things like that make tea taste really good.

Both of these versions are valid interpretations of decent, working class British tea drinking. Of the two, my previous habit most closely followed the specs given by Mr S.

For the last 5 years or so I have drunk green tea, in which milk plays no part. I can't handle milk in tea now. Even black tea blends I drink sans milk.

As for iced tea... few upstanding British subjects would have any truck with such an uncivilised perversion.

The middle and upper classes follow a more rigid, and idiotic ritual.

* Boil a kettle.
* Warm a teapot.
* Put as many heaped teasoons of loose-leaf tea as there are drinkers into a teapot, plus one additional spoonful "for the pot".
* Allow water to go off the boil by the merest fraction of a moment to avoid scalding leaves, then pour onto tea.
* [optional, and discouraged in some circles] place tea cosy over pot.
* Allow to brew to preferred strength.
* Each drinker is given a tea cup with saucer and a teaspoon.
* Milk and sugar are served on the side in jug and bowl respectively.
<CONTROVERSY WARNING>
* Tea is poured into cup, followed by milk
OR
* Milk is poured into cup followed by tea.
Violent disagreement may be expected over the correct order of this step.
</CONTROVERSY WARNING>
* Sugar is added to personal preferrence and the tea is stirred. Clinking of the spoon against porcelain is discouraged.
* Accompanying confections are optional.
* Extension of little finger while drinking is entirely immaterial, and is a red herring. There is no frowning upon failure to extend, and many would prefer not to see this affectation employed.

The versions described by Mr O. and Mr S. are to be preferred. Gimme a mug any day.

[buddhu]

Reading through again, I realise that I should have marked the bit about not scalding the leaves as controversial. I do now recall that it gets almost as much debate as the milk thing. Boiling or not boiling when one pours the water on...

To be honest, I don't give a toss. I drink at least half a dozen cups of tea a day... whatever gets it made quickly is fine with me.

A couple more thoughts...

Sugar has no place in good tea. Or in bad tea. Or in coffee.

Earl Grey is an exercise in absolute pointlessness. A waste of the energy used to boil the water.

[Flyingcursor]

A perfect thread. Exactly what I had hoped.

I see the error in my thinking. I believe many of us over here perceive the whole tea thing as something done with a great deal of etiquette, as in Buddu's post. We forget that the common bloke (or blokette) drinks tea as well much as the common joe drinks coffee over here.

I will forego the ritual and take the common approach.

One reason I never liked tea is it's always too weak. I see now that's a flaw with our society and not the beverage.

Today I used boiling water and made the tea nice and strong. Then I added milk until it resembled the Mississippi river on a cloudy day. It took two bags of my Twining.

I've had two such cups so far. Perhaps a few more are in order.

Perhaps I can start a whole new habit to replace the smoking!

[chrisoff]

Perhaps I can start a whole new habit to replace the smoking!

Oh man, I used to love a cigarette with a cup of tea.

I miss smoking.

[fearfaoin]

I like Twinings Ceylon. It's got a nice, medium flavor. Of course, I'm making
a whole pitcher of sweet iced tea at a time. I use the microwave to heat 4
cups of water with 5 teabags in to just below boiling (my understanding is that
most American teabags often contain a lot of tea "dust" among the fannings,
which will release bitterness in boiling water). Then I steep for an hour, add
sugar, and pour this into a pitcher half-full of room temperature water. Good
stuff. Sometimes I substitute a bag of green or chai tea for one of the Ceylon
bags.

[missy]

Of course, I'm making
a whole pitcher of sweet iced tea at a time.............. Then I steep for an hour, add
sugar, and pour this into a pitcher half-full of room temperature water. .

I was always told to make sweet tea (which I cannot drink, but that's just me) you were to boil and dissolve the sugar in the water first, then put the tea bags in to steep.
Of course, dissolving the sugar in boiling water would allow you to put a lot more sugar in the stuff to start with. That's why I can't drink sweet tea - you might as well just hook a glucose drip up to my arm for all the good it would do.

[Bloomfield]

All black teas need to be scalded (ie, made with actually boiling water). There's a chemical change that does not happen at lower temps. The difference in taste can be easily detected. If you make a black tea with cooler water, you get a tisane ('herbal tea' - an infusion of hot water and herbs, flowers, or other flavourings), not a proper brewed tea.

The temperature is critical and the reason why tea made in a mug is often inferior. Get a pot and a little basket thing or equivalent. Make tea in a pot and heat the pot before you brew it. Makes a huge difference.

[fearfaoin]

I was always told to make sweet tea (which I cannot drink, but that's just me) you were to boil and dissolve the sugar in the water first, then put the tea bags in to steep.

I've never seen it done that way. The water's usually still hot enough
after steeping to disolve the sugar. Besides, if you do it that way, you
have to constantly stir to keep the sugar from burning.

[fearfaoin]

Oh, I meant to ask. This morning at the local (small) coffee house, there was
promotional material for a new kind of tea they're serving. It's called red tea,
and is indiginous to South Africa.
http://redtea.com/

Apparantly, they can brew it like normal tea, or put it in the espresso maker
as if it were coffee beans to make it into a latte or something. I haven't tried
it yet (I'm afraid it would taste like one of those Matte lattes... Ick). Is anyone
familiar with this?

[Bloomfield]

I will forego the ritual and take the common approach.

One reason I never liked tea is it's always too weak. I see now that's a flaw with our society and not the beverage.

About the common approach: You can have tea with out the British class warfare.

If you want strong tea, use looseleaf. It's frustratingly difficult to get in the US, but several online places now exist. They all cater to the tea snobs, however, and the daily, strong blended stuff is hard to find. Then heat the pot or at least use water that has been at a rolling boil for a minute. The stuff in the bags is pretty dismal.

[buddhu]

All black teas need to be scalded (ie, made with actually boiling water). There's a chemical change that does not happen at lower temps. The difference in taste can be easily detected. If you make a black tea with cooler water, you get a tisane ('herbal tea' - an infusion of hot water and herbs, flowers, or other flavourings), not a proper brewed tea.

The temperature is critical and the reason why tea made in a mug is often inferior. Get a pot and a little basket thing or equivalent. Make tea in a pot and heat the pot before you brew it. Makes a huge difference.

Hmm... The scalding of tea...

Simon notes that black teas need to be scalded. I would say it is equally important NOT to scald green tea.

As for the scalding of black tea:

In England, to the normal consumer, tea is just tea unless it's something weird like green tea, herbal, Earl Grey etc. In other words, "tea" without further qualification is assumed to refer to black tea.

When I used to drink black teas I would pour the water as soon as it boiled. Not for taste benefits, but for the sake of impatience - getting my tea as soon as possible.

Seriously, I can remember debates about tea when I was young. My family has always been a huge sponge for tea. We had elderly relatives who would insist that the water go slightly off the boil before pouring. The process as practiced by those (my Uncle Ed and Auntie Millie) would always involve a teapot cosy - something not used by those who advocated the pouring of boiling water. They would also leave the pot to stand considerably longer before pouring. I don't remember if they were fussy about milk-first or milk-second...

I can't say I have a preference for either method. There is certainly a difference, but neither way makes 'bad' tea.

Tea made in a mug inferior? I beg your pardon, sir. Again, this is a difference in preference, not in quality. It is also a class thing.

Traditionally, the working man would (and does) drink strong - even stewed - tea from a mug. A decent sized drink. It is a healthy, refreshing and satisfying beverage.

The middle and upper classes with time on their hands for gratuitous delicacy and fussiness would formulate rules about the 'correct' way to do things.

The belief that a mug is somehow inferior is very much a class/snobbery thing.

I still have relatives who wouldn't allow a mug in the house.

[dwest]

..

[s1m0n]

Oh, I meant to ask. This morning at the local (small) coffee house, there was
promotional material for a new kind of tea they're serving. It's called red tea, and is indiginous to South Africa.
http://redtea.com/

In Afrikanse, it's roiboos ('roybosh'). You may find it more easily on the web under that name. It's 'tea', not tea. It's a plant in the legume (beans & peanuts) family, ie, a completely different species and family than tea.

Roiboos 'tea' is technically an infusion.

[dwest]

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