BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 10:19 AM

I buy loose Gunpowder Green tea from an Indian deli. A comfortable handlful of tea into a stainless steel coffee pot. 20 seconds after boiled water has gone silent it is added to the tea. 3 to 5 mins to brew and I pour it through a sieve into a glass cafetiere. I drink it out of a glass cup. Certainly no milk but perhaps a little sugar. Modern pyrex type glass is so much better than ceramic because you get to see how good it looks.

You might like to try this. Half a cupful of the above tea, add a teaspoonful of sugar or sweetener of choice, a drop or two of lemon essence (real lemon if you wish) then top up with carbonated water.

Lovely. I think I'll go and make a brew.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 06:24 AM

Loose tea - brewed properly, and drunk from bone china cups or mugs.

Not just at home, but in all tea-serving establishment.

Bring back the tea strainer!

Spokesperson
CamPot - Campaign for real tea.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Penny S.
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 04:20 PM

Lynne, gypsy tart is made with evaporated milk and soft brown sugar, whisked together until thick before being baked in a pastry case, not condensed, which would have a different flavour.

The thing about why milk is or is not first is more likely to be part of the Victorian obsession with setting up irrational table "etiquette" purely in order for people of one class to make those of another feel excluded, than for any sensible reason like scalding the milk in hot regions (the Raj), or not scalding it by adding it first, so the taste did not change.

Tea strainers, the hemispherical punched metal "spoons" (most of the images on the net of old ones have two small handles and bowls to rest in, but ours always had a flat handle and a projection the other side so it could rest on the cup) used to be ubiquitous.

I remember reading a book about Jutish grave goods, in which women might be buried with something which looked for all the world like a tea strainer. The male author put forward the idea that the Jutes did not understand the purpose of spoons, and so made them useless by adding patterns of holes. Obviously he never took tea with his mother or aunts. What the Jutes were drinking cannot, of course have been proper tea.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 03:04 PM

I think that milk-tea business with cheap cups is urban (or British?) legend.
English crockery and stoneware cups had no problem with hot water. We use cheap crockery for everyday use, and reserve our expensive porcelain (and bone china) for more formal or guest events, both are equally resistant.

We have silver, porcelain and stoneware pots (longtime collectors of stuff). We prefer the brown betty stoneware pot for everyday use.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: meself
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 02:49 PM

I remember reading about the Prince Charles's chagrin at the White House in Time Magazine shortly after the incident (see above: Date: 30 Jun 07 - 09:23 PM). Apparently he mentioned that he didn't know what he was supposed to do with the 'baggy thing'. Time Magazine made a sneering comment about how out of touch Charles was with the real world or real people, or something to that effect. I was surprised, because I had been struck by how out of touch the White House was with international tea etiquette. And I recalled as a young lad asking my mother what a person should do with the tea-bag, if served tea with the bag in the cup. My mother's response was that if someone was crude enough to serve you tea that way, it didn't much matter what you did with the bag - throwing it against the wall being one option.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: GUEST,Stan
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 02:13 PM

Boiling water on the tea is for black tea only. If you use that method on green or white tea you get a very bitter drink. Allow the water to cool a little first for green and white. Loose tea before bags every time.

With regard to the milk first or tea first controversy;

Tea drinking was encouraged for UK mill workers as a non intoxicating beverage. The cheap cups used would crack if the water was too hot so milk was put in first.

The aristocracy could afford porcelain which could withstand the higher temperatures. Therefor they put the tea in first.

Your preference reveals your class!

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 02:05 PM

I have a couple of 19th C. perforated silver 'spoons' that were used when the tea (made the classic UK-Irish way, see John's post, above) was poured into the cup from the pot. Any stray bits of leaf stirred up if the pot was handled carelessly would be filtered out by this device.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 11:53 AM

I suppose I ought to note that tea is rated by a more complex system than just size.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_pekoe

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 11:36 AM

John...your method is, of course, the classic way to brew tea. Warming a good ceramic pot (I have 5-6) and then tea & 'just' boiling water....not water that has boiled for several minutes, as this removes oxygen and tends to make the tea 'flat'.
The only thing I do is add the fine mesh infuser, as I often make a large pot and drink several cups. Leaving the leaves in, even at the bottom, can make later cups too strong or bitter.... and I forget and pour that last cup and get leaves in my cup.
I do have one pot with a ceramic 'filter' that sits just below the lid, but this requires making a full pot to bring the water level up to it, and it has rather large holes, allowing leaves to escape....unless they are very large leaves- way beyond the pekoe size. I currently have some Royal Golden Yunnan that works well in the ceramic infuser.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 04:41 AM

100

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 12:56 AM

Bill D - and Joe

Made properly in a sutiable tea pot, you should never find leaves in the cup. I've used the procedure recommended by a "vaguely oriental" friend decades ago.

You start by pouring boiling water into a china/ceramic pot (at least half fill the pot). Let it sit until the outside is thoroughly warm.

Pour out the first water, and immediately add the loose tea leaves and fill with fresh boiling water.

The leaves will sink to the bottom of the pot by the time a proper infusion results, so that if you pour gently into the cup the only one who might find a leaf in the cup obviously drank the last cup and must make the next pot.

If making in the cup (even if using an infuser?) it also seems to me that a better flavor is obtained if the cup is pre-heated before adding the fresh water and the tea. Properly infused loose tea should lie quietly at the bottom of the cup and won't get in your teeth if you "have another cup" instead of gulping the "bottoms."

On the subject of "the other beverage," recent tests have reported that "filtered coffee" is better for you than the fancy stuff, because the filter paper preferentially absorbs most of the small amount of some known carcinogens from the brew, while the "steam" brewed stuff contains all of them. (Almost everything you ingest contains some "known carcinogens" but there are few reports of the extent of any ill effects from any of them - including those from coffee.)

John

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Aug 12 - 11:14 PM

"..how do they keep the leaves out of the cup?"

I have no idea how most Irish do it, but there are many devices to use loose tea... even very fine tea. I have several 'tea balls',,,including a couple of 2-part plastic things with a fine mesh on the inside. Tea steeps until YOU are satisfied, and no leaves.

I have no idea why people put milk in tea,,, except possibly because they got stated using cheap tea, and that was the only way to make it palatable. Now it has become a cultural thing, even when top-notch loose tea is available.
(I knew a couple in college many years ago who were VERY frugal getting thru college. They made VERY cheap tea VERY strong, re-used the tea bags, and put lots of milk in it. I suppose that made it healthier, also)

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Aug 12 - 08:03 PM

OK, so here's a question I've wondered about for a long time: How do the Irish make tea?

In May, I went on a Sisters of Mercy tour of Ireland (I'm a Mercy Associate). We were served tea (and sandwiches and cookies and a veritable feast) at every convent we visited, because a cup of tea is the symbol of the hospitality of the Sisters of Mercy. On her deathbed, Mercy Sisters foundress Catherine McAuley asked that the visiting sisters be given a comfortable cup of tea after she died.

So, we had all this tea, and it was terrific - and although I'm sure they used loose tea, I never found a leaf bit in my cup of tea. So, how do they make it, and how do they keep the leaves out of the cup? And what kinds of tea are most popular in Ireland.

And then there's the milk. I didn't dare taking mild with my tea in Ireland, although I gather that is what one is expected to do. I worked at an anniversary celebration for my Cork-born pastor a couple weeks ago, and he sent me out for mild for tea for the Irish priests who were in attendance. I bought full-fat homogenized, not half-and-half or two-percent or any of that exotic stuff. Did I buy the right milk. How much milk do Irish priests put in their tea? Do they stir it in, drizzle it in, or what?

An ancillary question: do the Irish drink Irish coffee, or is that an Irish-American confection?

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 04 Jul 07 - 04:20 AM

Sorry, hadn't seen The Walrus's post earlier.

Valmai

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 03 Jul 07 - 06:55 PM

Proper tea is theft.

Valmai





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Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 02 Jul 07 - 08:18 PM

Tea bags,

But gauze, never paper.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: JennyO
Date: 02 Jul 07 - 06:55 AM

Same place you used to, Lynne - the land of Oz. Sydney to be exact - and there isn't much we don't hear about in Sydney.

Jenny - off to get a bootle of Coppers Dark Ale

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: MBSLynne
Date: 02 Jul 07 - 06:37 AM

You mean you haven't heard of clooted cream???? Where have you been living?

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 02 Jul 07 - 06:17 AM

But it tastes so good with a strong cup of Billy Tea, no sugar, of course...

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: JennyO
Date: 02 Jul 07 - 04:15 AM

Bumdaberg Rum? Clooted cream? Has everybody been on the rum? Shame on you - go back to drinking tea!

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: MBSLynne
Date: 02 Jul 07 - 02:59 AM

Great for my diabetes Robin! Sounds lovely though...perhaps served with Cats' clooted cream ice cream from the other thread?

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: JennyO
Date: 02 Jul 07 - 02:09 AM

Bundy Rum! Now you're talking Robin!

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 02 Jul 07 - 12:36 AM

MBSLynne

Old Aussie 'Lazy Bastard' Tart Recipie.

Take one bought pastry flan, one can of Caramel Condensed milk.

Open and spoon contents of 2nd item into first, chill.

Consume, then expire of sugar overload...


Gilding the Lily!

You can mix in such stuff as vanilla essence - don't waste real vanilla on this cheap decadent crap! - or nutmeg or cinammon can be sprinkled on top... sprinkles, or cream, or mix some Bumdaberg Rum in the caramel stuff before placing in tart...

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Flash Company
Date: 01 Jul 07 - 11:35 AM

Loose tea when S & I are in residence alone, tea bags when we have guests. The pot gets emptied on the hydrangeas every morning, yje seem to thrive on loose tea.
I realised one morning recently that the paper deliverer had left the gate open, and, teapot in hand, went to close it, and found myself almost face to face with a lady dog-walker. I could not resist
'Oh my name is John Wellington Wells.
I'm a dealer in potions and spells.....'
Now someone is puttin' it around that I'm barmy!

FC

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: MBSLynne
Date: 01 Jul 07 - 11:14 AM

We used to keep a tube of condensed milk in the fridge when I was a kid in Oz. You just used to go and have a suck. Lovely stuff! But not in tea! Haven't seen the tubes for years but I did notice the cans of caramel on the same shelf a few months ago. I wondered if it would make good 'gypsy tart' which was my favourite pudding for school dinners in England.

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: JennyO
Date: 01 Jul 07 - 09:34 AM

Well there's your explanation then. If I'd had a good serving of dark rum in mine, I'd have been happy with just about anything (within reason ;-))

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: The Walrus
Date: 01 Jul 07 - 07:00 AM

"...I had a friend - now gone on to a communist heaven - who would practically foam at the mouth at the idea of tea bags..."

A communist who liked decent tea....I can't help wondering just how often he had to put up with the "All proper tea is theft" joke.


The sujestion has been made that evaporated milk in tea is foul, but I must point out that, in the example I cited the taste of the milk was masked by the dark rum.

W

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 01 Jul 07 - 03:44 AM

I had a friend - now gone on to a communist heaven - who would practically foam at the mouth at the idea of tea bags.

He went into his local shop once and bought his favourite blend, brought it home and made a cuppa, and it didn't taste right. So he wrote to the blender and asked if they'd changed the mix.

He got back a letter, practically weeping with gratitude - "Someone noticed! Someone cares!" - accompanied by a bunch of sample teas, and several packets of the old, more expensive and tasty blend.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jul 07 - 12:58 AM

When I first moved to Texas I learned in a hurry that in restaurants if you don't clearly state how you want your tea, what you'll usually get is iced tea. Even at breakfast with your French toast and sausage.

When I lived in New York City I had to negotiate with the guy at the coffee stand under the Staten Island Ferry terminal. "What do I have to say to you to get my tea the way I want it?" His answer was what I parroted every morning after that "Plain tea no sugar." Otherwise he scooped in the sugar, hit it with the milk, dropped in the bag and filled it with hot water. What a rude surprise that could be when I got down to the dock to wait for the boat to Ellis Island and opened the lid to find that sweet milky mess. Once you were out on the water and the island there was no way to get any prepared food. You took your lunch (they had a fridge, that was all. Microwaves weren't in common use in the late 70s). My morning tea was a nice luxury on the way to work.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: JennyO
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 11:39 PM

Thinking of the different milks - back in the Dark Ages when I was married, we went on a camping holiday for a couple of weeks, and took a tube of condensed milk with us for our tea. We liked our tea pretty sweet, so it was okay. I only have a little sugar now, so I'd probably find it too sweet. It certainly is convenient though. What they did on the steam railways sounds good to me.

Evaporated milk is the wrong taste, and I can't understand people who put soy milk in tea - I like soy milk in certain contexts - actually prefer it on porridge, but in tea? Yuk! Longlife milk has a taste that spoils it for me, and skim milk in tea is pretty horrible too. Really it's gotta be plain cow - only a dash though.

I like my tea fairly strong, and it has to be hot. I like Dilmah, an Aussie brand called Billy Tea, Twinings Russian Caravan tea and Prince of Wales tea. I've tried white tea and quite liked it too - not much colour though - to be expected with something called white tea I suppose.

I know someone who drinks Rooibos tea. Never tried it, and I don't feel like trying it really. With herbal teas and those kind of drinks, I think you have to not think of them as tea at all as Giok said.

For a completely different experience, I'm rather fond of chai - not thinking of it as a cup of tea, but just a lovely drink. If I'm out at a Chinese restaurant, a pot of jasmine tea is nice too. I've noticed it can get bitter towards the end if you leave it too long though.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Joe_F
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 09:23 PM

Reagan enjoyed meeting the "most likable" Prince Charles in
1981, but tea proved a disaster because the royal visitor refused
to drink it: "Horror of horrors they served it our way with a tea
bag in the cup.... I didn't know what to do."

-- Review of his diaries in the Washington Post Weekly

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 09:20 PM

Rooibos is NOT Tea! It can be interesting, but I just found it too sickly in the long term.

"Condensed Milk" usually has sugar added as manufactured. It's been available in tubes as well as cans - now you can also get it with coffee added - makes it very convenient when travelling, but its' 'not a cheap way' for a cup of coffee, and you have no idea what grade of coffee it it. In the days when I added sugar to tea, I used the plain version, but now that I prefer tea without sugar, I find that it is too sweet.

One very old trick with Condensed Milk was to put it in a pan of water and boil it - Caramel!!!! It used to be done with the tins, then you just shoveled it into an empty shortcrust pastry pie blank or littlw tart blanks! I also used to do it with the tubes, but now they are plastic, not aluminum. Btw, you can now buy cans of the premade Caramel! You can thus make 'Caramel Coffee' - but it makes for a pretty foul tasting tea! Although some of those bags of 'tea flavours' that have all sorts of soy and wheat extract flavours were around for a while - they were 'interesting' for the first cup or two, but tasted pretty foul and artifical after a while.

"Evaporated Milk" is interesting but the taste is too strong for most teas - it can be OK in a strong coffee - usually it did not have sugar added when made. It too can be 'caramelised', but it has less sugar, so it results in a different style.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 06:33 PM

The Walrus' posting reminded me (sort of) of the tea drunk by loco crews on Britain's steam railways.
They would put a spoonful of loose tea, a spoonful of sugar and some condensed milk (which is, as you will all know, very thick and glutinous) into a twist of greaseproof paper and take the whole concoction to work with them. The paper and its contents would be put into their enamelled tea cans (which were also, by coincidence, known as 'billy cans') and water, drawn from the locomotive's boiler added.
Like all right thinking people I have, since childhood, been an avid steam railway fan and I have always yearned to try this delicious-sounding manifestation of the tea drinking habit.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 05:21 PM

It's a bit sweet, and bland Lynne, it helps if you don't think of it as tea, merely a different beverage.
G.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Megan L
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 04:47 PM

My uncles were miners the tea used to be brewed first thing and left on a trivet by the fire all day being topped with water as needed. the stuff was like pitch.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: MBSLynne
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 04:42 PM

Oh damper cooked on a campfire!! With a billy of tea and the smell that hot sun brings out from the eucalyptus trees! The squawking of galahs and the continual warbling of the cicadas......home! (Sorry, ex-pats get like that occasionally)

Ok tea drinkers...what do you think of this rooibosh or red bush tea that is the fashion at the moment?

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 02:47 PM

This morning...oh God!...this morning, I put away my wife's tea things and right there on the shelf was...a box...with Yorkshire Gold printed on it!

I thought, like Panama Gold, it wasn't allowed in the US, but there it was. I knew about her Barry's Gold and that habit, but I never suspected....

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: JennyO
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 12:45 PM

Not at all, Bill. Billy tea is lovely!

One of my fondest memories of a festival I went to a few years ago was some genuine billy tea brewed up for me by Campbell the Swaggie. It was so good, I went without the usual sugar and milk just to get the true taste of the tea.

There was very good billy tea and damper being made in the Drover's Camp at the National Folk Festival this year too. Lovely smoky taste (the lamb stew was great too)!

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 12:16 PM

I suspect that I'd have to BE out in the bush and very thirsty to appreciate that recipe....

and the tea I referred to back up there ^ that was so nasty was Puer tea.

It 'may' be good for you, and it seems to go up in value like old wine...but...again, yuck!

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: MBSLynne
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 12:06 PM

Thank you Bill...the invitation stands the other way around too.

How about Australian billy tea as drunk by the swaggy? I believe they used to put gum leaves in with it.

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 11:56 AM

we ARE a different lot, aren't we?

John...I did go back and dissect your compound/complex sentence in your first paragraph, and observe that, indeed, you did include reference to your awareness of the availability of tea from merchants who sell through internet/WWW outlets, and that your rate of consumption would likely preclude you from availing yourself of that option; leading me to ask forgiveness for my hurried and inept reading of your explanation.

;>)

SRS & MBSLynne...drop by anytime: WE shall have proper tea and compare notes.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: JennyO
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 11:25 AM

Leadfingers, here is Enda Kenny's song. I must say I have to agree with him. Bergamot is a lovely essential oil - great for aromatherapy, but not in a drink!

EARL GREY

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)

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Folkiedave
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 11:22 AM

I worked in charge of gangs of modern navvys for a while, about twelve to a gang.

Tea making was interesting. A large pan of water was brought to the boil and a packet of tea was poured in. Milk and sugar was poured straight into the resultant mix and the men dipped their (enamel) mugs into it.

Did it taste foul? No idea I never touched the stuff!!

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 11:17 AM

Locally, we can now get the 'Tea Flower' - a lump that when put in hot water, expands like a flower and produces a cup of tea - or whatever the size of the pot. It can also be used several times to produce several batches of brew,

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 10:52 AM

I did meet a twit at Market Spice one time who insisted (in the interest of her bottom line, I think) that tea over six months old should be tossed and replaced. I've since spoken to a Chinese tea drinker who tells me that the older the tea the more valuable. He is a wealthy man who described some recent purchases. I regretfully tossed a couple of packets before I met him, but I couldn't make myself get rid of all of it. Good thing.

"Aren't tea bags generally just loose tea . . . in a bag?"

Ah - originally, yes, but nowadays they can be a useful way to profitably dispose of all those 'floor sweepings' - the tiny broken bits of teas leaves that would not be acceptable in 'packet tea'.

Yorkshire and Yorkshire gold is very finely processed tea. How does this fit the formula? I like loose tea that becomes large leaves in my pot. But I don't take the tea out after it steeps, I pour it out of the pot and drink it. My Chinese friend also said to always use ceramic (never metal) pots and to never wash the pot. And he insists that the loose tea can be reused, that I can pour in more hot water and use it again. I wonder if he is using a small pot in which the contents are completely poured out after one cup? I'll have to ask him. The way mine brews I drink two or three cups over the space of an hour or more.

And milk will never cloud my tea. Ugg!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 10:51 AM

No, I confess I'm not, Robin; the reason being that I want to control the colour/strength to my favourite brick-brown. And I don't cock my little finger either, I find it catches on things :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 09:37 AM

Ah - George - but are you one of the M.I.F.-ers?

:-P

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: MBSLynne
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 08:48 AM

As someone who is a tad fussy about my tea, I was amazed when I went to a couple of churchy events years ago with a friend who was a vicar's wife and we were given 'Mother's Union' tea. It was all made up in large kettles with the milk mixed in already and taken round and poured as-is into your cup. It was really lovely stuff...don't honestly know why. It was almost certainly made from bagged tea too.

Someone once gave me a cup of tea at a sort of tea party thing, with heaps of sterilized milk in it. I had to pour it down the sink when her back was turned

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: GUEST,Seiri Omaar
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 07:37 AM

I'm not a heavy tea drinker but I tend to enjoy Green Tea or Chai when I do. There's a lovely Honey Lemon Ginseng Green flavour (bagged... doesn't really matter to me) that I like.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Bags or Loose Tea?
From: Megan L
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 07:06 AM

John don't forget if you call it genuine organic you can tripple the price. hey it looks like you are on a winner:)