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BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!

DigiTrad:
A PROPER CUP OF COFFEE
I'D RATHER MAKE COFFEE THAN LOVE
MAKIN' COFFEE

CarolC	31 Dec 02 - 04:07 PM
Peter K (Fionn)	31 Dec 02 - 04:17 PM
harvey andrews	31 Dec 02 - 04:23 PM
McGrath of Harlow	31 Dec 02 - 04:27 PM
bradfordian	31 Dec 02 - 04:28 PM
katlaughing	31 Dec 02 - 04:37 PM
CarolC	31 Dec 02 - 04:40 PM
AllisonA(Animaterra)	31 Dec 02 - 04:40 PM
CarolC	31 Dec 02 - 04:42 PM
McGrath of Harlow	31 Dec 02 - 05:16 PM
gnu	31 Dec 02 - 05:31 PM
GUEST,Q	31 Dec 02 - 05:32 PM
CarolC	31 Dec 02 - 05:50 PM
#1 PEASANT	31 Dec 02 - 06:03 PM
Helen	31 Dec 02 - 07:49 PM
CarolC	31 Dec 02 - 08:01 PM
Mary in Kentucky	31 Dec 02 - 08:04 PM
harvey andrews	31 Dec 02 - 08:09 PM
Allan C.	31 Dec 02 - 08:33 PM
GUEST,Q	31 Dec 02 - 08:34 PM
Stilly River Sage	31 Dec 02 - 11:40 PM
EBarnacle1	01 Jan 03 - 02:46 AM
catspaw49	01 Jan 03 - 05:19 AM
McGrath of Harlow	01 Jan 03 - 05:51 AM
The Walrus	01 Jan 03 - 06:15 AM
Keith A of Hertford	01 Jan 03 - 06:23 AM
Sandra in Sydney	01 Jan 03 - 08:15 AM
gnu	01 Jan 03 - 08:55 AM
GUEST,Q	01 Jan 03 - 08:58 AM
smallpiper	01 Jan 03 - 09:07 AM
#1 PEASANT	01 Jan 03 - 09:46 AM
SINSULL	01 Jan 03 - 11:12 AM
#1 PEASANT	01 Jan 03 - 11:15 AM
McGrath of Harlow	01 Jan 03 - 11:28 AM
Peter K (Fionn)	01 Jan 03 - 11:35 AM
Peter K (Fionn)	01 Jan 03 - 11:36 AM
Stilly River Sage	01 Jan 03 - 11:38 AM
McGrath of Harlow	01 Jan 03 - 11:48 AM
#1 PEASANT	01 Jan 03 - 11:48 AM
Frank Maher	01 Jan 03 - 12:07 PM
Stilly River Sage	01 Jan 03 - 12:14 PM
#1 PEASANT	01 Jan 03 - 12:20 PM
Bill D	01 Jan 03 - 12:30 PM
McGrath of Harlow	01 Jan 03 - 01:39 PM
CarolC	01 Jan 03 - 02:26 PM
Frank Maher	01 Jan 03 - 02:46 PM
jimmyt	01 Jan 03 - 03:22 PM
Catherine Jayne	01 Jan 03 - 03:57 PM
AllisonA(Animaterra)	01 Jan 03 - 04:00 PM
Peg	01 Jan 03 - 04:06 PM
mg	01 Jan 03 - 04:10 PM
Nigel Parsons	01 Jan 03 - 04:17 PM
GUEST,Q	01 Jan 03 - 04:52 PM
McGrath of Harlow	01 Jan 03 - 05:05 PM
GUEST,Anita Best	01 Jan 03 - 08:42 PM
gnu	01 Jan 03 - 09:08 PM
Stilly River Sage	01 Jan 03 - 10:13 PM
Sandra in Sydney	02 Jan 03 - 06:42 AM
JennyO	02 Jan 03 - 06:59 AM
McGrath of Harlow	02 Jan 03 - 10:22 AM
PeteBoom	02 Jan 03 - 11:17 AM
JennyO	02 Jan 03 - 11:36 AM
CarolC	02 Jan 03 - 05:02 PM
McGrath of Harlow	02 Jan 03 - 05:13 PM
Cluin	02 Jan 03 - 05:21 PM
GUEST,Q	02 Jan 03 - 05:40 PM
Cap't Bob	02 Jan 03 - 10:11 PM
Stilly River Sage	03 Jan 03 - 12:07 AM
Haruo	03 Jan 03 - 12:30 AM
Haruo	03 Jan 03 - 12:39 AM
Stilly River Sage	03 Jan 03 - 02:08 AM
JennyO	03 Jan 03 - 06:11 AM
Hrothgar	03 Jan 03 - 07:28 PM
McGrath of Harlow	03 Jan 03 - 08:20 PM
GUEST,Q	03 Jan 03 - 08:34 PM
Haruo	03 Jan 03 - 08:49 PM
Haruo	03 Jan 03 - 08:52 PM
GUEST,Q	03 Jan 03 - 09:29 PM
GUEST,Q	03 Jan 03 - 09:40 PM
JennyO	03 Jan 03 - 10:27 PM
CarolC	03 Jan 03 - 10:55 PM
Stilly River Sage	03 Jan 03 - 11:15 PM
GUEST,Q	03 Jan 03 - 11:15 PM
Haruo	03 Jan 03 - 11:53 PM
CarolC	04 Jan 03 - 12:36 AM
GUEST,Q	04 Jan 03 - 02:59 PM
McGrath of Harlow	04 Jan 03 - 03:22 PM
GUEST,Q	04 Jan 03 - 04:19 PM
CarolC	04 Jan 03 - 04:40 PM
McGrath of Harlow	04 Jan 03 - 05:24 PM
GUEST,Q	04 Jan 03 - 06:34 PM
Haruo	04 Jan 03 - 09:08 PM
GUEST,Q	04 Jan 03 - 10:14 PM
Stilly River Sage	05 Jan 03 - 12:08 AM
EBarnacle1	05 Jan 03 - 01:12 AM
Cluin	05 Jan 03 - 08:33 PM
GUEST,Q	05 Jan 03 - 08:51 PM
GUEST,Q	05 Jan 03 - 09:20 PM
gnu	05 Jan 03 - 09:46 PM
Little Hawk	05 Jan 03 - 09:47 PM
CarolC	05 Jan 03 - 11:51 PM
Cluin	05 Jan 03 - 11:53 PM
Alice	06 Jan 03 - 12:32 AM
Michael B	06 Jan 03 - 10:56 PM
Haruo	06 Jan 03 - 11:10 PM
Stilly River Sage	06 Jan 03 - 11:11 PM
GUEST,Q	07 Jan 03 - 01:03 AM
#1 PEASANT	07 Jan 03 - 09:18 AM
Bagpuss	07 Jan 03 - 09:37 AM
Wolfgang	07 Jan 03 - 10:11 AM
JennyO	07 Jan 03 - 10:22 AM
Stilly River Sage	07 Jan 03 - 10:22 AM
Keith A of Hertford	07 Jan 03 - 11:11 AM
CarolC	07 Jan 03 - 11:11 AM
sian, west wales	07 Jan 03 - 11:17 AM
Stilly River Sage	07 Jan 03 - 12:25 PM
GUEST,Q	07 Jan 03 - 01:20 PM
Cluin	07 Jan 03 - 01:33 PM
GUEST,Q	07 Jan 03 - 01:39 PM
Stilly River Sage	07 Jan 03 - 02:25 PM
Shields Folk	07 Jan 03 - 04:53 PM
Haruo	09 Jan 03 - 10:45 PM
gnu	10 Jan 03 - 05:28 AM
sian, west wales	10 Jan 03 - 11:11 AM
CarolC	10 Jan 03 - 11:21 AM
#1 PEASANT	11 Jan 03 - 11:32 AM
Stilly River Sage	11 Jan 03 - 12:16 PM
McGrath of Harlow	11 Jan 03 - 02:33 PM
Beccy	11 Jan 03 - 02:38 PM
McGrath of Harlow	11 Jan 03 - 03:04 PM
Beccy	11 Jan 03 - 03:07 PM
Keith A of Hertford	11 Jan 03 - 03:18 PM
Stilly River Sage	11 Jan 03 - 09:33 PM
#1 PEASANT	11 Jan 03 - 09:54 PM
Cluin	11 Jan 03 - 09:56 PM
EBarnacle1	12 Jan 03 - 10:57 AM
Donuel	12 Jan 03 - 11:23 AM
Stilly River Sage	12 Jan 03 - 12:43 PM
Cluin	12 Jan 03 - 05:21 PM
Bert	13 Jan 03 - 12:46 AM
Bert	13 Jan 03 - 12:55 AM
EBarnacle1	13 Jan 03 - 02:36 AM
CarolC	13 Jan 03 - 11:24 AM
The Walrus	13 Jan 03 - 08:08 PM
JennyO	14 Jan 03 - 12:21 AM
Cluin	14 Jan 03 - 12:25 AM
gnu	14 Jan 03 - 07:10 AM
Stilly River Sage	14 Jan 03 - 09:25 AM
aussiebloke	15 Jan 03 - 04:43 AM
JennyO	15 Jan 03 - 04:51 AM
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Cluin	19 Jan 03 - 12:08 PM

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Subject: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 04:07 PM

Just had my first two cups of tea prepared Newfoundland style today.
This is what you have to do: get a ceramic tea pot and a tea cozy, unless you have a woodburning stove. (In that case, you can just keep the pot brewing on the coolest part of the stove top.)

Boil the water in a kettle, and then add one teacupfull of the boiling water for each bag of tea to the teapot(I don't know the ratio if your tea is loose). We're using Lifeboat Tea from England which the box describes as "A full flavoured Tea of strength and character". JtS says that Red Rose tea (if you get the Canadian verson) is also good. He says the Red Rose sold in Canada is a lot more robust than in the US.

Let the tea bags steep for 4 or 5 minutes under the tea cozy. Fill the teacups about half to two thirds full of the brewed tea, add sugar and evaporated milk to taste. The tea is quite strong and does benefit from the milk. Other than Chinese restaraunt tea, I'd have to say it's the best tea I've ever tasted. We're having it with Carr's whole wheat crackers which are, I've been told by one of our British friends, the kind of biscuits they use for dipping into tea. It's a wonderful combination.

Got a favorite tea recipe? Any good songs about a proper cup of tea?

Here's a traditional song from Newfoundland about tobacco in the DT mirror site (my limited search didn't turn up any specifically about tea), with a reference to "a good cup of tea":

The Tobacco Song

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 04:17 PM

I take it that's the parody version, Carol?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: harvey andrews
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 04:23 PM

Evaporated milk!!!!!

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 04:27 PM

Evaporated milk! That was one of the nightmares of being a social worker, tea with evaporated milk.

I've got a feeling your Newfoundland friends might have been pulling your leg... We have Newfoundlanders in Harlow, since St John's University has a campus here for students on placements and research and so forth, and they always seem to like tea the same way it's made in Ireland and England. One spoon of tea for each person and one for the pot (or use a teabag if you'd rather save the mess), and make sure the water is boiling; and add milk or sugar to the cup as you wish.

Mind you there's no agreement between tea-drinkers as to whether the milk should go in the cup before the tea or after. Or rather, there are a lot of people who get it wrong and put the milk in first.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: bradfordian
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 04:28 PM

ditto, evaporated milk!!!! Don't you guys get FRESH milk (maybe even semi-skimmed(half fat))?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 04:37 PM

What kind of biscuits are those which one bites off a corner, then bites off a diagonal corner on the opposite end. Then sucks tea through it like a straw until a critical moment, just before the whole thing is ready to collapse from getting tea-logged, when one pops the whole thing into one's mouth? I saw this done on Graham Norton and they sounded delicious. I think they had chocolate on them, too.

Does anyone drink tea without sugar and milk? I don't like either in my tea.:-)

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 04:40 PM

I don't know, Fionn. It says "The Tobacco Song
(traditional Newfoundland)" in the site I've provided the link to.

My guess is that if it's not a parody, it's one of the many Newfoundland traditional songs that contain some of the elegant and subtle sense of irony that is the hallmark of Newfoundland humor.

Hey harvy! Don't knock it 'till you've tried it!

;-)

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 04:40 PM

Our good Mudcat friend Bill Sables turned me into a tea snob- Yorkshire tea forever! Fortunately I can get Yorkshire Gold here and there in these parts. I like it with brown sugar, 2 percent milk, in a large handmade stoneware mug.
A song that's been on my mind lately is Right sez Fred (a Cup of Tea) - my good friends Melanie and Alouette sang it when they were guests in my December concert- it was a hit!

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 04:42 PM

Pulling my leg, McGrath? My dear husband wouldn't do something like that! Tea is serious business in Newfoundland.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 05:16 PM

But surely pulling legs is a serious matter too? By which I mean it requires and deserves care and attention to get the legpull to work.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: gnu
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 05:31 PM

First the fire of spruce twigs and birch sapplings. Then, the old kettle my father carried to hell and back, which would spring leaks if cleaned. Bog water or brook water, whichever is closest... snow if the ice is too thick. Tea, water and then to the fire. When she boils, she's steeped. Canned milk is not only preferred but "convenient" on a January day. Some shockin' cold out there but some some shockin' good to taste that tea and hear good friends sup and remember my old man.... he loved his tea... and I miss him.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 05:32 PM

Sounds like a weak sister to Cape Breton tea. Brew until black and the bowl of the spoon floats in it.

Lapsang Souchong, with a little Demerara sugar, and a jigger of dark rum if you have it. Makes an almost drinkable cup of tea.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 05:50 PM

Hey gnu! JtS agrees that your way is best if you have the right equipment and location. He says an apple juice tin's preferable to a kettle though.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 06:03 PM

For Irish Tea customs and a guide to all aspects of teatime recipes of the Irish tradition consult:
CONRAD BLADEYS IRISH TEATIME COMPANION

The book discusses tea ritual, all the traditional recipes (you wont find a traditional recipe that is not in our book!) Additionally you will find instruction in how to make jams and marmalades as well as Irish sausages and other savories. There is a complete guide to Irish cheeses.

The recipes are well tested and with each recipe you get a few Irish sayings.
clicket for teatime treasures

The book is available at the link above or via amzaon or your local book store. The ISBN= 0-9702386-2-2

I have been using these recipes for years in my Irish culture classes. The book has been very popular.

A great gift for anyone who enjoys tea.....
(and the small profits if any....sometimes support some of our public service work, research etc...)

Conrad

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Helen
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 07:49 PM

We had a long and fruitful discussion about tea (one of my favourite threads)

Lapsang Souchong
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=20316

It carried over to a second thread as well.

Helen

P.S. katlaughing, the Oz biscuits you are asking about are called Tim Tams, and they taste better with coffee than tea.

We had a thread about them too, as I recall.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 08:01 PM

I agree with you Helen. That was a good thread.

This thread had some good discussion about tea also (in between the tongue in cheek playfulness). It also had a "part two".

Seems like tea always makes a good subject for discussion.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 08:04 PM

I'll have to vote for the Yorkshire tea I got in the Mudcat auction.

(a friend told me that tea companies send all the bad stuff to the US because they think nobody notices)

We can buy English Breakfast tea and Earl Grey (yuk) here, but that's about all. (other than 20 million flavored Lipton things)

I just heard that Green Tea supposedly raises the metabolism, thus making it easier to lose weight. Anybody else heard this?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: harvey andrews
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 08:09 PM

I've always had a huge problem with a line by my favourite songwriter Stan Rogers in "Lines"
"Drips 'Carnation' from the can"
Yuck!!!

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Allan C.
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 08:33 PM

Like Animaterra, brother Bill introduced me to Yorkshire tea. It is a world of difference from what I grew up with. By comparison, as Bill so aptly put it, "Lipton tea is s**t!" I will forever be grateful to have learned the difference.

Speaking of such things, someplace I learned that in England the person who serves the tea, (no matter who, unless a servant or waiter,) was once refered to as "mother". I suspect this is not in current usage. Are any of you familiar with this?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 08:34 PM

Good teas available from alltea.com. See their catalog at Allteas
Although in a metropolitan area of one million, teas such as lapsang souchong are either "out of stock" or have been dropped by cost-cutting managers.
There are a number of companies that sell good tea on line. This one isn't bad. If you aren't familiar with area of production or type, it may take a bit of looking, e. g., find lapsang souchong under black China teas, then click on the black tea box including Russian caravan, and you will find that they have four brands of lapsang. Classic Keemun at $17 a pound is a bargain; not as subtle as the best lapsang, but good. Use one of those little perforated tea balls for bulk tea.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 11:40 PM

Milk? In Tea? Ugg! What a good way to ruin it!

That's my two cents worth.
Last time I did a search I couldn't find a web site for Market Spice Tea, out of Seattle, but they're excellent and do a lot of mail order.
SRS

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 02:46 AM

I have long since lost count of the coffee shop clerks {they are certainly not brewers of any sort} who I have had to dissuade from adding ingredients other than water, then a tea bag, to my take out in the AM.

If you want decent tea, add the water to the tea or tea bag, let it steep for 3 or 4 minutes, remove the tea [leaves in whatever form] from the cup and then add your sugar, etc.

Mickey D's and many others will only add the bag to your tea under protest. By the time you can add the tea bag, the water has lost those few critical degrees of hot water.

Let's boycott those places who conspire against a decent cup of hot tea.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: catspaw49
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 05:19 AM

One of the true delights of the visit from Sam, Bill, and Ian, was Ian's teaching Karen and Connie the way to make a proper cup of tea....Yorkshire of course! Like Animaterra, they now feel that Bill Sables is the "Tea God" as he had passed on his methods to them under the tutelage of young Ian. There were several magical moments in that short visit and I think of them often, especially when either Karen or Connie prepares a proper cuppa.

Sadly though, I still hate tea......as a typical cretinous American, make mine coffee.

Spaw

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 05:51 AM

Market Spice Tea? That sounds like a China Tea, and of course no one would add milk to that.

Indian Blends are a different matter (and much tastier to my mind). If there's no ordinary milk available tastes pretty good - but never evaporated or condensed, please.

"Shall I be mother" or "You can be mother" is still current use for the person who pours it out when the tea is made in a teapot.But much of the time people use a teabag in a cup these days, which doesn't make such good tea, but tolerable enough, so long as you put the bag in first and don't add the milk until it's had a chance to brew.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: The Walrus
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 06:15 AM

The essential element with all teas, China or Indian, plain or flavoured, blak or white, is that the water must be BOILING and transferred onto the tea (be it a teabag in a cup or "proper" loose tea in a ceramic pot)IMMEDIATELY. Unfortunately, it seems impossible to get the idea into the heads of American reseraunteurs, even with a four pound club hammer (and oh, I have been tempted). I've never found an American eating establishment that didn't try to bring me a tea bag and a cup (or metal pot) of warm water<1>.
Might I add that the finest cup of tea is the one that arrives just at the right moment, be it the finest China tea served with elegance just as the thirst is piqued, a cup of the local Indian brew "drummed up" at work just when you are in need of a break or an inderterminate brew, stewed until it's black, then dyed orange by the addition of evaporated (or worse condensed) milk and a large dollop of rum and served in a tin mug in the middle of a damp field at four in the morning.

Happy New Year.

Walrus

<1> Not an exhaustive survey, but random sampling (oh, and don't get me on the subject of the sex-in-a-punt coffee either).

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 06:23 AM

Ask for tea on the continent, and you are usually offered a cup of warm water with a tea bag in the saucer for you to add when the water is cold enough. Oh dear!

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Subject: Lyr Add: BRING US IN HOT TEA (Kipper)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 08:15 AM

A tea song!! from the immortal Kipper family (the following is pasted from an e-mail so I hope it is ok)

.......
The following words are taken from "Since Time Immoral: the Kipper Family Song Book" - published by the English Folk Dance and Song Society in 1986 (ISBN 0 85418 149)
The Kipper Family are allegedly from the Trunch region of Norfolk, England. Norfolk and good!

the material is copyright by R. Nudds and C. Sugden.

This is what Henry says of the song, Bring Us In Hot Tea:

I got this here song off my wife, Mrs. Dot Kipper. Tha’s Sid's mother, we think. Every Wednesday afternoon she go off to the local Women's Bright Hour, at the Village Hall, and all the women in the village sit there drinking tea, pot after pot. One week Dot come home the worse for it - she'd had one pot too many, and she was in a right state. I'm rather ashamed to say I took advantage of her - like I say, I got this here song off her.

BRING US IN HOT TEA

Bring us in no rum, for tha's a drink for sailors,
But bring us in hot tea, for that will never fail us.

CHORUS:
So bring us in hot tea, hot tea, and bring us in hot tea
That's what the blessed ladies make, so bring us in hot tea.

Bring us in no cider, for that will send us reeling,
But bring us in hot tea, Earl Grey, Ceylon or Darjeeling.

Bring us in no white wine for that don't cure no hot thirst,
But bring us in hot tea, and be sure to warm the pot first.

Bring us in no snaps, for they are made with brandy,
But bring us in hot tea, and a strainer would be handy.

Bring us in no gin, for that was mother's ruin,
But bring us in hot tea, and put a lump or two in.

Bring us in no home brew, we're not inclined to risk it,
But bring us in hot tea, oh, and all right, just one biscuit.

We'll drink no beer at Christmas, the good book tells the tale,
So bring us in hot tea, for the angels said, "No ale".

..................
Students of folklore will recognise this song as a relative (parody) of Bring Us In Good Ale where the chorus is:

Bring us in good ale, good ale
Bring us in good ale
For our Blessed Lady's sake,
Bring us in good ale.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: gnu
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 08:55 AM

Yup. We had a number of juice tins with coat hangar handles hung upside down in various remote locations so we didn't have to lug the kettle. However, I was horrified on one trip that I had brought a tin which had a plastic lining... what a mess. So be warned, check the tin for plastic with a knife.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 08:58 AM

Of course you can't expect proper tea in a typical American restaurant. No one in the establishment ever drinks it. For those of us who do like to drink it occasionally, it is an acquired taste, to be indulged in the privacy of the home.
Americans find English habits just as peculiar. Personnel in many restaurants don't seem to understand that many North Americans like their coffee with a meal, not just after it. The restaurant tea is just as bad; much of it, like the American Red Rose, lacks any real taste.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: smallpiper
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 09:07 AM

I'm off to put the kettle on! Anyone or tea?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 09:46 AM

American restaraunts do fail to make good tea.
Water is never hot enough.
If you do find good tea it is generally thought of as a fine wine
-something exotic and is presided over by an artsy elf like person....often also the tea is adulterated with every !##@$#spice known to man. It is like drinking essence of craft store aroma...yuck!

My wife...a tea drinker has been totally turned off of tea and on to coffee.

Now....about milk with tea.
What you put into tea should be determined by the way the tea was prepared, selected, dried and blended. With Irish tea- ceylon and assam mixture- this is designed to provide the best flavour when cream or milk is added.

So to take advantage of all the work in preparation....selecting the leaves, picking them blending them preparing them....try to find out what the intended for taste calls for.

I still like teas without cream or milk but some taste equally well if not better with it.

Again....
the answers to these and many other questions are contained in our Teatime Cookbook. A bargain! And a way to in a small way (profits are really minimal....I did the book for my students....) help us in our free services...web pages, research, endless questions answered on behalf of thousands of students via e.mail each year.
The tea book click here

Conrad

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: SINSULL
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 11:12 AM

Have always been fascinated by Hyacinth Bucket's insistence on serving coffee. More snobbery?

As to tea: my mother (of Scottish descent) always heated the pot first. A cup of boiling water into the pot to warm it, toss it out and add tea and BOILING water. "Pot to the kettle never kettle to the pot."

For excellent tea in NYC, try the tea room at the Pierre. For affordable tea, try the tea room at the hotel on the corner of Madison and 56th. Damn! Can't think of the name. But Tourneau Corner is right there. They also have impeccably clean public restrooms. But please tip the lady there. She works hard.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 11:15 AM

The bucket woman serves coffee because it has been the trend now for many a year. When I was up at Durham it was always coffee after meals- generally it was instant as students did not have coffee makers. One friend made coffee as if it were tea. Quite amusing.

Nothing like a good pot of well made tea. Be sure to let it steep properly. None of this american weak stuff. Irish tea requires a full 5 minutes with water kept from getting cold to bring the flavors out. It is a hot water and oils thing.

Conrad

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 11:28 AM

Cream in tea? Strewth. Not as bad as condensed milk, but not something I'd advise. Milk or black.

Tea shouldn't be a big reverential deal. I know the Japanese have their tea ceremony, but I understand that that ends without you actually drinking the brew. Tea is simple and straightforward and refreshing, and unassuming, and it doesn't do with being high-faluted about it. And Earl Grey Tea is an abomination, even if Commander Picard does go for it. I think it's the Star Trek token way of indicating that he's French - and you can't get a proper cup of tea in France.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 11:35 AM

Carol, "parody" was intended as a reference to your recipe!

McGrath, those of us who take our tea from the finest bone china understand entirely why the milk goes in first.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 11:36 AM

My God, KAt - is the US ready for Graham Norton?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 11:38 AM

Good hot tea in the U.S. isn't quite as hard to come by as it used to be. Starbucks and many of the other establishments for coffee-addicts serve a few flavors of tea in water so hot there must be a secret added ingredient. I find the few times I've had tea from Starbucks I was in danger of burning myself several minutes after the bag had brewed and been removed. Must be something in those cups--they feel skinny, but boy are they heat-savers. Also, for a quick hot cup of Liptons if nothing else is available, most Seven-Eleven convenience stores have those coffee making things with a red lever for HOT water and it really is hot. Alas, the tea usually is Lipton, so you might want to carry a few of your own bags with you. And they often won't charge you as much for the cup and water if you point this out. They understand about people's addiction to caffeine in the morning.

No, Market Spice Tea isn't just a single tea from China, it's a company (used to be called Specialty Spice, down in Pike Street Market in Seattle) that has taken on the name of its most famous blend. Market Spice Tea is a wonderful cinnamon and orange spice tea. It goes either way--with just sugar, the cinnamon is strongest, with milk, the orange is enhanced. They still don't appear to have a website of their own but they do a lot of mail order. I found a place with a selection of Market Spice Teas available here. MST sells loose and bagged teas, but they also sell a lot of wonderful spices in a variety of forms. It's worth a trip to Pike Street Market to visit this place.

SRS (homesick again. . . )

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 11:48 AM

Finest bone china doesn't really go with a proper cuppa.

The worst thing though is where some eejit puts the milk in the cup, and then puts in a teabag and pours in water which immediately becomes lukewarm even if it's boiling as it's poured. (I see that doing it this way is what this peculiar site recommends - but then it is evidently a humorous site.

When you make it in the pot it doesn't make a lot of difference - I suspect that milk in first originated in canteens as a way of serving tea quickly to a line of thirsty people. But when you add the milk last you can adjust the quantity to match the strength of the tea, instead of taking pot luck.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 11:48 AM

Tea is actually simple we just speak of ceremony for those totally out of it. Actually I picked up the term from archeologists who use it to discuss the tea paraphanalia that turn up on sites.

Starbucks is a strange establishment. I keep going there because I am too poor to afford a proper italian large scale espresso maker. I dont want a small one.

Starbucks has taken something ordinary like a coffee bean and made it a ritual to empty ones pockets for. One of two things that finally caught up from the peasant far from his european roots.
When I arrived back here many moons ago I could not get good capachino nor crusty european bread.
Now finally for the past several years I can get both but like the micro beer industry companies supplying the same have made it as much their business to extract money as to produce a product. As a result I shop with them 1/3 as often as I would ordinarily do and they are forced to throw out expensive product that remain unsold.

You would think it would dawn on them to price their product so I can turn up for a good loaf, coffee, or micro brew every day instead once every month or so.

Conrad

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Frank Maher
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 12:07 PM

Years ago when tea bags first arrived in Newfoundland,
a gentleman was out to the local restaurant having a bit
of supper. When his tea arrived, it was just a cup of hot
water with a bag on the saucer. He asked the waitress what
happened to his tea, and she said, "Just squeeze your bag,
sir." To which he replied, " Kiss me arse!"

CarolC..
I have the Tobacco Song that I Recorded Over 20 Years ago at a Music Session By Anita Best,a Great Newfoundland Singer....

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 12:14 PM

Conrad, you're onto something there.

For those interested in the science of it, a PBS program called Newton's Apple that used to be on for a half hour, then turned itself into little sound-bites for filler (and seems to have now disappeared) did an experiment on adding milk sooner or later. The conclusion was that adding the milk later kept the tea hotter overall longer. I don't remember the explanation of why, but the test confirmed it, so if you want to flavor your tea with milk, it is best to wait until after the bag is out of the cup.

In restaurants I've sent so much tea back with the request that the water be brought to me boiling that I almost don't bother to order it any more. Then there are places that deliver the water in those metal tea teapot shaped things that are dirty--because if someone added stuff to the pitcher instead of their cup it isn't likely to come off in an industrial dishwasher--the lid gets in the way of the water. Nothing like pouring out a cup of tea and seeing little bits of some other diner's coagulated milk washing through.

SRS (who is going to go brew herself a hot cuppa Market Spice Tea)

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 12:20 PM

The custom of adding the milk or cream first has been explained to me by a few ancient vets. as coming about due to the fact that in the field or perhaps on the job site....soldiers....etc. did not have spoons. Pouring in the milk or cream first allowed the inrushing tea to mix it.

no explanation why similar rule does not exist for sugar...

Conrad

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 12:30 PM

late to the thread, but here is my 2¢ worth:

Milk in tea is somewhat close to abomination. Tea in bags is barely tolerable. (I can TASTE the paper, and the tea is almost powdered to allow it to steep from inside a bag...yuck!

Good tea involves selecting decent teas, having decent, just boiling water, and controlling the steeping time.

So many confusions abound about names of tea and various flavoring and sources. I will 'sometimes' use small amounts of Spiced tea or Earl Grey or Lapsang to flavor a regular tea...but usually just straight Assam, Keemun, Darjeeling, Oolong, etc. (and there are gourmet, high-priced Estate versions of all of those if you care to track them down...just like coffee or fine wines)

Names like Queen Mary's blend and Prince of Wales and Russian Caravan indicate blends which may be quite good, but tell little about the source of the tea.

Tea making takes a bit more care and attention than coffee to do 'right', but not that much once you get used to the routine.

(Did I mention that diluting and overpowering the taste of a 'good' tea with dairy products is an abomination?...Now if you have some cheap tea bags that you can't abide any other way...*grin*)

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 01:39 PM

"Fine wines" - now that's another concept that gets in the way of an enjoyable drink for me.

Horses for courses.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 02:26 PM

Carol, "parody" was intended as a reference to your recipe!

Oh. Well in that case, no.

Great song, Sandra in Sydney!

Thanks for that one Frank! Is your recording of the Tobacco Song available commercially?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Frank Maher
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 02:46 PM

No!!I don't think It was ever Recorded Commercially!!!
If You want It,I will send It to You by email!!!!
Frank

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: jimmyt
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 03:22 PM

I have been drinking tea in the US of A since 1948 when my grandma fed it to me on a teaspoon when I was a few monthe old. She was from Great Yarmouth and always drank her tea with canned milk and sugar. My wife and I enjoy tea not everyday but several times a week. We ALWAYS heat the brown Betty pot with hot water and let it heat thoroughly while the water is heating to boil. We then pour it out, add tea (I hate to admit it, but I use Typhoo bags instead of loose tea for convienence) then boiling water, let it steep for three minutes, add sugar and milk if you desire. I sometimes add milk sometimes not. On a gray winter day like today, it gives us our "England fix" to hold us until we can get back over there where they know how to do a proper tea! My wife collects teapots and teacups and saucers, so we frequently use different ones for tea just so the stuff gets used. We believe that nothing gets memories in your house if it doesn't get used. Think I'll put the kettle on right now!

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 03:57 PM

I drink my tea without milk or sugar. I prefer Earl Grey tea with a slice of lemon!!

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 04:00 PM

Sandra in Sydney, I've got to learn that song!

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Peg
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 04:06 PM

someone earlier in the thread asked about green tea and weight loss. I too read about this. But the study I read did not offer a real reason for it; just observed that, among those losing weight through other means, green tea drinkers showed a greater weight loss. This may have been connected to other eating habits...who knows? I do know this tea has anti-oxidants and so probably has a slight detoxifying effect, and this does aid weight loss.

I gave up coffee a month ago and have been drinking green tea most mornings (unless I have black tea, about 2-3 times a week--loose black tea called "Buckingham Palace Garden Party" which was a gift, with honey and milk). I am also losing some weight. No idea if these are connected. I am also trying to eat better, taking calcium supplements, and doing yoga a bit more than usual (especially those stormy winter days when a long walk, my usual exercise, is too much to contemplate). I gave up coffee because my blood sugar was getting weird (falling too fast and hard) from so much coffee in the mornings and not enough food. rather than try to change my other habits (hard to do on those mornings I was teaching four hours straight), I decided to go cold turkey on the coffee. It was surprisingly easy, even though I love coffee. I expect I will go back to it again, but will start with organic decaf, and add chicory and roasted dandelion root...

peg

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: mg
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 04:10 PM

I am just dying for a real bottle of ice cold coke now...the nectar of the gods...never understood tea or coffee or beer..

mg

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 04:17 PM

Then there was the woman who commented on the introduction of tea bags (this was a long time ago):
"It's marvellous to get the tea in a measured quantity. But those bags are a bugger to open!"

Nigel

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 04:52 PM

Someone queryed about Market Spice Teas. Available by mail order from Market Spice teas

Taylors Yorkshire Gold available from the same place. Taylors Yorkshire
Several others also sell these brands by mail.

Google always your best friend when looking for brands not available from your local stores.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 05:05 PM

"It's marvellous to get the tea in a measured quantity. But those bags are a bugger to open!"

That might have been my mother speaking (though she'd probably have said "a bother".

Noone's linked to this song - note the last line of the chorus to make it relevant.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Anita Best
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 08:42 PM

The Tobacco Song, seems like a far cry from the title of this thread, was composed by Peter Leonard from Placentia Bay in Newfoundland. It is available commercially on my CD Crosshanded[ check out our record company: www.ambermusic.ca] which can be found in record stores in Newfoundland and occasionally, Canada. On that recording, the tune was composed by me.

Interesting thread about tea-making, which most North Americal commercial establishments seem to be unable to do. The boiling water brought to the tea in a warmed pot is essential.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: gnu
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 09:08 PM

Speaking of a good cup of tea, they serve a lemon pie at the Northwest Arm Inn, on the Northwest Arm of Placentia Bay which would make even a poor cup of tea tatse good. Minds of of the time my ex (a New Brunswicker of limited travel experience on The Granite Planet) asked the waitress why the Inn was called the Northwest Arm. The waitress pointed to the water below an answered, "Cause a da nort' wess harm." At which point the two stared at each other in mutual misunderstanding. I explained after I stopped laughing.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 10:13 PM

Guest,Q--I posted that same link earlier, but it should be noted that the link we both posted isn't actually TO the company Market Spice Tea. That link is to a tea emporium of some sort, and is the first place of several that turn up in a Google search.

This is the actual store:
Market Spice
Pike Place Market
Seattle, WA 98101
Phone:(206)622-6340

This is where they handle the mail orders:
Market Spice
14690 NE 95th St
Redmond, WA 98052-1014
Phone:(425)883-1220

Perhaps they don't have a web site because they market so much to other businesses. They'd cut out a major source of revenue. But if you call or write they'll send their very extensive mail order information.

SRS

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 02 Jan 03 - 06:42 AM

I'm pleased to see that the wonderful Kipper family song has gone to a good home (or 2) - it's a great song.

When John Warner (author of Anderson's Coast, Kitty Kane & many other songs) sings it with Margaret Walters they don't just sing - they perform the whole song & it's a treat.

enjoy it

sandra

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: JennyO
Date: 02 Jan 03 - 06:59 AM

Has anyone mentioned yet that there is a good parody called "Tea Shanty" to the tune of "Lowlands" in the Digi Trad?

I have a friend who only drinks herbal tea and refers to what I drink as "ocker tea", meaning that Aussies generally enjoy a good, conventional cuppa.

One of my favourites in this category is "Billy Tea". This is just a brand name, and not to be confused with the real billy tea, which is traditionally a handful of loose tea brewed in a billy of boiling water on a campfire with a couple of gum leaves thrown in. Milk and sugar is optional. The tea is quite strong and has a smoky flavour.

Other favourites of mine are Prince of Wales and Irish Breakfast tea.
Sometimes when I am in the mood for something different, I like green tea or chai. But I don't really think of them as a cup of tea.

In my family, tea is a social event. If someone in the family drops in and a cuppa isn't offered in the first five minutes, we would be considered inhospitable. My mother in law used to have different rules about sugar in tea depending on the circumstances. She always put sugar in for us if she was serving it to us in the living room, but if we were at the table, we had to put our own in. It was confusing at first, until you worked it out.

The most important thing is that it should be as hot as possible. I don't like those dinky little shallow bone china cups that let the tea cool down before you are halfway through.

But the BEST cup of tea is always the one you have been looking forward to after hours of work, when you can sit down and have a break, or the first one of the day........and especially if someone else makes it for you!

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Jan 03 - 10:22 AM

"Billy Tea" - now as I've heard it, the brand "Billy Tea" may actually have preceded the use of the term for the Billy Can you boil things in, and given it the name. The suggestion is that Banjo Patterson changed the words of Waltzing Matilda from his first version to bring in the Billy (for a consideration), and that this caught on as a term for the Billy Can, which would,previously have just been referred to as a can.

Anyoe know the truth of this?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: PeteBoom
Date: 02 Jan 03 - 11:17 AM

A divergence - A little diner called "The British Shop" in Sarnia, Ontario is about the best, closest place I know where I can get a good tea, outside of home. It is only about 2 1/2 hours away, BUT, it is enroute to MANY places I go in Ontario (even if it IS the senic route!)

Took my not-yet bride (at the time) there once many years ago and she was amazed. We walked in, one of the two women working there, called out "Sit where ya please, I'll be right over." We did and you could not count 10 before she was back with two cups, a small pitcher of milk and a pot of absolutely perfect tea. Talk about a first impression for her!

Now then - When I can get a good Darjeeling, I'll be happy to drink that. I rather like Earl Grey as well. P.G. Tipps is pretty reliable, when we can find it. Twinning's and Red Rose are acceptable in a pinch. Now, for those complaining about the strength of tea sold in the States - yer right. Depending on what it is, I'll either add a bag to the pot (say, three instead of two) or allow it to brew a bit longer, say 7 minutes instead of 5. Leaving the pot on the stove while it steeps keeps it from getting cold while brewing, then pull the bags/tea ball, and wrap it quick in a cozy.

Haven't had a complaint yet!

We've been blessed to be able to use milk from the fridge, not canned, and offer sugar or honey most times to guests. And as long as I can stay employed at one thing or another and keep some money coming in, I figure it will stay that way. One other thing. All the grandkids (save the 6 week old) will drink tea over anything else if it is offered to them. I figure we must have done something right!

Cheers -

Pete

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: JennyO
Date: 02 Jan 03 - 11:36 AM

McGrath of Harlow, here's what it says on my packet of Billy Tea:

During the historic gold rush days, imported French tinned beef was a staple food item. It is said that the 'diggers' mispronouncing the French word "Boeuf" (Beef) simplified it to "Bully" then "Billy". A wire handle was attached to the empty beef tin to boil water for tea - hence "Billy Tea". The word "Billy" along with Digger, Swaggie, Matilda and Billabong - all uniquely Australian, became part of our folk-lore.

Australia's favourite strong bush cuppa!

Billy Tea was first introduced in 1888 by James Inglis&Co tea and coffee merchants of Sydney. Its unique packaging capitalised on the Gold Rush spirit. Both the packaging and the spirit have remained almost unchanged - the real Australian flavour. Marie Cowan was the wife of the Sydney Tea merchant James Inglis, and arranged the tune Waltzing Matilda for her husband to distribute in the late 1890's as an advertisement for his tea. The words used in the song copy differ significantly from those published by A.B.Patterson. Whether the words changed gradually or as the song passed from singer to singer in the outback or were changed to help promote Billy Tea around 1903 is debatable, what we do know is you can still enjoy that Gold Rush spirit, listen to Waltzing Matilda whilst enjoying the distinctively Australian taste of Billy Tea.

Cheers, Jenny

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 02 Jan 03 - 05:02 PM

Yes indeedy, Frank! Shall I send you a PM with my e-mail address?

Thanks for the heads-up Anita!

PeteBoom, I definitely have to concur about having a good source for your tea. We got the Lifeboat Tea from a little shop in Norcross Georgia (just north of Atlanta) called "Taste of Britain" that, as you might guess, sells all kinds of goodies from Britain. That's where we got the Carr's biscuits as well.

Now we're going to have to find a good (and not too expensive) source for Purity Lemon Cream Biscuits which are made in Newfoundland. Here's the Purity site: Purity Factories

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Jan 03 - 05:13 PM

They pronounced "Boeuf" as "Bully" or "Billy"? - that would surely have meant some very funny printing.

But the expression "bully beef" meaning tinned corned beef is still pretty common in England anyway. Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and fable suggest, convincingly, that this comes from the French word "bouilli", meaning boiled. So if that was printed on the tins, it would make the explanation more convincing. And it would imply that the billy can came before the Billy Tea, rather than the other way round.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Cluin
Date: 02 Jan 03 - 05:21 PM

"A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!"

I prefer a good hard session of hot monkey love.
And maybe a cup of tea afterwards.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 02 Jan 03 - 05:40 PM

Bully for boiled, "corned" or pickled beef goes back to 1753 in print (well before Billy Tea). Webster's Collegiate and the OED (1987 supplement). The term is found in all English-speaking countries; it came to North America in Colonial days.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Cap't Bob
Date: 02 Jan 03 - 10:11 PM

My favorites are Chun Mee, and Oolong both from China if you haven't figured it out already. However, the best everyday tea I've found in our local supermarket (the only market in our little town ~ Mio, MI) is Red Rose. There is an added advantage of buying Red Rose in the 100 bag boxes. Each box contains a ceramic figurine that are quite collectable for low budget collectors. Some of the older figurines will bring up to around $25. Several times the original cost of the tea. Hey, it beats the stock market!

The current figures are endangered species.

If you are interested in the history of the ceramic figures promotional used in Red Rose tea check out the following website:

http://www.angelfire.com/ma/maboum/redrosetea.html

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 12:07 AM

I have several of those recent Red Rose ceramic figures--endangered animals series. They're right here in front of me because I was unpacking a bunch of little ornament things I'd had in a box from the move last spring. Gotta find a place to put them. I have the blue Wolf, the Sea Lion, and the Gray Whale. I think around here somewhere I have a couple of the birds in a simlar (brown) collection. But what is funny, in a box of stuff from my mothers house I unpacked this summer I found a series of booklets in which we pasted all of the little flower or bird cards (may have been both) that came in the Red Rose boxes. I like Red Rose, but remember it having more stature than it seems to now. Maybe that's because I grew up north of Seattle, and we were influenced by Canadian advertising. Down here in Texas it occupies a very small portion of the grocery store shelf.

SRS

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Haruo
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 12:30 AM

My maternal grandmother (shown holding me) was born in Texas, but (perhaps to create a vacuum Stilly River Sage could eventually occupy?) moved around the year 1910 from Texas to Washington State. She was a famous consumer of and advocate for Red Rose tea. In those days (I'm thinking now late 50s to mid-60s of the last century) for us Langendorf Bread-type Seattleites, Red Rose was the only brand of tea generally available except Lipton's, and if she knew it was Lipton's Granny wouldn't touch it. (And I do think one could tell from the taste; don't think there was any way to steep Lipton's so it would taste like even a mediocrely brewed cuppa Red Rose.) However, at home as a child, tea was something we only drank if we were sick enough to stay home from school. This was back in the days when there were still A&P stores in Seattle. (My but I make myself sound old!) However, at some point in my grade school years I discovered and became quite fond of Sassafras tea (which, if it hasn't been mentioned in this thread, has been detailed at some length in previous BS Tea threads hereabouts). I've since heard sassafras implicated in certain cancers, so I may die someday. And in high school, I suppose, I grew fond of a good smoky cup of Lapsang Souchong (I have been hoarding that stash you sent, Stilly, to try it out on this year's Copper River salmon run). These days I prefer hoji-cha, or maybe a genmai-cha if I'm having sushi.

Haruo

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Haruo
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 12:39 AM

Nigel wrote, 'Then there was the woman who commented on the introduction of tea bags (this was a long time ago):
"It's marvellous to get the tea in a measured quantity. But those bags are a bugger to open!"'

Women! It's easy, you just take your hedge clippers and snip off the ends of the little bags.

Leland

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 02:08 AM

Leland,

I didn't intend to occupy space in Texas, let alone for as long as I have. I tagged along with a spouse who got a job here. I hope to escape one of these days. Trouble is, the kids need to be near their Dad more than they need to be in Washington, though just barely. I'd love to sign my daughter up for the Mountaineer's Basic Climbing Course this spring--she's old enough now, and it would certainly give her a good focus.

As to Lapsang Souchong--I just did a big batch of salmon (something whole I found frozen at Albertsons, a pink meat, not red, but anything tastes better when you smoke it!). You know that was a joke--I have never used tea in my brine. I didn't use any Lapsang and it turned out fine. Though I guess you could use it if you didn't have a smoker handy and wanted the smoky flavor. ;-D

I remember Langendorf--I lived in West Seattle until I was 11. We went on a tour there during school, just like my kids go to the Mrs. Baird's bread factory here in Fort Worth. Next to the Miller Brewing plant. We joke that the yeast train makes just one stop. Wasn't Langendorf over near the Rainier brewery? Maybe there's something to that!

Hedge clippers! Ha! Just drop the bag on the bread board and use the kindling hatchet to lop off the top. Then put the hatchet back next to the white and black two-burner trash-burning stove. Those things were ubiquitous in homes when I was a kid, but now I realize I mostly saw them just in the Northwest. Must have been from Washington Stove Works in Everett, or someplace local like that.

SRS

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: JennyO
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 06:11 AM

McGrath, I agree that it seems a long leap from "boeuf" to "bully" or "billy" - I was just copying what was on the packet. The idea that it came from the French work for boiled, seems more plausible, as in "bully beef". And it does seem to suggest, as you said, that the billy can came before the Billy tea.

Jenny

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Hrothgar
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 07:28 PM

Harvey, I've heard that that line "... drips Carnation from the can ..." is one of the things that give the song an authentic ring.

How many people have heard Enda Kenny's song about Earl Grey tea? The general principles are covered by lines like:

Is it perfume, or is it wee?
Whatever it is, it does nothing for me...

It is hot, it is wet,
It is eau de toilette,
Should I drink it or dab it on?
Can I swap it for a coffee or has all the water gone?

... and he's RIGHT.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 08:20 PM

I was trying to remember who it was had the Earl Grey Tea song - yes of course it was Enda Kenny. And I'm with him all the way.

And if you haven't chased up Enda Kenny's songs yet, you've a treat coming, if you've a taste for songs at all. (Even if you like Earl Grey Tea.) Here is a site with a couple of sound files - and here is one with an appreciation of the man.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 08:34 PM

"We boiled the billy and made some tea..." 1839.
"We must needs purchase a billy (a tin pot for boiling tea, ...) " 1853.
See OED, 1987 Supplement or a more recent complete OED.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Haruo
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 08:49 PM

Still and all, Stilly, any true Seattleite would have to be a bit suspicious about buying tea from a place called Blue Moon! For you non-Seattleite kibitzers, the Blue Moon is a "landmark" Seattle tavern of the decidedly drunken (or, if/when not quite drunk, stoned out of one's gourd on something else) variety. Kerouac drank there, etc. (So did I!) Coarse (sic) with all the gentrification and whatnot, they probably have a big Red Zinger/Licorice Spice/English Breakfast display behind the bar, alas.

Haruo

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Haruo
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 08:52 PM

About the Blue Moon (Tavern, not Tea Co.), forgot to mention it was the first place I ever saw (and the first I patronized, for that matter) that proudly(?) displayed a sign in the window that read

SORRY...
We're Open!

Haruo

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 09:29 PM

If "Blue Moon" still reminds of past hangovers, you can always order that flavored stuff (Market Spice) from the Midwest Coffee Shop: Midwest Coffee

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 09:40 PM

Who is the joker that added the coffee threads and song in the DT and Related Threads heading?
Lots of tea threads and tea songs if one enters - tea - in the DT and Forum Search!

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: JennyO
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 10:27 PM

I have two of Enda Kenny's CD's - "Six of One", and "Cloud Lining", his latest. But I don't have the tea song. Which one is it on? I love his stuff. He's a nice bloke, too.

Earl Grey tea tastes like that because it has bergamot flavouring. Now while I love the smell of bergamot as an essential oil, I don't like drinking it. It's like drinking perfume. YUK. Give me good old Billy Tea any time!

Jenny

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 10:55 PM

I don't know who put out the effort involved in adding the links to the top of this thread (although I do very much appreciate the effort), but I love the idea of cross-referencing threads and songs like this. And I'm tickled that this is one of the threads that got cross-referenced.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 11:15 PM

Leland,

I didn't make that connection until you pointed it out. But the Blue Moon is where the Underground Seattle tour used to (perhaps still does) start, isn't it?

SRS

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 11:15 PM

Carol C, OK, but why weren't the tea threads and songs linked? This thread is mostly linked to the wrong threads (coffee). Only the Lapsang Souchong thread (20316) is pertinent.
See Lyrics- Bring Us Hot Tea, Cup of Tea, A Tea Party Song, etc.
Threads 33165, Only in Canada; 49215, Everything Stops for Tea; 8898, Put Up the tea; 35840, Yorkshire tea; 32796, Drinking from a Saucer, etc., etc.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Haruo
Date: 03 Jan 03 - 11:53 PM

No, SRS, and I hate to think what it must smell like down beneath the Moon! Yecccchhh! The Underground Tour begins and ends in Pioneer Square, currently I think at Doc Maynard's (named after the medico supposedly responsible for some of downtown Seattle's oddly catawampus street layout) but the Blue Moon is near the University District (in fact, its location was dictated by the old law that forbade the sale of spirituous liquors [including beer] within a mile of the UW campus; the Red Robin to the south (just across the bridge; now the home store of a "gourmet burger" chain), the Century [the politicized drunks' place] (now, I guess, gone) to the north, and the Duchess (defunct? dunno, I'll check; Nope, still there apparently) to the east were all located where they were, in the period immediately following the end of Prohibition, in order to be as close as possible to all those pocketbooks on Greek Row. Few of which, I would venture, would drop any of their money on tea.

Haruo

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 04 Jan 03 - 12:36 AM

I don't know, GUEST,Q. Maybe the person who did it is a coffee drinker?

;-)

(just kidding)

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 04 Jan 03 - 02:59 PM

Also mostly a coffee drinker, but like to investigate how the other half lives.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 04 Jan 03 - 03:22 PM

If you actually read the Coffeepot song, Q, you'll see that the song actually indicates a preferance for any old tea in preferance to coffee, unless the coffee is proper coffee, which it normally isn't. In other words, it's a tea song as much as a coffee song.

What's with this undercurrant of hostility between the two drinks? I get the impression sometimes that Americans seem to have a feeling that drinking tea is a bit unpatriotic, possibly hearkening back to schoolday lessons about the Boston Tea Party. (Coffee used to be widely regarded back here as a poncy foreign concoction, but that's died off these days.)

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 04 Jan 03 - 04:19 PM

There is a tendency for some Americans to roll their eyes when tea is brought up, they regard it as "English." The attitude parallels that of some Australians, but it is mostly invoked in poking fun.
I have a few English "coffee cans", the name for the mug-shaped cups used for coffee in England in the 18th century, before (foggy on exact dates) a blight of some kind destroyed many coffee plants. More and more tea was planted and imported, esp. from India and it became the drink of choice in the British Isles and the colonies.
The Boston Tea Party was about taxes according to the usual story, but a rumor was abroad that the Tea Act, to save a financially pressed East India Company, would create a monopoly. In one site, it is stated that "Since the patriots believed that the cheap price of tea would be too much of a temptation to the people, the patriots took steps to maneuver Britain into a difficult position." Three East India ships were boarded and 10,000 pounds of tea was dumped.
A site on the internet says the exporter is still in existence and sells a tea called "Boston Harbour." Three ships of the East India Company were boarded and about 10,000 pounds of tea were dumped.

A thread like this entices one to re-learn some history and myth, forgotten from school-days.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 04 Jan 03 - 04:40 PM

I hate to break it to you, McGrath, but while people in Canada and Britain regard tea as a manly drink (at least the ones I know do), in the US, tea is regarded as a bit effeminate, while coffee is not. And we are, if nothing else, a macho-minded country.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 04 Jan 03 - 05:24 PM

The country with the highest tea-input per head is still Ieland I believe, by some way. It used to be Australia coming in secnd I think well head of England. The idea of Austraians thinking of tea-drinking as a particularly English thing is a bit strange.

Here's a link to Barry's Tea, based in Cork, which is the most popular Irish brand. (That link takes ages to load, but it's interssting enough to read when it does. Think of it as needing time to brew.)

Maybe when the tea-drinking Irish got to Boston they got the notion that it might seem a bit unpatriotic in the light of the Boston Tea Party being such a big thing, and switched to coffee..

Where that notion Carol mentions might hev come from I hesitate to suggest.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 04 Jan 03 - 06:34 PM

If you are referring to Carol C's comment about tea being thought effeminate in the States, yes, it is true, but it might have arisen from antipathy toward the Boston Brahmins (Cabots, Lodges, etc.) who were regarded as tea-drinking elite, rather than any reflection on the English.
McGrath, interesting point about the Irish. Many were still coming over from other parts of the British Isles as well and they also turned to coffee. The Russians and the Jews persisted in their love of tea, but perhaps those from the British Isles were more quickly absorbed. Many other immigrants- Germans, east Europeans, Scandinavians, Italians, were coffee drinkers. Need a social historian here.
I live at present in western Canada; some here joke about tea-drinkers, not sure why. Many Canadians here drink tea at breakfast but coffee the rest of the day. When visiting some one's home, coffee is usually offered; almost never is tea mentioned. At meetings, the coffee urn is king; sometimes teabags are put out, but they are seldom used.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Haruo
Date: 04 Jan 03 - 09:08 PM

Guest Q, you may live at present in western Canada, but I'll bet you don't live in Victoria. Seattleites have been known to take a ship to Victoria and back just for tea and crumpets.

Haruo

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 04 Jan 03 - 10:14 PM

Been dragged to the Empress in Victoria for tea and cakes by various people. Much overrated. Much prefer a beer along with the lamb curry in that place they have that is suggestive of the Raj in India. Can't remember the name offhand.
Seattleites, your green stuff is welcome, though, so keep coming.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 12:08 AM

And Canadians, at the exchange rate offered, we'll visit often!

SRS

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 01:12 AM

T'other evening, I dined at a Thai restaurant. Their presentation of the usual Lipton tea was significantly improved by a couple of Cardomom seeds in the tea. Try it, it works. If you must have teabag tea, try Sweetouchnee. It is nice and robust, without trying to rise up out of the cup and attack you.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Cluin
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 08:33 PM

Around my part of Canada, it's coffee in the morning and tea in the evening.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 08:51 PM

Swee-Touch-Nee tea tins are collectable (check EBay and collectors' tins lists), some bringing pretty good prices. If you have any of the tea, it must be well-aged.
Has someone revived this old Consolidated Tea Co. label?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 09:20 PM

Just occurred to me as I went shopping today in an area with "ethnic" stores. I saw several labels of Indian teas. In a Chinese grocery recently there were many Chinese tea labels. Does everyone buy tea packaged in England or the States, except for the immigrants?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: gnu
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 09:46 PM

Effeminate ? Effeminate ? No' f***in' likely. 'round 'ere, if 'ee don't drink tea, 'ee can't keep 'er up ! Tea rules.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 09:47 PM

"Earl Grey. Hot!" *Bzzzzzzng!* (Sip) Ahhhh!

Thank God for replicators!

Tea is a subtle and marvelous drink, and is far better for the constitution than imbibing excessive amounts of Romulan ale, which gnerally results in social embarrassment and a terrible headache the next day.

- LH

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 11:51 PM

I agree with you, gnu! Tea rules!

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Cluin
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 11:53 PM

Ah, but rock beats scissors.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Alice
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 12:32 AM

I drink Yorkshire Gold with just a little (real) milk added. I buy it from the tea shop where we have our song circle. I drink it in a cup wih the Yorkshire Gold logo printed on it.

Alice in Montana

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Michael B
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 10:56 PM

Typhoo is the ONLY tea worth drinking if you want real flavour and strength. Take it from an Englishman living in Minnesota, that has his dear old Mother send it over!

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Haruo
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 11:10 PM

Uwajimaya (if you're in the Seattle or Portland areas; they don't sell online, and their mail-order line is pretty limited) has plenty of imported teas. (Packaged before they're imported, that is.) Indian, Chinese, Japanese, probably Vietnamese and Indonesian I suppose, though I mostly stick to the Japanese ones there myself. Not the cheapest place for such stuff, but the most inclusive; a time-saver.

Leland

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 11:11 PM

GUEST, Q, do you have any recommendations on the teas found in the Asian shops? I like a good Oolong or Darjeeling, and don't mind if they aren't processed in the U.S. They're probably far more authentic to come from an Asian source. I live in a metropolitan area and work at a university that is surrounded by a large populations of Chinese and Vietnamese, among others. Lots of shops to choose from. Any suggestions? Or shall I go exploring and report back?

I grew up north of Seattle, and every year we would drive down to the International District around Jackson Street and shop at a few stores in particular for Christmas. (Higo Variety Store was always our first stop.) What started out as my mother's way to economize when there was little money for the holiday became a regular family tradition, and I remember several pretty decorated cans in which a very superior green tea arrived. I never knew what the brand was, just recognized the cans.

SRS

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 01:03 AM

S R S, I buy lapsang souchong and that's about it. All I can suggest is to talk to the people at the university first- any Chinese, Indian professors and grad students? So many Chinese like it weak and drink it instead of water. My daughter knows Japanese teas used in the tea ceremony- but that tea is ceremonial and extremely expensive and not for normal use. My son gave me something in a red can (Chinese) that was pretty good- strong and aromatic- that was little bundles of leaves on stem tips but no English on the can (a little paper label on the top was lost).
Advice- and some may invite you to taste- seems the best way to start. Like people posting here, many will have developed a taste for one particular tea brand. Try it and move on, it may not be to your taste.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 09:18 AM

I recommend first colony teas....
there bulk Irish Blend is very good.
I get the big big boxes....
They are in Norfolk Va.

Conrad

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Bagpuss
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 09:37 AM

What do you call it when you leave the tea to brew in the pot? We always called it "massing" and I assumed it was the usual word in other parts of the country until I ventured out of the NE of England and got quizzical looks when I announced that the "tea's massin'". I have heard it called mashing, and steeping amongst other things. What do they call it where you come from?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Wolfgang
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 10:11 AM

Regarding the highest tea-input per head, the most recent data I have found (source: http://www.tea.org.au/world/sub2.html) come from 1998: Ireland comes first, then the UK, then Kuwait, Turkey, Qatar, Iran, Sri Lanka, Syria.

Australia ranks 18th. Nothing strange about Australians considering tea-drinking a particularly English thing. And since there is no breakdown of the data to parts of countries, it still could be possible that the English consume more tea than the Irish though the UK trails behind Eire in that respect.

If my personal intake would be the rule in Germany, we would cpmpete for the first or at least second rank.

Wolfgang

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: JennyO
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 10:22 AM

Bagpuss, I've never heard of tea "massing".

I have heard of "steeping", but what we usually say here in Oz is that we are waiting for the tea to "draw". At least in my circle of friends.

Jenny

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 10:22 AM

Guest,Q--I think I may go by my old tried-and-true system next time I go tea hunting (which I intend to do soon, since the topic has come up). Admire the boxes and give them a discreet sniff to see how much tea aroma comes through. Ask the staff. The usual. I'll report back. I've been drinking the blends from the grocery store in the evening (Celestial Seasonings and Stash produce quite a number of non-caffeine teas). This excursion will be to find my morning teas--the ones with some kick to them.

SRS

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 11:11 AM

We call it brewing, or very rarely mashing.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 11:11 AM

Interesting question, Bagpuss. The only word I've ever heard for it is "steeping".

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: sian, west wales
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 11:17 AM

My mother (Canadian, 82 yrs old) thinks condensed milk is a real treat in tea. I myself am of the "oh-yuk" school of thought. She's also a member of the Buffalo Welsh Society and, as a Canadian member, is the soc's official smuggler-in-of-Canadian-Red-Rose-Tea ("only in Canada, eh?") My town used to be a rum-running port; now it's tea. How the mighty have fallen ...

I'm glad Sinsull mentioned warming the pot, and others have chimed in too.

My favourite is a 50-50 blend of Earl Grey and Assam. Perfect.

The Welsh seem to favour a strong tea (spoon should be able to stand up in it) and there are some brands produced particularly for the Welsh market: Welsh Brew and Glengettie. Someone told me that they're blended keeping in mind that most Welsh water is very 'soft'. It makes sense that soft/hard waters have different brewing qualities. If anyone wants to try some, PM me with an address and I'll send (tea, not water).

Re: American tea, many years ago there was a Canadian satirist, Eric Nicol?, who explained that in 1773 a number of Americans dumped a shipload of tea into Boston Harbor ... which explains how Americans have made tea ever since. (No offence intended.)

Tea UK

Tea Canada

Tea USA

sian

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 12:25 PM

Let me ask this question, and see if anyone else has had the same thought: what if I want to try growing my own tea? How would one go about it? I know how to grow herbs to turn them into tea, mint and such, but where would one get the plant that has the bona-fides as green tea or black tea (depending on processing, fermenting, etc). And what kind of soil, water, etc. How often would you harvest it? Is it just the top leaves that get picked? How often? Does anyone know of recipes for fermenting your own black tea?

Okay, as maven of web searches, I can probably figure this out myself. But I have to go to work now, so I'm sending this along in case someone else has already thought of it. And if not, I'll do a search later and post what I find out.

SRS

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 01:20 PM

I was curious since I have tried the Japanese Camellia, but always had trouble with spider mite.
The bare bones: Camellia sinensis. Half-hardy evergreen shrub. Needs acid, lime-free soil. Propagate by seed in early spring or late summer cuttings in sandy peat in a close frame. (Our flowering camellias are the species japonica and its many selected cultivars and crosses).
Needs protection from wind and a shady place. [In England] "excellent for shady places and for walls with north aspect."
Scarify seed (hole in outer coat and plant 1/2 inch deep in rich soil, pH 4.5-5.5, in gallon pots, soil moist (not soaked), part shade, germination 6-8 weeks, decrease moisture somewhat after germination. Hardy to 20 degrees F. Protect from wind.
All teas, green, black, etc., and no matter where grown, come from cultivars of this one species.
Own observation of Camellia (flowering)- should have temperature drop at night. Spider mites a problem esp. if temp. too high- protection from wind does NOT mean keep in a closed environment, good air circulation absolutely necessary. That is why it should be grown outdoors unless one has a good ventilation system in the greenhouse (very difficult where winters are very cold like they are where I live).
Supposed to be OK in US plant zones 7-9. Grows 4-6 feet high.
Nice photo and a few directions at tea plant

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Cluin
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 01:33 PM

I like the occasional cup of black currant tea. Mainly for the aroma. It reminds me of childhood camping days when we used to collect all sorts of wild berries and mint leaves and the like and boil them in an old juice can on the fire just for the smell. We were often tempted to drink our mixture but never took the chance, being only amateur shamen.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 01:39 PM

Good brief article on the tea plant (uses, folk medicine, toxicity, cultivation, etc., on the Purdue Univ. website, www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Camellia_sinensis.html: Camellia sinensis

Also Univ, Delaware: Camellia sinensis

Someone in the Botany Dept. at your university may have direct experience in your area.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 02:25 PM

Even without consulting botanists here at the university where I work I can see that I'd have to have a raised bed, at the very least, with our limestone bedrock. And spider mites--ah, the stories I can tell about fighting with those little plant-tormentors. It's also probably too hot at night. Special tomatoes have been cultivated for growing down here, where it doesn't get cool enough for pollination for much of the summer (below 80 degrees is necessary for most tomatoes). Thanks for sending the writeup, Q.

SRS

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Shields Folk
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 04:53 PM

I often find that in England the morning break at work shows a divide between the working and aspiring middle class: working men (or women) have tea breaks, but in offices etc they have coffee breaks. When I was working as a fisherman we always used evaporated milk as fresh milk didn't keep, and tea was the best drink of the day. Mind you when I returned from sea I wouldn't have entertained it in a cuppa.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Haruo
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 10:45 PM

I steep my tea, or in the alternative allow it to steep (i.e., "the verb 'to steep'" can be either transitive or intransitive. Massing and mashing are news to me. Brewing is more likely to be coffee or beer than tea, though I'd have no trouble understanding it, and I've run across letting tea draw before.

Haruo

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: gnu
Date: 10 Jan 03 - 05:28 AM

JennyO.... around here, Maritime Canada, if you said "tea" and "draw" in the same sentence, you'd be subject to search and seizure.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: sian, west wales
Date: 10 Jan 03 - 11:11 AM

Oh, and I forgot my bit of 'thread-drift'. I am gobsmacked that Anita Best is guesting here!

Anita Best in addition to Buddy Wassisname last year: Mudcat is indeed a marvellous place to come across amazing people!

sian, ww

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Jan 03 - 11:21 AM

It is indeed, Sian (WW)!

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 11:32 AM

I really do not care much for fruit or berry teas. If I want fruit I gets fruit....I dont like a sweet tea....
Tried looking up massing google has at least one page with a tea like meaning used but none of the dictionaries. Perhaps only catholics mass their tea! One of the dictionaries consulted listes massing as related to going to mass.... :)

Holy tea perhaps!

Conrad

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 12:16 PM

I have to confess that for general cost-savings, I buy the can of loose tea for ice tea that Kroger grocery stores sell. Their intent is clearly that one puts large amounts of it in machines for brewing a dense tea for dilution as iced tea. But I use a scoop at a time in the morning for my first cup or two of the day. The can is 12 ounces and costs all of about $3. Lasts for quite a while.

I like many of the spices and fruit flavors. My cutoff for caffeinne during the day is 3pm, and after that I drink the teas with other flavors, because decaff black tea tastes as bland as dishwater.

SRS

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 02:33 PM

Correctly (insofar as there is such a thing as "correctly") it's only a "tea" if its made from tea leaves. If its ptely a herbal infusuion it's a "tissane".

Mint tea is tea though, becuse it's made with tea, plus mint leaves. There probably are some other herbal teas which are made the same way.

Regardless of whether its tea or coffee that people drink, the meal is still called "tea" in the British Isles.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Beccy
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 02:38 PM

Two things
First, I have a question. Am I or am I not supposed to wash my tea kettle and tea pot? My brother, recently back from exchange in London, said that I should wash neither. Very curious to me, but if it makes a sublime cuppa, I'm willing.
Next, has anyone every tried black tea steeped with rose petals and lemon zest? It's quite tasty. If you have, I won't bore you with details. If you want details, say so.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 03:04 PM

Certainly you rinse out a teapot and a kettle. But don't get any washing up liquid left behind it it. (But you wouldn't need any - just rinse.)

But it's quite common to refresh a teapot with a bit more tea and fresh boiling water. People who treat tea-making with reverence probably wouldn't approve of that.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Beccy
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 03:07 PM

McGrath, I don't mean to sound thick. But can you get more specific? Little brother told me not to use anything other than a rinse of water to clean out the kettle. Does that hold true even with SUPER hard water? My tea kettle would have about 2 square inches of space in which to boil h2o if I didn't use vinegar to get the deposits out.
As for the pot, just rinse with h20. Correct?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 03:18 PM

Nowhere is water harder than Hertford and Harlow.
Still no need to add chemicals. I don't even rinse.
Occasional flakes of scale come away. No effect on the tea.
Keith.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 09:33 PM

I disagree, but that's because I don't like to brew my tea in a pot that has a soft and fuzzy crust inside after brewing lots of batches of tea. That's why I tend to brew it one mug at a time now, and the mug gets washed with the dishes. I use a small stainless steel tea strainer over the top of the cup and don't pour water directly into the strainer or it washes too much of the little fine grounds into the cup. But McGrath is right--be very careful to not leave behind any soap in anything for tea. Ugg, but dish detergent is easily noticable and you need to throw out the batch if you can smell or taste it in your tea.

I had forgotten about the tea/tissane information. And since none of the boxes come labled tissane I expect that term will gradually go away completely. (To my American ears "tissane" sounds like eating or drinking something akin to plastic wrap).

SRS

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 09:54 PM

Often I hear that folks dont drink tea because it make them pee...
I find this hard to believe. I tell them that with proper sweets....scones and breads etc....you wont pee hardly at all and with all the raisins and fruit that go into scones and cakes and jams and the like your poops will be as regular as clockwork....

But stil you get this paranoia with peeing...the legal system makes it hard dont you know....I got a ticket for peeing in public...public disturbance it was called ....about $100. only last year....I told them that if they REALLY...wanted a public disturbance I could have done much better...

Conrad

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Cluin
Date: 11 Jan 03 - 09:56 PM

Yeah, you could have started posting on the Internet. ;)

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 10:57 AM

Both Sweetouchnee and Red Rose are available from Stop and Shop and A&P in the New York Area.

I still use the cannisters (one of them still has loose Sweetouchnee in it) and wouldn't consider selling them.

Many of the unusual teas are available on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, that hub of Middle Eastern commerce.

Top quality Oolong can be gotten from Ten Ren Tea Company of New York and Los Angeles (213-626-8844) unless the company has changed the number.

Has anyone read "Tea with the Black Dragon" and "Twisting the Rope" by R.A.MacAvoy. Both books relate peripherally to oolong and are folk music related. Recommend them both.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 11:23 AM

Anyone use an expresso machine for tea?

A little constant comment and your favourite mycological spice and you have a dreamy tea.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 12:43 PM

Sounds like you get a serious buzz from your tea, Donuel! Do you have to wipe the mud from the cow pasture off your boots before heading to the espresso machine to make this stuff?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Cluin
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 05:21 PM

Read both of `em, EBarnacle. I agree. Excellent books; real page-turners.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Bert
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 12:46 AM

Oh dear, CarolC! that's not the way to do it at all.

You need a stainless steel teapot.
Pour some boiling water into the teapot to warm it up, then pour the water out.
Use four teabags or, better still, four teaspoons of loose tea (Darjeeling of course) for a regular size teapot.
Fill to the top with freshly boiling water and stir a few times.
Cover and let sit for a few minutes.
You put the fresh milk into the cup FIRST and then add the tea.
Add sugar to taste.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Bert
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 12:55 AM

Oh, and you go to an Asian or Indian store to buy the best tea.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 02:36 AM

As I am not one of those blessed with hard water, the best I can recommend is what we were taught about cleaning crusted pipes in water treatment systems: Boil the kettle with vinegar until the encrustation comes off, rinse, boil a potful of water, boil another potful of water and enjoy your tea from a pot that is now large enough to give you a couple of cups more than before. Good luck.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: CarolC
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 11:24 AM

Graham, one of our British friends, has just returned from a visit home for the holidays. He brought us some PG Tips tea, which he says is his favorite.

Here's our verdict. The Lifeboat tea is more like what JtS is used to back home in Newfoundland. We both find it to be much heartier and more earthy and robust. I think it makes a good morning (wake up) tea. The PG Tips has a more delicate, flowery fragrance and flavor, and I think it would make a lovely afternoon or evening tea. I like the Lifeboat tea with whole wheat biscuits (I think scones would be good with it, too), but I think the PG Tips would be great with all kinds of confections, cakes, or pastries.

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: The Walrus
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 08:08 PM

One quick note for #1 Peasant,

Yes, tea is a diuretic - so either don't drink too much, go before you leave he house or just don't get caught.

Regards

Walrus

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: JennyO
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 12:21 AM

Sorry, gnu, I don't know what you mean. You said if I said "tea" and "draw" in the same sentence in your part of the world I might be subject to search and seizure. Why?

Jenny

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Cluin
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 12:25 AM

"Tea" was supposedly another name for marijuana, just like "Mary Jane". It said so in all the brochures.

But like George Carlin pointed out:

Nobody ever SAID it!"

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: gnu
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 07:10 AM

Yup... and to take a draw (draw a breath) from a cigarette made from cannabis hemp is (almost "was" here in Canada) somewhat illegal.

Bert... the tea police shall be by shortly to confiscate your sugar. If you apologize profusely, you may get a light sentence for defiling tea with sugar. Although a misdemeanour, it is still a crime. Shameful. If you must, consume your sugar separately in the form of cookies, cakes or whatever. I find cheese compliments a strong cup of orange pekoe as well as any. Anyone have any "out of the way" suggestions for accompanyment ?

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 09:25 AM

Gnu--An addictive combination I discovered by accident: English Breakfast tea and those rich little Cadbury semi-sweet chocolate Easter eggs. To die for!

SRS

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: aussiebloke
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 04:43 AM

We (in my family of origin) use the word "draw" or "drawing" for the time between pouring the boiling water into the tea-pot, and pouring the tea into cup - if we left it too long and the tea became too strong, my mother would state: "Draw? It has had time to paint a Picasso!

Cheers all

aussiebloke

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: JennyO
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 04:51 AM

"Drawing" must be an Aussie thing, aussiebloke. You are the only person in this thread, apart from myself (from Sydney), who calls it that.

Hope you don't like Earl Grey! Have you heard the Enda Kenny song about it?

Think I'll go and have myself a cuppa!

Cheers, Jenny

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Subject: Lyr Add: EARL GREY (Enda Kenny)
From: JennyO
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 02:04 AM

Here are all the words of Enda Kenny's song about Earl Grey tea, from his album "Baker's Dozen"

EARL GREY
(can't stand the stuff - I like to steer clear of grey areas)

Is it perfume? Is it tea?
Whatever it is, it does nothing for me
Should I drink it? Or dab it on?
Can I swap it for a coffee or has all the water gone.

It is hot, it is wet,
It is eau de toilette
Is it from the House of Lipton or Chanel?
I only want a cup of tea, not this stuff you've given me,
If you think I'm going to drink it go to.....

Help me
Someone call a doctor or a nurse,
Call an ambulance I'm poisoned,
And I think it's getting worse.
I only wanted a cup of tea
But I fear that my last mouthful will be the death of me

It is hot, it is wet,
It is eau de toilette
To my mind it is more toilette than eau.
If you want to spoil your day
Add the oil of Earl Grey,
I'm reliably informed it's bergamot.

What a mouthful!
Is it perfume? Is it wee?
Whatever it's supposed to be it doesn't taste like tea.
Should I drink it, or dab it on?
Can I swap it for a coffee or has all the water gone.

It is hot, it is wet,
It is eau de toilette
Is it Twinings? is it Tetley? let me see.
Go ahead and make my day
But please don't make me drink Earl Grey.
All I want is a proper cup of tea.

Enda Kenny (1995)

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Subject: RE: BS: A proper cup of tea: nothing like it!
From: Cluin
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 12:08 PM

I agree. Earl Grey is to perfumey for me. But I drink it because other folks I drink tea with like it.

I feel the same thing about Crown Royal rye, too. Overpriced perfume.

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