BS: Tea Question

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Joe_F
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 09:16 PM

George Orwell's advice

But, seldom having company for tea, I myself use a teaball.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: olddude
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 08:16 PM

I am having a cup as we speak. My doctor buddie gave it to me it is from igourmet.com the can reads Irish Breakfast Tea
2nd flush assam and Kenyan tea (whatever that means)

Then my office neighbor has a brother that is a bee keeper, gave me 5 lbs of honey ... this stuff is wonderful, I mean not your average honey, right from the bugs stuff. Amazing. I just dumped it in my tea and it is great.

But I think a half of a teaspoon is the recipe for this Pennsylvania mountain boy ... a full teaspoon was a tad strong. Yet I drink my coffee so strong that it can walk on its own. But I notice tea is bitter when it is really strong

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: gnu
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 08:11 PM

Best tea ever.... on a late October morn, walk way back past where the road is overgrown with alders. Start a bog spruce fire with birch bark. Grab the old tomato juice can that someone placed upside down in a water birch alongside the bog years before. Dip it in the bog water. Throw in some tea and hang it over the fire until it boils. Some shockin good me zon, me zon.

Of course, ya need a bit a time on yer hands ta have a proper boilup.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: olddude
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 08:05 PM

Success !!
It took me 2 days of trial and error, finally, I went to the dollar store. They sell this plunger thing that makes 1 cup. You put your tea in, pour in boiling water. Pop this plunger thing with a strainer in it, push it down, it holds all the tea to the bottom so you have a perfect cup. I used 1 teaspoon full of Irish breakfast ... wow still really really strong .. Gotta cut down on it I guess. At least now being the clutz that I am I don't have tea all over the counter and boiling over my coffee maker. This can of Irish Breakfast came in a gift box. It is really really strong stuff. Is Irish breakfast tea always this strong. I am use to drinking (when I do drink tea) some lipton something or other

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: GUEST,lox
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 08:01 PM

Here's the most relevant segment of the previous link for those without the patience to read the whole thing:

'No,' he said, 'look, it's very, very simple...all I want...is a cup of tea. You are going to make one for me. Keep quiet and listen.'
    And he sat. He told the Nutri-Matic about India, he told it about China, he told it about Ceylon. He told it about broad leaves drying in the sun. He told it about silver teapots. He told it about summer afternoons on the lawn. He told it about putting in the milk before the tea so it wouldn't get scalded. He even told it (briefly) about the history of the East India Company.
    'So that's it, is it?' said the Nutri-Matic when he had finished.
    'Yes,' said Arthur, 'that is what I want.'
    'You want the taste of dried leaves boiled in water?'
    'Er, yes. With milk.'
    'Squirted out of a cow?'
    'Well, in a manner of speaking I suppose...'
    'I'm going to need some help with this one,' said the machine tersely. All the cheerful burbling had dropped out of its voice and it now meant business.
    'Well, anything I can do,' said Arthur.
    'You've done quite enough,' the Nutri-Matic informed him.
    It summoned up the ship's computer.
    'Hi there!' said the ship's computer.
    The Nutri-Matic explained about tea to the ship's computer. The computer boggled, linked logic circuits with the Nutri-Matic and together they lapsed into a grim silence.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: GUEST,lox
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 07:57 PM

Proper Tea and how to make it properly are concerns which go far beyond the bounds of this world ...















... of course anarchists prefer earl grey as they believe all proper tea is theft ...

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 07:53 PM

It's worth getting a teapot even if you use teabags. Tea made in a cup just isn't the same. For one thing it makes the cup too hot to hold comfortably. And with a pot you can top up with water for a second cup.

The tea in bags is more or less powdered, as compared with the loose tea, which is still leafs. Affects the taste.

Honey is OK with Redbush Tea from South Africa (which isn't tea, but it's said to be good for you - and Precious Ramotswe swears by it), but for ordinary tea, sugar is a less intrusive way of sweetening it than honey, which has a strong flavour of its own.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Peter T.
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 04:05 PM

you can always pour tea through a J-cloth (or even a clean sock you don't want ever to use again.....)

I am a totally old fashioned tea drinker but I would never ever use loose tea again -- what a pain in the ass -- tea bags forever.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: lady penelope
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 03:56 PM

It all depends on how strong you like your tea. Most brand teas, Like Yorkshire Gold, Liptons, PG Tips, Tetley, are blended indian teas.

Earl Grey tea is an indian tea flavoured with bergamot oil (I can't abide it myself).

Straight indian teas will brew quicker and stronger than 'china' teas. Broken leaves (as you get in most tea bags) will brew even faster. For a lighter taste with a full flavour get unbroken tea. The difference is, while I would leave unbroken leaves in the pot to brew for a few minutes, I wouldn't do that with broken leaves and definitely not with tea bags.

Not all tea tastes good with milk in. The 'china' teas (like Kemun) will mostly taste better without milk. Others taste awful with milk in - Lapsangsuchong, jasmine, or japanese green teas.

My personal favourites -
Tea bags - PG Tips
Loose broken tea - Twinings 'All Day' tea
Unbroken tea - Orange Peko (will take milk) and Jasmine.

Personally, I don't hold with tea infusers, other than in emergencies (they're a reall bind to clean out for a start). I'd go for one of these options....

6 Cup teapot

You can get 2 cup versions of these. They work really well as you can lift the tea out completely once you've acheived the strength you desire.

Or Tea For One

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 03:04 PM

Which is why I think the person made a Big Mistake.

I do NOT suggest gin and tea. I tried it, and I don't suggest it.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Gurney
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 02:37 PM

Rapaire, G & T is the standard abbreviation for that drink, pronounced Gee and Tee.
I like Whisky or Whiskey in tea, and I'll drink Brandy in Coffee. On cold days, of course. I'll try Gin and tea next time someone gives me a bottle of Gin.
The darjeeling that I eulogised above could be described as puckery, if I've understood the term, or as I call it, abrasive.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 10:33 AM

A good hot cup of tea, boiled in the pot over a campfire in the snow when the air temperature is -15F and then sweetened with brown sugar and a touch of rum is a gift of God. Of course, hot water is also...so is any source of heat (a nice warm body is good).

I was bartending a party once when one of the guests asked for gin-and-tea, which "everyone in England was drinking." We made a pot of tea, poured out a cup, added gin, and created a drink so puckery it would suck you inside your own mouth. It was still sitting there, nearly untouched, when the party was over. I sorta suspect that the guest mistook people asking for "gin and Tonic"....

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Micca
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 07:59 AM

Richard Owen, the Chief Engineer on a ship I served in made me a mug of tea once, in the engineroom of the ship we served in, by taking a Pint ceramic mug (English 20oz) pouring about 2oz of loose tea leaves in filling it with cold water then inserting a bleed steam pipe from the ships Triple Expansion Parsons Marine Main engine and turning it on!! steam at about 400degC was injected into the water and brought it to the boil in about 20 seconds!!! the tea was as STRONG as hell as black as Guiness and would take the enamel off your teeth , but it worked as the outside air temp was -25degC!! in the Baltic in winter.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: gnomad
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 05:58 AM

One of these 1 or these 2 will do you. Infusers shouldn't be overfilled (max 50%) as the leaves expand on contact with water, and also need space to move about a bit while infusing.

Megan's uncles' tea sounds like what my boss tells of tea on trawlers in the 70s: gallon pot of water and about 2oz loose tea onto a low light as you sail, topped up with more water as it was drunk, and more leaves from time to time. By the time of return (about a week) the pot would be about half full of leaves, and rinsed for the next brew. He certainly drinks the strongest tea (and with the most milk) I am ever asked to make.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 04:57 AM

A proper cuppa can't be beat
Get the right kit to make it neat
Prep teapot and cup with a bit of heat
A five minute brew, drink it straight or sweet

I love my Earl or Lady Grey loose leaf with drop of skim milk and one sugar.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 04:13 AM

I looked into our teapot when I was 11 and thought - if that's what the inside of the teapot looks like, what the hell is it doing to my stomach? And never drank tea again. Of course, I realise now it was just an excuse because I don't actually like the taste of it....

Long live the Jam in a Cup! (That's red fruit tea to you lot).

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Megan L
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 04:00 AM

when I was a child my uncles used to make a pot of tea when they came up from the pit. It went on a trivet by the side of the coal fire and stayed there all day just being topped up with water as needed. Talk about strong it was so stewed you could have soled yer boots with it.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Gurney
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 03:33 AM

So many coffee drinkers, so little educated taste.


Just a vote on the other side. Try darjeeling tea, but not too strong, with milk and one sugar. Nectar.
Too strong, and you'll have to console yourself with ardent spirits.

Darjeeling is a type, not a brand.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Rasener
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 11:55 PM

LOL I wouldn't like to be in your shoes Dan :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 11:46 PM

Cleanup shouldn't be that difficult. If you wait until the tea dries up you can sweep it off of any surface it may have boiled over on.

Market Spice tea is a great cinnamon tea. The company itself I used to do mail order from, but I think that put them in too much competition with their commercial customers. When I search on "Market Spice" it says their products are available through Amazon.

Micca was my daughter's secret Santa one year, and he sent (and got us hooked on) Yorkshire Gold in tea bags. One bag of that is strong enough for an entire pot. It's way too strong for a single cup.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: olddude
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 11:25 PM

Thanks Les !!

Linda is going to kick my arse when she sees what I did to her kitchen ... I can't even boil water ... I have tea all over the place. It is now not a mission but a quest ... a quest for a real cup of tea ...

I just read about a tea ball ... I didn't think tea had balls but hey what do I know ...

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Rasener
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 11:06 PM

http://www.teaguys.com/

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: olddude
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 10:48 PM

Spaw
you should see my poor coffee pot. No kidding I have crap all over it. I heaped the tea in it and it bubbled out ... What a mess

I suck at anything with heat ... I am going back to my little bags

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 10:44 PM

Its a shame you weren't around when Bill Sables made one of his trips here from Yorkshire. A long story about Bill and his various trips to the USA but he always carried his own tea and paraphernalia so he could always have a "proper cup" of tea. When he, along with young Sam Pirt and Ian, stopped at our place in 2001, Ian took my wife Karen and sister Connie into the kitchen for hands-on instruction.

Karen, Wayne(Connie's better half), and I, are all inveterate coffee drinkers but within a week, Connie had ordered ALL the proper tea and equipment over the net from England and went about driving us all nuts with the damn tea............oy...............

Finally it went the way of her other interests as we knew it would.   But.......Like all the rest, every once in awhile it resurfaces and we're all up to our assholes in tea.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 10:38 PM

Tea can be kept (dry tea, that is) for ages... coffee is fine, but tea, properly made, is gentle, tasty and soothing.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 10:29 PM

Buy a hamster. Use the tea for hamster bedding. Go back to drinking coffee.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 10:26 PM

Any one of those little gadgets SRS linked to will do the job....
Any 'department store' should have an assortment. I have metal ones, plastic ones, and mesh ones....I use the plastic one more often, as they have a finer mesh to allow ONLY flavor thru)

I was a tea drinker for 50 years, and almost NEVER used tea bags. I put about a level teaspoon of loose tea per cup into a tea ball, (or whatever) and pour water that has JUST come to a boil over it, then stir it about a bit, and wait 'about' 3½ minutes. Tastes differ. (different teas may need more or less steeping, according to YOUR taste).

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 10:14 PM

Unless you're planning to use it as roofing tar when it cools, you need to be very careful with that teaspoon. It isn't heaping, it is level or slightly less than level. A measuring teaspoon without heaping is the same amount (I just tested it) and some types of loose tea come with a little 1 tsp scoop, like the one that comes with coffee, only proportional for tea.

Rule of thumb, if you're making a full pot, is one scoop for each cup of tea "plus one for the pot."

You can put that amount in your cup (I don't use a little cup, I use one that holds about 12 oz of liquid) and pour your hot water in. But the time it has steeped a little all of the tea will sink to the bottom. Just don't stir it around as you drink it and you'll be fine. I often times make one cup with a tea strainer that sits across the top and you pour the water over the tea and let it steep on the top of the cup, or one that is like a submersible ball.

I have a tea cosy I put over the pot to keep it warm for an hour or two and I drink tea in the morning from that pot. You can use a couple of dish towels over your pot if you don't have a tea cosy.


SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 09:54 PM

Put it in a funnel, put the end of the funnel in the cup. Might take a while.

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: olddude
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 09:43 PM

Ahhh 1 teaspoon per cup.

I have been dumping ... that is why mine would melt a spoon
I don't have one of those strainer things but I bet I can use a coffee filter

Subject: RE: BS: Tea Question
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 09:33 PM

Well, do you have a proper teapot? One of those ceramic ones? If not,
boil up a bunch of water on the stove (use a pan). When it's really boiling turn the heat off and put in one teaspoon (neat, huh?) of tea for each cup of water you have. Let the tea settle a few minutes and then pour it into the cup through one of those strainers that looks like a screen door bubble. Add your honey then.

Let it cool a tad before drinking, 'cause it's gonna be HOT!

Subject: BS: Tea Question
From: olddude
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 09:19 PM

Ok, I am not a tea drinker but a coffee drinker. But a neighbor gave me a can of irish breakfast tea - smells great ... Problem ... it doesn't come in the nice little bags that I am use to ... so I put it in my coffee filter and my Mr. Coffee machine and ran it though .. tried it that way ... nope ... tastes like Tea with coffee .. Dumped it in a cup, poured boling water on it ... now I have a cup of tea grounds that is as strong as a bull - can't drink it. How much do I use, How do I make it without my little bags.

what is the "proper way" ... I like tea, I put honey in it .. but as a good ole country boy ... don't know the best way to "brew" it when it is a can full of the stuff

Help