The right way to brew tea?

[Mystic Muse]

I want to start drinking tea regularly since I imagine it'd be much healthier for me than soda and costs less. However, every time I try to make it, I mess it up somehow and it tastes terrible. The tea that I like drinking is Nestea raspberry iced tea and I don't know of any way to replicate that taste. The teas I have on hand are "orange Pekoe" "black cut Pekoe" "Classic lemon" "Raspbery zinger" "Green tea" (With a couple of variations. Normal, kiwi pear, and with antioxidants added)

The brands are "salada" "Bigelow" "Benner" and "Hedley's" in case that affects anything.

when I make tea I heat the water up in the microwave for about a minute and then dip the tea bag in until the water looks tea colored.

Anything else I should mention?

[Lady Moreta]

Does the packaging have any instructions on them? They will most likely have some sort of instruction on them, try following what they say and see if it makes a difference.

Only other thing I can think of is don't heat your water in the a microwave. Tea is best made with boiling water, use a kettle and heat it the old fashioned way :smallsmile:

Other than that, I can't really help. I've tried raspberry tea and hated it, I only drink black tea (of varying sorts). I can make an awesome cup of black tea though :smallsmile:

[Mystic Muse]

Directions? Blasphemy! men don't use directions!

Joking aside, the peach tea looks like it's easiest to make (missed that one) I'll try it out and tell you how it goes.

[Deth Muncher]

I'm not saying you're doing it wrong, but I do my tea differently:

0. Get a Teapot.
1. Put four teabags in said Teapot.
2. Pour almost-boiling water into said Teapot.
3. Let steep for five minutes.
4. Add sugar/milk to taste.

[Cespenar]

Only other thing I can think of is don't heat your water in the a microwave. Tea is best made with boiling water, use a kettle and heat it the old fashioned way :smallsmile:

This. Also, tea bags are a crime.

Also, this might sound a bit strange, but I find tea tasting better in glass than in ceramic mugs. The material has probably something to do with it.

[Mystic Muse]

This. Also, tea bags are a crime.


What do you use?

Yeah, I think I need an actual kettle. The Microwave didn't work.

[nihilism]

oh my god you commit this blasphemy on a regular basis?

first of all for black tea you should use boiling hot water heat it in a kettle and pour into a tea pot with the tea and leave it for 5 minutes. pour into a cup and consume. loose tea is better than bags.

green tea is very different if the water is to hot the tea gets bitter. the water should be about 15-20 percent below boiling and it should only sit for about 2 minutes.

may the tea gods have mercy on your soul

[WarBrute]

when I make tea I heat the water up in the microwave for about a minute and then dip the tea bag in until the water looks tea colored.


My god....

Well, the first thing to do is not use a microwave. Boil your water in a kettle or a pot if a kettle is available. Then put a tea bag (or leaves) into a mug and pour the boiling water into the mug. Let it steep for around 3-5 minutes (I always do 5 but some teas suggest shorter) Then remove the tea bag. Then optional add sugar, milk, or lemon as desired.

Ninja by every one above me :smallannoyed:

[Froogleyboy]

What do you use?


Loose leaves. Always.

[Mystic Muse]

I should mention that my family doesn't actually have a tea kettle. That's why I used the microwave.

EDIT: Are loose tea leaves relatively easy to find in stores? I don't regularly look.

[Cespenar]

Dry leaves, kettle, boiling water, 4-5 minutes.

I mean, tea bags are okay if you can follow the rest of the "procedure".

[Serpentine]

...
Who doesn't own a kettle in this day and age? :smallconfused: I presume you have a stove, in which case you should just boil water in a saucepan.
I don't drink tea, but my mother is incredibly fussy about it, and I seem to do alright by her. Here's how she likes it:

Boil water in a kettle.
Put teabag in a mug. Must be the plainest possible tea. If the ingredients say anything other than "tea leaves", it's almost certainly too "fancy".
When the water is boiled, pour into mug, leaving a centimetre or so of space.
Leave teabag in until you can no longer see the bottom of the mug.
Remove teabag (I usually leave it in, though, in case she wants it stronger).
Add a small amount of milk. It should be... about the colour of a white coffee, I guess. Not pure white, more like pale brown.
Consume.

If you use loose tea, I recommend acquiring a teapot. You put the desired amount of tea in, add boiling water, and leave for a few minutes. Pour into a cup through a strainer, add whatever, drink.

[IonDragon]

4. Add sugar/milk to taste.Milk and sugar do not go with green tea. Try honey. The milk thing may just be personal taste.


Loose leaves. Always. Ewww... but yes, but ewwww....
Loose leaves, if brewed loose leave you with tea bits in your teeth unless you leave like 1/4 of the tea behind. Get a metal ball thingy. It's like $3 and they sell them everywhere. I got mine at Safeway.

I don't know where you live, but I like to buy the expensive teas. I went to a tea shop in Little Tokyo (San Francisco, Ca) and paid $40 for a tin of loose green tea. This one is to be brewed with water only about 200 degrees and only for 3 minutes (IIRC).
And finally,

"orange Pekoe" "black cut Pekoe"
There's a large part of your problem. That is terribly cheap, and is probably ruining the experience for you. If you're going to buy bagged teas, I especially like Mighty Leaf! (http://www.mightyleaf.com/) (it's funny because it sounds like you're saying "My tea leaf" :smallcool:). The coffee shop near my work sells their green tea.

[Flickerdart]

Boil water. Place several spoonfuls of tea leaves into a teapot. Fill teapot with said water. Wait until it has brewed. Acquire cup. Pour tea into cup until desired amount is reached. Fill the rest of the cup with boiled water. If anyone tells you to add milk, ask them why they hate freedom.

[Knaight]

I would usually go with individual cups over a pot, or just do things in bulk, but most of the advice above is sound. That said, some tips.
1) Use honey as a sweetener. Not brown sugar, not white sugar, and certainly not molasses. 2 tablespoons per pint makes sweet tea, 1 tablespoon per pint is more reasonable for sweetened tea.

2) In general you want about 1 tablespoon of leaves per pint of water. If I remembered your location incorrectly and you are in somewhere using the metric system, look it up.

3) Tea needs to be given time to steep, always. Put in the bag/tea ball/loose leaf (ideally not a bag) and leave it there for about 5 minutes. If you are drinking black tea boil the water until there is quite a bit of steam. Small amounts of steam indicate that most of the water isn't actually boiled yet.

4) Celestial Seasoning's is actually pretty good for bagged tea, which is at least convenient. Of the brands you listed, Bigelow is probably the best, though it still isn't very good. If you can't find Celestial Seasoning's, look for Carrington, or some smaller company that probably won't be in the local supermarket.

[factotum]

While I'm of the opinion that tea tastes terrible no matter how you make it, I'd agree with the people saying not to heat water in the microwave--but I'm saying that for safety reasons. It's possible for the water to become superheated when you microwave it, so as soon as you agitate it (e.g. by taking the cup out or dunking a tea bag in) you can get a faceful of boiling water.

[Adumbration]

To reiterate:

1) Boil water on the stove.

2) Pour into a mug.

3) Add tea.

4) Remove tea.

5) ???

6) Profit!

Mind you, my own personal favorite is mint tea made out of fresh mint leaves. There's really nothing that can beat that. Try it sometime.

[Jacklu]

What everyone above me said. =P Tea pots are not very expensive. I would suggest shopping around for one. As for the tea... well... I get mine from a small family owned shop in town that sells all kinds of nifty stuff. One of their speciallties is hand made tea that they prepare themselves and sell as loose leaf and bagged. It is super good and worth the extra muns I pay for it. My favorite is a green tea with dried flower petal mixed in. =3 Happy brewing!

[skywalker]

Well, for those of us who love tea, but for varying reasons can't do the whole kettle/stove deal (dorms, convenience, etc, etc), there are other options that won't get you smitten by "the tea gods."

It is imperative to make sure your water is quite hot. Not necessarily boiling, some teas like it, others don't (as some have mentioned in reference to green tea). I typically do about 3/4 to 5/6 of a mug-full of water, and then microwave until it just starts to bubble. Call it a minute and a half, for my microwave. Yours will be different. Then I carefully remove my cup of steaming water, drop my tea-bag in, and gently direct it towards the bottom of the mug with a spoon or other such implement. Then I cover it with a saucer and let it sit 5 to 10 minutes. The longer it steeps, the stronger it is. Then I add sugar to taste.

No, maybe I'm not making the "perfect cup of tea," but I am getting it done with a minimum of fuss, conveniently in any setting with a microwave, and with the ability to multi-task for all but about 30 seconds of the entire process.

[Jacklu]

While I'm of the opinion that tea tastes terrible no matter how you make it, I'd agree with the people saying not to heat water in the microwave--but I'm saying that for safety reasons. It's possible for the water to become superheated when you microwave it, so as soon as you agitate it (e.g. by taking the cup out or dunking a tea bag in) you can get a faceful of boiling water.

Could edit, but I am tired and technically went to bed an hour ago and am only up getting a glass of water so sue me already... where was I? Right. This can happen, but it requires nearly pure water to do so. Like... distilled. IIRC, of course.



On a different note, I totally thought the title of this thread was "The right to brew tea" until just now. ._.

[The_Weirdo]

This may help you make doubleplusgood tea:


A Nice Cup of Tea
By George Orwell
Evening Standard, 12 January 1946.


If you look up 'tea' in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.

This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

* First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays — it is economical, and one can drink it without milk — but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase 'a nice cup of tea' invariably means Indian tea.

* Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities — that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.

* Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.

* Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes — a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.

* Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.

* Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.

* Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.

* Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup — that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one's tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.

* Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.

* Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.

* Lastly, tea — unless one is drinking it in the Russian style — should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tealover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.

Some people would answer that they don't like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.

These are not the only controversial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one's ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.

(taken from The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Volume 3, 1943-45, Penguin ISBN, 0-14-00-3153-7)

[Drolyt]

Okay, to make proper black tea you need to boil water in a kettle. Black tea won't taste good if it isn't brewed piping hot. Poor some boiling water into the container you are using for brewing so the container is nice and hot, dump that water and add the desired amount of boiling water, this makes sure the water doesn't lose it's temperature. Add the desired amount of tea immediately. Loose leaf is always best, get some from an Asian market. If you want to use bags get some good British tea, Twinings or PG Tips is good. 4-5 minutes is good, but you have to experiment to find the best results using the brand you use. If you find the tea too bitter try adding milk and sugar. It's best to poor the milk into a glass then slowly add the tea, otherwise the milk will scald. If you use green tea you need more like 80 degrees Celsius water and you need to tightly control the brewing time, more like 3 minutes. Green tea is extremely bitter if overbrewed. Most don't like milk and sugar in green tea, but honey is delicious. Jasmine is also used in the east, but westerners don't seem to have a taste for it. Both types of tea are available as Masala Chai, an Indian tea that includes various spices. I love black chai with milk and unrefined cane sugar. There are other flavors available, but I would start with basic teas. There are also a variety of herbal teas, most of which are brewed similar to black tea; most herbal teas contain no actual tea leaves. Chamomile is popular and quite soothing.

[Cespenar]

I've never seen so much ninja-ing in the same thread.

[Quincunx]

From someone else who's only learned this stuff recently:

Some American tea bags are formulated for iced tea. Do NOT use these for hot tea. Salada is bitter to begin with so use that one for iced tea not hot. (Speaking of, if you want to switch from soda to tea, it might not be a bad idea to develop a taste for iced tea instead. Easier to swill that for thirst quenching a la soda. Yes, much of the time you're going to be dumping soda-esque quantities of sugar in there, but at least you KNOW how much sugar you're drinking.)

The microwave is just fine but the water needs to be in there longer. Can't skimp on the boiling or it tastes godawful. Use a regular-size mug to start with, that's what one teabag is sized to work with. Keep a saucer nearby to drop the teabag on afterwards. Don't squeeze out the teabag into the mug (ugh blech bitterness). Try leaving the teabag for just a minute, fish it out and plop it on the saucer, taste, curse burnt tongue, put teabag back for another half a minute, taste, curse burnt tongue. . .basically work out your own brewing time which is going to be horrifyingly short by some people's standards.

[Rawhide]

Be very careful when boiling water in a microwave. (http://www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/RadiationEmittingProductsandProcedures/HomeBusinessandEntertainment/ucm142506.htm) It is possible to superheat the water, where it is heated to above boiling point but has not yet boiled, then when you remove or stir it, the water can boil rapidly and burn your hands, face, arms, etc.


The only tea you should be making is billy tea (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hml7RVFULCA).

[Raistlin1040]

I'm going to agree with everyone else here. Anything is better than a Microwave.

Rawhide, your title only says "Candlejack in the", aren't you missing

[Deth Muncher]

Rawhide, your title only says "Candlejack in the", aren't you missing


Bahaha, that's amazing.



Milk and sugar do not go with green tea. Try honey. The milk thing may just be personal taste.


A fair and valid point.

[Cespenar]

A weird, trivial question:

Does anyone else feel somewhat dry in the mouth after drinking a cup of green tea without any sweetener?

[Lioness]

Rawhide, your title only says "Candlejack in the", aren't you missing

And it reads as "Candlejack in the Administrator" :smallamused:

Also...I don't like tea; I find it flavourless. Can anyone suggest a remedy for this? I tried some raspberry tea once, and that was palatable. But yeah, no taste.

[Deth Muncher]

And it reads as "Candlejack in the Administrator" :smallamused:

Also...I don't like tea; I find it flavourless. Can anyone suggest a remedy for this? I tried some raspberry tea once, and that was palatable. But yeah, no taste.

I have this awesome passionfruit tea that is perfect. It's from some local place up in the mountains off of Highway 81. Or is it 18? Dyslexia win the for!

[Lioness]

I have this awesome passionfruit tea that is perfect. It's from some local place up in the mountains off of Highway 81. Or is it 18? Dyslexia win the for!

Except that I'm from Australia :smalltongue:

[lesser_minion]

Unfortunately, it varies between different sorts of tea, but for white, green, and black tea, the basics are:

Black Tea:
You should use water that is still boiling, if at all possible.
You can use milk. You should leave the tea to brew for longer if you do, however (1-3 minutes without milk, 4-6 minutes with milk).

To add milk to tea brewed directly in the mug, wait for it to brew, then remove the teabag and add milk. If the milk is in the mug at the same time as the teabag, then it will screw things up.
For tea brewed in a teapot, add some milk to the mug first, then pour tea over the top.
You can measure the amount of milk to add. Try different amounts and see which you like best.
Note that black tea is usually not labelled as such -- in the UK, it's usually just sold and referred to as 'tea' or 'normal tea'.


Green Tea:
Use water that is still boiling, if at all possible.*
Do not add milk.
Brew for 2 - 4 minutes. Bear in mind that green tea does become absolutely horrible if you brew it for too long.


White Tea:
Do not use boiling water -- leave it to cool for a little first.
Do not add milk.
Brew for about one minute.
This is by far the hardest to get right -- don't worry if you never manage it. It's also the mother of all acquired tastes.


Otherwise, you can try following any directions on the packet.

* Boiling water is better for brewing tea than recently boiled water. The previous poster was thinking of white tea, which is too delicate to be brewed normally.

[Cespenar]

Also...I don't like tea; I find it flavourless. Can anyone suggest a remedy for this? I tried some raspberry tea once, and that was palatable. But yeah, no taste.

Try Earl Grey blend, of any brand. It's widely known, yet still awesome.

[Rawhide]

Raistlin1040 & Deth Muncher: I will say no more. I don't want the same thing to happen to this thread as what happened last time...


Also...I don't like tea; I find it flavourless. Can anyone suggest a remedy for this? I tried some raspberry tea once, and that was palatable. But yeah, no taste.

Have you tried chai?

[Serpentine]

I don't like tea, but I love chai. In latte form.

[KuReshtin]

The few times I make myself a mug (http://usa.izzardmerchandise.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/MUG_CAKE.png) of tea, I use the following procedure :

1. Boil water in kettle (http://www.sz-wholesale.com/uploadFiles/Jug_Kettle_964.jpg). (So far so good)
2. Put two sugar cubes (http://www.margaretcarruthers.co.uk/images/sugarcubes.JPG) in mug.
3. Pour milk (http://www.slimmingpillsreviewed.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/milk.jpg) to almost the level of covering the sugar cubes. (Wait, what? Milk in before the water?)
4. Put tea bag into mug, resting on the sugar cubes, so not sitting in the milk.
5. Pour boiled water (http://whatscookingamerica.net/Foto4/BoilingWater.bmp) over the tea bag until you reach the desired level of tea in the mug.
6. Let the tea bag sit for a couple minutes. Stir occasionally.
7. Remove tea bag.
8. Enjoy tea. (http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/83540254.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF8789215ABF3343C02EA548119F1B6ECF4E040D 8D97BC55CB37925B954F0E1DF6A448FDE30A760B0D811297)

I use Scottish Blend, which I find pretty good. it's packaged in those pyramid bags (http://justpgtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/pg-tips-tea-bag1-287x300.jpg) instead of the traditional tea bags (http://www.sunidee.com/uploads/tx_imageentries/Innovation_teabag.jpg), so (at least according to the ads) the tea have more room to float about and give off more taste, or something.

[Fifty-Eyed Fred]

Being a stereotypical Englishman, I drink lots of tea, so I assumed everybody knew how to do it. :smallconfused:

Adding milk before water improves the flavour of the tea but makes it colder (though really not very much so) and is apparently the 'orthodox' manner in which to do it.

I never drink tea with sugar though, for I much prefer the taste of tea on its own.

[Fri]

And it reads as "Candlejack in the Administrator" :smallamused:

Also...I don't like tea; I find it flavourless. Can anyone suggest a remedy for this? I tried some raspberry tea once, and that was palatable. But yeah, no taste.

Most likely it's because the water is not hot enough. Really, actually the only important matter is the water must be hot enough.

What do you mean by no taste though? Like plain water? No 'aroma'? Bitter?

[lesser_minion]

Adding milk before water improves the flavour of the tea but makes it colder (though really not very much so) and is apparently the 'orthodox' manner in which to do it.

Yes, it does, but it only works when the tea is brewed separately (in a teapot). If you're brewing it directly in a mug, then it's not especially helpful.

[Lioness]

Try Earl Grey blend, of any brand. It's widely known, yet still awesome.

Ooh, I think we have some of that. I shall try



Have you tried chai?

I haven't, but I've heard BF mention it as being amazing. I'll interrogate him.


Most likely it's because the water is not hot enough. Really, actually the only important matter is the water must be hot enough.

What do you mean by no taste though? Like plain water? No 'aroma'? Bitter?

It's flavourless because the water isn't hot enough? :smallconfused:

By "no taste" I mean a combination of bitter, gross, and not at all sweet. Not like water, but not absolutely fantastic, like people tell me tea is meant to be.

[Fifty-Eyed Fred]

Yes, it does, but it only works when the tea is brewed separately (in a teapot). If you're brewing it directly in a mug, then it's not especially helpful.

True. I prefer making a pot anyway, in case I require a refill.

[Cespenar]

@Lioness: By the way, if any tea tastes too bitter to you, feel free to add a couple cubes of sugar, no one is going to sacrifice you to the tea gods for that. I, for example, am not used to sugar-free tea, and I can get the 'tea flavor' strongest when I drink it with a single sugar cube. It's all about your taste buds getting used to stuff.

[jmbrown]

I drink tea the chinese way. All tea is looseleaf and you use porcelain china to avoid the buildup of tannins. You boil your water and while it's still hot you wash out the cups to get them heated. You add the tea leaves and when your water has cooled down (about two minutes after boiling) you "wash" the leaves out and quickly drain it. You add the water again and let it brew for about 30 seconds, strain, and serve in 1oz. "tasting cups." It's customary to admire the color and fragrance of the tea before drinking. Each infusion adds 15-30 seconds to your brewing time and you admire how the color becomes darker and the taste stronger.

My favorite teas are yellow tea buds (super expensive but the flavor is exquisite), Nepalese Maloom (a green tea), and blue people (whole oolong leaves infused with ginseng that tastes super awesome).

[Starscream]

My rule of thumb: if you can't make the spoon stand upright in the glass, add more sugar.

Yeeeaaahhh...soda would probably be healthier than my tea.

[Capt Spanner]

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams has this to say on making a good cup of tea:


One or two Americans have asked me why it is that the English like tea so much, which never seems to them to be a very good drink. To understand, you have to know how to make it properly.

There is a very simple principle to the making of tea and it's this - to get the proper flavour of tea, the water has to be boiling (not boiled) when it hits the tea leaves. If it's merely hot then the tea will be insipid. That's why we English have these odd rituals, such as warming the teapot first (so as not to cause the boiling water to cool down too fast as it hits the pot). And that's why the American habit of bringing a teacup, a tea bag and a pot of hot water to the table is merely the perfect way of making a thin, pale, watery cup of tea that nobody in their right mind would want to drink. The Americans are all mystified about why the English make such a big thing out of tea because most Americans have never had a good cup of tea. That's why they don't understand. In fact the truth of the matter is that most English people don't know how to make tea any more either, and most people drink cheap instant coffee instead, which is a pity, and gives Americans the impression that the English are just generally clueless about hot stimulants.

So the best advice I can give to an American arriving in England is this. Go to Marks and Spencer and buy a packet of Earl Grey tea. Go back to where you're staying and boil a kettle of water. While it is coming to the boil, open the sealed packet and sniff. Careful - you may feel a bit dizzy, but this is in fact perfectly legal. When the kettle has boiled, pour a little of it into a tea pot, swirl it around and tip it out again. Put a couple (or three, depending on the size of the pot) of tea bags into the pot (If I was really trying to lead you into the paths of righteousness I would tell you to use free leaves rather than bags, but let's just take this in easy stages). Bring the kettle back up to the boil, and then pour the boiling water as quickly as you can into the pot. Let it stand for two or three minutes, and then pour it into a cup. Some people will tell you that you shouldn't have milk with Earl Grey, just a slice of lemon. Screw them. I like it with milk. If you think you will like it with milk then it's probably best to put some milk into the bottom of the cup before you pour in the tea1. If you pour milk into a cup of hot tea you will scald the milk. If you think you will prefer it with a slice of lemon then, well, add a slice of lemon.

Drink it. After a few moments you will begin to think that the place you've come to isn't maybe quite so strange and crazy after all.

1 This is socially incorrect. The socially correct way of pouring tea is to put the milk in after the tea. Social correctness has traditionally had nothing whatever to do with reason, logic or physics. In fact, in England it is generally considered socially incorrect to know stuff or think about things. It's worth bearing this in mind when visiting.

[Drascin]

@Lioness: By the way, if any tea tastes too bitter to you, feel free to add a couple cubes of sugar, no one is going to sacrifice you to the tea gods for that. I, for example, am not used to sugar-free tea, and I can get the 'tea flavor' strongest when I drink it with a single sugar cube. It's all about your taste buds getting used to stuff.

Same. I'm a newbie to this brewing tea business (I still boil my water in a microwave, egads! :smallamused:), but I can say that I always add sugar - usually a teaspoonful.

Still, this thread is rather instructive, even if I probably won't be able to follow the most elaborate parts. Mostly because since for people in this country the idea of an infusion that's not coffee usually gets you looked at like you're a Martian, finding decent sources for tea is pretty hard. Even finding a couple boxes of bog-standard, nothing-fancy Red/Green teabags required some searching.

[Blayze]

I've never understood how adding milk to boiling water somehow ruins the milk, but adding boiling water to milk somehow doesn't ruin the milk. So far, the list of potential answers I've managed to come up with is this:

1) It does nothing, nobody knows what they're talking about, they just parrot the things other people told them before.

2) It's like trying to douse a fire by sprinkling a bucket of water over it rather than chucking it all on at once -- the sprinkled water is easily dealt with piecemeal by the fire.

Answers on a postcard, please. ;)

Also, milk is one of those words that seems weirder the more you look at it. Try it today!

[ForzaFiori]

Personally, I am STILL trying to figure out the rest of the worlds fascination with hot teas, be they black, white or green. Living in the South East USA, I recognize only one type of tea. Sweet, Iced Tea.

To make it:
1) Acquire tea. It can be in a bag, it really doesn't matter. Personally, I use Lipton cold brew tea, because you don't have to heat the water, which means the power bill is smaller.

2a) Unless your using a cold brew tea, boil some water on the stove. A small to medium saucepan filled...3/4 of the way up should be fine. When it boils, put in tea bags. More bags means stronger tea. Less water means stronger tea.
nab) If making cold brew, put tea into cold water and let sit. I tend to do about 4 tea bags in about 1/2 a gallon of water.

3) Put freshly brewed tea into a pitcher/jug/mason jar/whatever. Typically add more water. I add another 1/2 gallon, so I have a full gallon of tea.

4) Add sugar. 1 cup/gallon gets you fairly sweet tea. 2 cups/gallon gets you McDonald's sweet tea.

5)refrigerate. Drink when cold.


All in all, much easier than all this other nonsense.

[Fifty-Eyed Fred]

I've never understood how adding milk to boiling water somehow ruins the milk, but adding boiling water to milk somehow doesn't ruin the milk. So far, the list of potential answers I've managed to come up with is this:

1) It does nothing, nobody knows what they're talking about, they just parrot the things other people told them before.

2) It's like trying to douse a fire by sprinkling a bucket of water over it rather than chucking it all on at once -- the sprinkled water is easily dealt with piecemeal by the fire.

Answers on a postcard, please. ;)

Also, milk is one of those words that seems weirder the more you look at it. Try it today!

I can give you an answer on a post.

If one pours the milk after the water, many of the proteins in the milk become denatured (for all intents and purposes 'cooked'), whereas if one pours the water in after the milk less of those proteins are denatured and the milky component of the tea's flavour is improved.

[KuReshtin]

I can give you an answer on a post.

If one pours the milk after the water, many of the proteins in the milk become denatured (for all intents and purposes 'cooked'), whereas if one pours the water in after the milk less of those proteins are denatured and the milky component of the tea's flavour is improved.

Same kind of idea about the frog in the boiling water, then?

As the story goes (i'm not sure if it's proven or just an urban myth, and I'm too lazy to check snopes) if you have a frog in a pan and add hot water to the pan, the frog will jump away from the pan.
However, if you add cold water and gradually heat it up, the frog will sit there and happily get cooked alive.


Edit: Damn. You can't boil a frog by gradually heating the water. (http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/frogboil.asp)

[Sholos]

If you don't want hot tea and you like mint, then a neat thing to do is grab a bunch of fresh mint (still on the stalk) and stick it in a pitcher of water in the fridge for a few days. Bingo! Fresh, cold mint tea.

Note: The tea will look like regular water.

[Lioness]

Dearest Playground: You have secured a convert.

I decided to try tea again, this time with expert brewing instructions.

I placed a Lipton black tea bag in my mug, and boiled water. I stopped the kettle before it had finished boiling and poured it, still boiling, into the cup. I let it steep for about 5 minutes. Then I added milk, and a carpload of sugar (2 teaspoons...). It was quite delicious, though perhaps a little too much milk and sugar.

Congrats :smalltongue:

[snoopy13a]

Personally, I am STILL trying to figure out the rest of the worlds fascination with hot teas, be they black, white or green. Living in the South East USA, I recognize only one type of tea. Sweet, Iced Tea.



I don't know. I find sweet tea to be dull tasting, almost like flat soda. I like unsweetened iced tea as I appreciate the briskness.

I know the proper way to make hot tea is in a tea pot brewed with tea leaves but I go with the tea bag in mug method.

Also, a lesson I picked up long ago:
Lemon in tea is ok
Milk in tea is ok
Lemon and milk in tea is not ok :smalltongue:

[Reinboom]

It is my firm belief that the right way to brew tea is to do so conservatively.

However, I prefer to brew my tea by whichever way is left.
Any one of you is welcome to try my tea.

:edit:
And don't worry, I prefer my tea unSweetened. Not even a hair in it.

[Drolyt]

I could never stand sweet tea. Way too much sugar. I like sugary sodas, but only if they are nice and fizzy, which sweet tea is not. I do like just plain iced tea though.

On another note, I found something called almond tea at my local Asian grocer. So far as I can tell it has no actual tea, but it tastes good.

[snoopy13a]

It is my firm belief that the right way to brew tea is to do so conservatively.

However, I prefer to brew my tea by whichever way is left.
Any one of you is welcome to try my tea.

:edit:
And don't worry, I prefer my tea unSweetened. Not even a hair in it.

Ack! Pun alert! :smallbiggrin:

[Serpentine]

Hm. Maybe I should give it a proper shot...

[Winter_Wolf]

I drink an awesome Earl Grey by Harney & Sons. Loose leaf, so you need either a strainer or a, er, tea thing. Yeah, that's helpful isn't it? Kind of like a scoop with a lid and lots of holes for the water to move through. IR fail at English today. :smallfrown:

The way I brew my tea is just put it in the tea thing and steep it in a cup of boiling water for 5+ minutes if I want a strong flavor. Sometimes add a little milk, sometimes add honey. When I do chai I go all out:

2-3 whole cloves, crushed
2-3 cardamom pods, crushed to get to the flavorful seeds
fresh ginger (don't get pulped, the preservative screws up the flavor BADLY) to taste. I do 2-5 thin slices.
A bit of ground black pepper. Fresh or fine grind works.
Cinnamon! Either a small piece of the bark or powdered, but powdered cinnamon tends to get through most strainers with ease, and you get a residue of cinnamon dregs in your cup.
1-2 Tablespoons of black tea
And the decadence? No water, all milk. Maybe 2-3 cups?

Heat to a boil then turn down heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes and make sure you keep an eye on it, 'cause milk boils over really fast. Turn off the heat and add honey to taste. You could substitute part or all of the milk with water, but I like the milk.

Also good teas: Wulong/Oolong, Long Jing (green), Pu'er Cha (an acquired taste for some, and possibly not readily available). Be aware of what you're getting, try to sniff it if at all possible, and buy in small quantities, "just in case." I've had some really, really BAD tea.

[Lioness]

Hm. Maybe I should give it a proper shot...

This was my frame of mind. BF 1 got me to try it, and I hated it. Then I tried it by myself, a little later, and hated it. BF 2 has got me to try it a couple of times, and it was gross. But I decided to give it a shot...I shall pleasantly surprise BF 2 and Ex-BF 1 tomorrow.

[Kneenibble]

A weird, trivial question:

Does anyone else feel somewhat dry in the mouth after drinking a cup of green tea without any sweetener?

Yes: if it's poor quality, or brewed too strong; I believe the effect comes from an excess of tannins. - although I wouldn't sweeten a green tea to know the difference.

When I am reading or studying, I use a somewhat bastardized variation of the high Chinese style that Mr. jmbrown mentioned: green tea leaves right in the cup, adding more hot water once I've drunk it off about halfway: in this way, a million refills later and there is still delicious, delicious flavour.

Does anyone have one of those fancy temperature-specific kettles?

[Eldritch Knight]

As far as I'm concerned, it's not ready to drink until you can bounce a coin off of it. :smalltongue:

Actually, I've developed a taste for using pure maple syrup instead of sugar. I also prefer tea imported directly from Kenya, or Iran, as I've found the location changes the flavour significantly.

[Kneenibble]

Actually, I've developed a taste for using pure maple syrup instead of sugar. I also prefer tea imported directly from Kenya, or Iran, as I've found the location changes the flavour significantly.
It really does, and it's the different processing methods as much as the geography. I'm trying a Kenyan green tea right now called Kapchuro of, whatsit called, Cut Rolled Tips grade?, it's quite distinct.

[The Valiant Turtle]

I'm a tea-aholic, but primarly iced tea (unsweet). Right now I have some of what my supplier calls Triple Threat Temptation: white chocolate, coconut, and caramel in a black tea blend, with a hint of vanilla. It would probably make a better hot tea, but I'm enjoying it quite well iced.

For iced black teas of all kinds I find the cheap commercial tea-makers do an adequate job. For most of them they use standard coffee filters and you just add the tea leaves. You can actually make iced tea acceptably well in most coffee makers. It would take time to get the amount of leaves right, but the temperature and "brewing time" are generally acceptable. I do want to get a real kettle and strainer at some point, but haven't gotten around to it.

At work I occasionally make hot tea and have a metal tea-ball for this and a few varieties of tea available, although I mostly make Masala Chai. I just get water from the hot water spigot on the coffee maker, which seems to be at a good temp for tea making.

If you're looking for a good flavored tea my personal favorite is Cranberry Pomegranate. For the most unique tea experience out there you must find some Lapsang Souchong. It's tea cured in pine smoke and is incredibly smoky tasting. I actually don't like it that much, but it's an incredibly unique tea that I think any tea-lover should try once. I'm planning on grinding it up and using it in chili or perhaps as a rub for meat.

There are a lot of good online sources for tea, I'll put mine in spoiler below because I don't really want to advertise, but I've been trying their teas out for about 2 years now. I've probably tried 2/3rds of all their flavored and unflavored blacks and several of their others as well.

http://www.theteatable.com/

Fun fact to impress your friends: Orange Pekoe is the lowest grade on the tea grading scale for whole leaf tea. Here's the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_pekoe

[TheThan]

Thethan’s Sun Tea

Ingredients:
10 cold tea bags of your choice. (do not use hot tea)
Water (purified is usually best, though if you have good water then tap is fine).

Equipment:
1 gallon glass jar with lid (pickle jars work great, just wash them out before use)
The sun


Directions:
Open up tea packets for use. Tie the little strings together if desired. Fill glass jar with water and place tea bags in jar afterward, soaking the bags. Cap the jar with its lid and leave the little strings hanging out the side so you can grab them later.
Place glass jar outside in direct sunlight. Leave there for 2-4 hours (depending on temperature of day and intensity of sun). Afterward bring tea inside (jar will more than likely be hot) and dispose of the tea bags. Pour some tea into a tall glass with some ice (about half way full is the amount I like, some people fill it to the brim with ice). Add lemon and/or sugar to taste. some people use artificial sweetener, I do not recommend it. Store remaining tea in refrigerator.



Cooks note:
These directions work best in warm to hot climates. The American south (during summer) and south-west (pretty much year round) are good examples of where this works best.

[Deth Muncher]

Except that I'm from Australia :smalltongue:

Feh. Australians. Why don't you go wrangle one of your many carnivorous plants and make tea from its leaves and force it to drink it? That's the TRULY vicious way to make tea.
/blatantstereotypingandrambling

[Ravens_cry]

Heat water to boiling in kettle.
Pour small amount of water in teapot to warm it.
Swirl water around, then pour from pot.
Add tea in the form of a tea ball filled with the desired amount of loose leaves or some tea bags. I like one per two cups.
Add still bubbling water.
Place tea cozy of choice on teapot.
Wait to desired strength and water temperature. 6-7 minutes is a personal preference.
Add milk to bottom of cup or mug. No, bone china is not required.
Add tea to cup or mug.
Add sugar if desired. Not needed in my opinion.
Share and Enjoy!

My personal favourite brand of tea at the moment is Tetley Bold. Rich and full bodied, it's got enough tannins to suck your saliva glands dry, even though the name sounds like a steak sauce.

[Asta Kask]

1. Boil water in microwave oven
2. Pour into cold cup
3. Insert teabag
4. Wait
5. Remove teabag
6. Add milk
7. If you dry it carefully you can reuse the teabag 6-8 times

[Ravens_cry]

1. Boil water in microwave oven
2. Pour into cold cup
3. Insert teabag
4. Wait
5. Remove teabag
6. Add milk
7. If you dry it carefully you can reuse the teabag 6-8 times
*winces*
***
Heh, heh, I'm kidding.
Almost.

[Kneenibble]

1. Boil water in microwave oven
2. Pour into cold cup
3. Insert teabag
4. Wait
5. Remove teabag
6. Add milk
7. If you dry it carefully you can reuse the teabag 6-8 times
*shudders horribly*
I'm definitely not kidding. I'm pretty sure he is though.

[Ravens_cry]

*shudders horribly*
I'm definitely not kidding. I'm pretty sure he is though.
:smalleek:
I hope so. I really, really, hope so.

[onthetown]

I would say the "right" way to brew tea is however it tastes good to you...

Green tea with milk or cream in it tastes good. Just enough to make the tea turn from translucent green to a pale beige. Also, honey can sweeten the taste and is still healthy for you (plus is great if you have a sore throat). When I started trying herbal teas, this is how I got hooked on green.

Also, jasmine tea tastes good without anything. It's wonderful.

Chamomile is awesome, too.

A drop or two of honey is good in any of them.

[lesser_minion]

1. Boil water in microwave oven
2. Pour into cold cup
3. Insert teabag
4. Wait
5. Remove teabag
6. Add milk
7. If you dry it carefully you can reuse the teabag 6-8 times

*twitches*
:eek:
*curls up in a ball in the corner*
He... and then he... he... and micro... he microwaved... and... teabag... how many... what the... why did he do that?
*cries*

[Ravens_cry]

*twitches*
:eek:
*curls up in a ball in the corner*
He... and then he... he... and micro... he microwaved... and... teabag... how many... what the... why did he do that?
*cries*
*pats lesser_minions hair*
There, there, have a cup of tea. A GOOD cup of tea.

[Drascin]

*winces*
***
Heh, heh, I'm kidding.
Almost.

Eh, if you remove the final two steps (reusing is too miserly even for me, seriously), that's pretty much how I do it. I'm not really going to buy a kettle just for something I drink every now and then at the most, and getting an actual big pot in the stove for one individual mug of tea strikes me as massive overkill.

As for the cold cup... well, not deliberately cold, just ambient-temperature. Which given the current 38ºC, ain't very much cold :smallannoyed:. Big part of it is likely the fact that if the rest of the family saw me heating a mug because I say it "improves the flavor if you pour it on an already hot mug", chances are they'll start checking me to see if I've got a fever or have gone insane or something :smalltongue:. I might try, now that I've heard of it in this thread, but I sure don't intend to make it the usual.

[Mary Leathert]

My blaphemous way of brewing tea actually includes not bringing the water near the boiling point, because I burn my mouth very easily, and usually don't have patience to wait for fully boiled water to cool down.

I heat the water in something akin to this (I'm lost for the English word at the moment): http://www.capi-online.fi/WebRoot/Capi/Shops/Capi/4541/6153/255C/8DCC/0646/C0A8/071A/211E/216289.jpg . I usually turn the thing of when it first starts making boiling noises.

Whether I pour the water over the tea or put the tea in afterwards depends, but usually it's the latter, as I don't have time to get the tea before the water is too hot for me to drink if I start searching for it after I have started heating the water.

I like to add honey to sweeten, not more than a tea spoon, usually a bit less. I do use sugar if don't have honey available, though. I sometimes use milk, especially if the water is too hot (usually when someone else wants tea too), but only with black tea.

I prefer teas with something else than just tea in them to plain tea, as the taste of the actual tea isn't my favorite. I like "chai", that is, Indian style black tea with spices in it, that should be drank with plenty of milk. The actual spices might vary from tea to tea, but many of then are quite christmasy to the nose.

And my heresy continues even further, what with my favorite "tea" actually not including any tea in it at all. It's mint "tea", though the proper term would probably be "herbal infusion". It's tasty, and I don't have to worry about taking the leaves from the cup, because it doesn't become bitter no matter how long I soak them, which is one of the problems of actual tea.

[Kneenibble]

Mint tea is indeed wonderful, but be careful because it will put the devil in your pants.

[Ravens_cry]

Mint tea is indeed wonderful, but be careful because it will put the devil in your pants.
Call me a pedantic, snooty, bastard, but mint tea, is not tea. Tea is made from the plant Camellia sinensis. Anything else is an infusion. Tea is itself an infusion, but not only infusions made from the Tea plant are tea.
*rant off*

[Manga Shoggoth]

Of course, you could consult the standard:
BS6008 aka ISO3103 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3103).

Not that I have, of course. I use teabags in a mug. A pint mug.

[Drolyt]

Call me a pedantic, snooty, bastard, but mint tea, is not tea. Tea is made from the plant Camellia sinensis. Anything else is an infusion. Tea is itself an infusion, but not only infusions made from the Tea plant are tea.
*rant off*
Tisane is the general term for an infusion of anything except tea (that's actually how it is defined). That said, herbal tea is by far the more common term. I have no problem with the term mint tea.

[Blayze]

I can give you an answer on a post.

If one pours the milk after the water, many of the proteins in the milk become denatured (for all intents and purposes 'cooked'), whereas if one pours the water in after the milk less of those proteins are denatured and the milky component of the tea's flavour is improved.

But... it's still milk and water. It's still one liquid being added to another.

[Drolyt]

But... it's still milk and water. It's still one liquid being added to another.
If milk gets hot too quickly is scalds. Try pouring milk into a hot pan and see what happens. The reason it scalds when you pour milk into the tea rather than the other way around is pretty simple. When you pour milk into hot tea the milk that hits the tea first gets hot really quickly and scalds. By the time you get all the milk in that isn't happening anymore, so only a portion of the milk scalds. If you slowly pour the hot tea into the milk the tea cools quickly enough to not scald the milk.

[Aedilred]

I like ice tea, much as I like Twenty20 cricket, but that doesn't mean, for me, that it's any less a pale imitation of the real deal.

I don't have any particular objection to teabags. Modern teabags from a good tea merchant are really just as good as leaf tea. It's the quality of the leaf rather than whether the leaves are contained in a muslin bag that's important. It's exactly the same principle as a bouquet garni or the like, and there's no snobbery about that. While I prefer to make tea the old-fashioned way with loose leaves, that's because I'm a traditionalist and like the tea ritual. I've never noticed any difference in flavour; also, teabags are just so much more convenient. It's really nothing like the difference between instant and ground coffee (instant is an abomination).

If you do use loose leaf tea, then for God's sake use a tea-strainer. These should be easy to come by and if not you can improvise with muslin or the like. Pour the tea from the teapot into the cup through the strainer and it removes all the leaves; otherwise you end up with a mouthful of mulch. It's not harmful, but it does kind of ruin the experience (for me, at least).

I find that tea is an acquired taste, moreover that it gets more popular the older you are, rather like beer. I suspect this is partly because tastebuds in the young are more sensitive, and the bitter flavour in the tea is too overwhelming. Adding lots of milk helps to reduce the bitter flavour; as you become more accustomed to it, you can reduce the quantity. I'd advise against putting sugar in tea; for me, it ruins the experience (not to mention makes it much less healthy) and it's difficult to wean yourself off once you've started putting sugar in it, but, again, each to their own.

When pouring the tea, pour the tea first, not for any reason of social etiquette, but because it makes it easier to see whether it's properly brewed. If you can see the bottom of the cup, it's not fully brewed yet, and you'll need to give it another couple of minutes in the pot. Personally, I'd leave tea at least ten minutes before pouring, but then I like it strong.

The really fundamental point, though, is that (for black tea, at least) the water should be boiling- not just hot- when it makes contact with the tea. This is fundamental, and it's why you need a kettle, and to warm the teapot.

[Ravens_cry]

Tisane is the general term for an infusion of anything except tea (that's actually how it is defined). That said, herbal tea is by far the more common term. I have no problem with the term mint tea.

Thanks for knowing the word 'tisane'. I knew OF it, I just couldn't for the love of mike remember how it was spelt.

[John Cribati]

I find that dissolving the sugar in the water before adding teal leaves/bags makes it taste sweeter.

Remember, The Secret Ingredient is Love

[Serpentine]

Feh. Australians. Why don't you go wrangle one of your many carnivorous plants and make tea from its leaves and force it to drink it? That's the TRULY vicious way to make tea.
/blatantstereotypingandramblingDid you know that Australia has one of, possibly the, highest numbers of sundew (a carnivorous plant) species in the world? I didn't even know we had any...

It baffles me that anyone would not have an electric kettle :smallconfused: It's like one of the basics of kitchen appliances - stove, oven, microwave, toaster, kettle. Hell, I think in my house we have 3 or 4 (although for a while we also had 3 TVs, 2 toasters, and 2 couches).

[IonDragon]

It baffles me that anyone would not have an electric kettle :smallconfused: It's like one of the basics of kitchen appliances - stove, oven, microwave, toaster, kettle. Hell, I think in my house we have 3 or 4 (although for a while we also had 3 TVs, 2 toasters, and 2 couches).

Yeah? Well my household doesn't have a kettle, has only one couch, and NINE computers.

[factotum]

Yeah? Well my household doesn't have a kettle, has only one couch, and NINE computers.

That's not a household, it's a server room! You sure you didn't stumble into some company's IT offices by mistake on the way back from the pub? :smallwink:

[IonDragon]

That's not a household, it's a server room! You sure you didn't stumble into some company's IT offices by mistake on the way back from the pub? :smallwink:
Well, there is an exceptionally high bandwidth usage... but then again, we're not getting paid... So I sure hope these are all my computers, otherwise someone is getting an amazing free ride out of me :smallamused:

[Skeppio]

I don't know what's stranger. The fact that there's a multiple page engaging discussion about tea, or that Rowsen hasn't posted here yet.

[Dexam]

Yeah? Well my household doesn't have a kettle, has only one couch, and NINE computers.

Clearly there is only one possible outcome of this situation:

1. Set up a water-cooling system for your computers;
2. Seriously overclock your CPUs;
3. Brew tea from the heated "waste" water.

It's win-win all round! :smallwink:

[nihilism]

why would anyone put sugar or milk in green tea?
green tea is subtle and refreshing (if brewed right)

i occasionally drink black tea with sugar and fresh mint epiphanicly delicious

good quality tea is incredibly different from bad quality tea

the best tea=
www.murchies.com/

the best tea is english or irish breakfast

[Quincunx]

I didn't even know of the existence of electric kettles until I left the U.S.--not even friends' houses had them, even ones with other non-American habits like taking one's shoes off at the door. On the other hand, you'll be hard-pressed to find an American house without some type of coffeemaker.

Mmm. . .sun tea. . .Wonder if it'll work at my current latitude because it surely did not at latitude 60.

[Asta Kask]

*shudders horribly*
I'm definitely not kidding. I'm pretty sure he is though.

Yes, I'm kidding. I don't drink tea, but not because I've only tasted tea done with that method. I've sampled properly brewed tea and didn't care for it.

Edit: The re-used teabag trick comes from one of mom's patients who was, in addition to her other problems, a pathological miser.

[KuReshtin]

Yes, I'm kidding. I don't drink tea, but not because I've only tasted tea done with that method. I've sampled properly brewed tea and didn't care for it.

Edit: The re-used teabag trick comes from one of mom's patients who was, in addition to her other problems, a pathological miser.

My parents usually share one tea-bag when they have their tea in the mornings. They're 'smålänningar', though, so it's to be expected. :smallwink:

[lesser_minion]

I know one person who has to drink tea so weak that the only way to brew it is to take a teabag that's just been used and dip it once into a mug of boiling water, but that's about the worst I've seen.

Certainly not "dry out the teabag and use it again".

[Phishfood]

A weird, trivial question:

Does anyone else feel somewhat dry in the mouth after drinking a cup of green tea without any sweetener?

Yeah I get that sometimes.

I'd like to add a step a lot of you seem to be missing.

PRE WARM THE POT!

When I'm using a teapot (or a cafe tierre (sp?) ) I swill it out with some fresh boiled water to warm it up before I add anything.

Brown tea - fresh boiling water
Green tea & coffee - slightly off the boil water
hot chocolate/soup etc - boiled 5 mins or more ago.

You CAN reheat tea/coffee in a microwave but I don't recommend it. Also, try honey & lemon rather than milk & sugar.

[Zeb The Troll]

I didn't even know of the existence of electric kettles until I left the U.S.--not even friends' houses had them, even ones with other non-American habits like taking one's shoes off at the door. On the other hand, you'll be hard-pressed to find an American house without some type of coffeemaker.

Mmm. . .sun tea. . .Wonder if it'll work at my current latitude because it surely did not at latitude 60.When I was in the Army, I had the advantage that my job required electricity to perform, so we always had generators running while we were in the field. This led to my discover of the electric kettle for the making of coffee and oatmeal while deployed.

I've never been anywhere that I couldn't make sun tea. (Admittedly I've never been as far north as 60o lat. It works fine in the mountains of Colorado, though, even in winter. It may be because grandma's recipe is to leave it out for significantly longer than 2-4 hours though.

[lesser_minion]

When I was in the Army, I had the advantage that my job required electricity to perform, so we always had generators running while we were in the field. This led to my discover of the electric kettle for the making of coffee and oatmeal while deployed.

They're quite handy for cooking things like pasta when you aren't allowed anything else, as well (I didn't actually do this, but I know at least one person who did). Just make sure to clean the thing afterwards.

Kettles are actually fitted to tanks to allow people to heat ration packs, not so they can make tea (although the latter is obviously far more important).

[Serpentine]

I didn't even know of the existence of electric kettles until I left the U.S.--not even friends' houses had them, even ones with other non-American habits like taking one's shoes off at the door. On the other hand, you'll be hard-pressed to find an American house without some type of coffeemaker.Another mark on the "the US is weird" tally.
Oh, and around here, the shoes-off-at-the-door policy seems to depend on the house. Farmers I think are the most likely to require it, for pretty obvious reasons.
edit: For funsies, this is my kettle:
http://www.clivepeeters.com.au/~/media/Images/ProductImages/Sunbeam/Toasters-kettles/ke2350.ashx?db=web&amp%3Bw=314&amp%3Bbc=FFFFFF
Handy for tea, coffee, hot chocolate, speeding up cooking, 2-minute noodles, and filling up the bath when the hot water's run out.

[Manga Shoggoth]

I know one person who has to drink tea so weak that the only way to brew it is to take a teabag that's just been used and dip it once into a mug of boiling water, but that's about the worst I've seen.

Certainly not "dry out the teabag and use it again".

Many people have complained in this manner about me as well...

[Quincunx]

Preliminary sun tea testing at 50ish latitude and 20 C day points to the jar getting not nearly hot enough to kill pathogens let alone brew the tea. Not sure I'm going to be drinking this without giving it a separate boil.

[LATER: I didn't drink that at all. It did not smell right. Sun tea has a weak scent of tea and of 'being out in the sun' (ozone, I think?) that you also get from line-dried laundry and your skin in the sun. It should not have any other scent. This batch had a foreign scent.]

[factotum]

I know one person who has to drink tea so weak that the only way to brew it is to take a teabag that's just been used and dip it once into a mug of boiling water

Ah, the homeopathic approach to making tea. :smallsmile:

[Serpentine]

Nah, you know there's at least one molecule of tea in the water :smallwink:

[lesser_minion]

Ah, the homeopathic approach to making tea. :smallsmile:

Not really. Homeopathic tea would look, taste, act, feel, and sound like very hot water.

The end result from that method is a bit more like white tea (which, likewise, barely tastes of anything).

[Blayze]

If milk gets hot too quickly is scalds. Try pouring milk into a hot pan and see what happens. The reason it scalds when you pour milk into the tea rather than the other way around is pretty simple. When you pour milk into hot tea the milk that hits the tea first gets hot really quickly and scalds. By the time you get all the milk in that isn't happening anymore, so only a portion of the milk scalds. If you slowly pour the hot tea into the milk the tea cools quickly enough to not scald the milk.

So that's why. Thanks for clarifying. The best I could ever get out of my relatives was "Dunno why, it just does," which was their way of saying "I'm right because I'm right."

[Lioness]

So, as for weak tea...

When my boyfriend's sister was younger, she found any tea too strong, but she swore that she liked it. Her mother ended up putting sugar and milk in hot water and giving her her "tea"

Also, I tried green tea. It's not bad, but I just hit the bitter end...I don't think I stirred it properly

[lesser_minion]

I'm just giving loose-leaf a try now. It's... interesting. It ended up a little weaker than I'd normally drink, but you can taste the difference.

Unfortunately, I think my teapot sucks a little, so... yeah.

[Serpentine]

How long did you let it steep? The longer you leave it, the stronger it'll be.
I don't drink it myself, but I've lived with a lot of people who do <.<

[Asta Kask]

Kids in Sweden used to get 'silver tea' - hot water with milk and sugar. These days we just give them Red Bull and watch them bounce of the walls.

[Eldpollard]

Well, it just so happens that I have made a video which is perfect for this discussion. It's an instructional video on how to make tea. It's possibly not the most serious of videos... And I swear a lot when things go poorly, but hey. This is the link for instructional tea times. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCsPf-IjMLY)

[Blayze]

I preder Relentless. It comes in a variety of different flavours, some of which ended up being used as part of crazy "let's just use what we've got" alcohol mixtures.

[lesser_minion]

How long did you let it steep? The longer you leave it, the stronger it'll be.
I don't drink it myself, but I've lived with a lot of people who do <.<

About four minutes.

It's interesting, and I'd certainly drink it again. But I think a proper tea-strainer might be better than the thing that came with the teapot I used.

[valadil]

Celestial makes some fruity teas that are tastier to the new tea drinker. I'm a big fan of their orange tangerine one. They're not pseudo health food like green tea, but they're certainly better than soda.

Boiling water is usually better than microwave. If you have to microwave, do it till the water bubbles. For me that's 3 minutes.

I leave the bag in when I brew tea. After a couple minutes I sip it. If it's flavorful enough I keep drinking. Otherwise I let it sit a couple more minutes.

[Kneenibble]

The end result from that method is a bit more like white tea (which, likewise, barely tastes of anything).
Though you're being facetious, my white tea love leaps like a spawning salmon in defense. Eyebrow white teas can steep as dark as black tea and have a bizarre strong flavour. Even the white peonies or silver needles, delicate as they are, have an unmistakable flavour. Does white tea in bags come out watery?

Also, I tried green tea. It's not bad, but I just hit the bitter end...I don't think I stirred it properly
Don't stir it, that will make it worse by accelerating the leaching of tannins. In a teabag? Steep it two minutes at the most and make sure the water has cooled some from the boil before you pour it. It shouldn't taste bitter at all -- although granted some tea is just irredeemable.

[Ravens_cry]

I have taken to adding half a pinch of salt to an individual pot; it adds flavour I find.

[Coidzor]

So I hear there's some kind of toasted rice or toasted rice powder that people occasionally add in to green tea?:smallconfused:

I like a nice red tea with cinnamon myself. I desire to try a Red Chai sometime, actually...

[Mauve Shirt]

My favorite type of tea is a blackberry sage flavored black tea. I steep it for 5 minutes and drink it with a little milk.

[Don Julio Anejo]

I give you... tea Russian style! Nono, doesn't have any vodka in it, but it's not like anyone's stopping you either :wink:

You need:

- tea (duh..)
- teapot
- teacup
- kettle
- water
- sugar and/or lemon

How is it different from English tea you may ask? Why yes, you don't drink tea straight from the pot. You make super-concentrated tea concentrate (aka "zavarka") in the pot, put a little of that in a cup and then dilute it with hot water. The end result? The tea is much tastier, isn't very bitter and if the Dormouse likes much weaker tea than the Hatter, well, she doesn't have to suffer and the Hatter doesn't have to drink something so diluted it's essentially an American Lager.

Recipe:

- pre-warm the teapot (by adding some boiling water, swishing it around for a few seconds and pouring it out)
- add tea. No, let me correct you. Add lots of tea, like 2-3 teaspoons for a smallish teapot.
- add (boiling) water
- let it steep for a bit. Now you've got zavarka
- put a tiny bit of zavarka in a cup. Don't drink zavarka itself! That's called "chyfyr" and is what convicts drink in jail to get high (who needs fancy-shmancy cocaine anyway when you've got a box of tea? :smallamused:)
- add hot water. Experiment with how much zavarka and hot water to add until you find the ratio that you like

Now..

- add sugar and a slice of lemon! Lemon gives you this "hot ice tea" taste that's just awesome.
- don't put milk! Milk makes it taste like you're drinking, well, spoiled milk with sugar. So don't!
- and kids, if you do, remember! Milk and lemons don't mix.

PS: I've realized that there is cheap tea, very cheap tea and expensive tea. Here's the thing: cheap tea can actually be good. Like Twinnings and Tetley. I've experimented with at least 20 different (expensive) teas (by jacking them from cafes I used to work at) and I still stick to my Tetley orange pekoe...

Also, teabags... don't use them. It's like drinking dusty cardboard. Use loose leaves.

Important note: if you're going to ignore everything I've said, props to you. But do put in a slice of lemon in your tea at least once.

[Asta Kask]

ISO 3103:1980 - Tea -- Preparation of liquor for use in sensory tests (http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=8250)

"The method consists in extracting of soluble substances in dried tea leaf, containing in a porcelain or earthenware pot, by means of freshly boiling water, pouring of the liquor into a white porcelain or earthenware bowl, examination of the organoleptic properties of the infused leaf, and of the liquor with or without milk or both."

[Kneenibble]

Recipe:

- pre-warm the teapot (by adding some boiling water, swishing it around for a few seconds and pouring it out)
- add tea. No, let me correct you. Add lots of tea, like 2-3 teaspoons for a smallish teapot.
- add (boiling) water
- let it steep for a bit. Now you've got zavarka
- put a tiny bit of zavarka in a cup. Don't drink zavarka itself! That's called "chyfyr" and is what convicts drink in jail to get high (who needs fancy-shmancy cocaine anyway when you've got a box of tea? :smallamused:)
- add hot water. Experiment with how much zavarka and hot water to add until you find the ratio that you like


I am a little confused. I remember rubakhin some time ago describing chyfyr and it sounded super intense... but when you say 2-3 teaspoons for a smallish teapot, how smallish are you talking? That sounds like a normal correct amount to me.

[Cespenar]

ISO 3103:1980 - Tea -- Preparation of liquor for use in sensory tests (http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=8250)

"The method consists in extracting of soluble substances in dried tea leaf, containing in a porcelain or earthenware pot, by means of freshly boiling water, pouring of the liquor into a white porcelain or earthenware bowl, examination of the organoleptic properties of the infused leaf, and of the liquor with or without milk or both."

Do we have to calibrate our tea preparing equipment beforehand and have it certificated?

[Drolyt]

Do we have to calibrate our tea preparing equipment beforehand and have it certificated?

Yes, and it has to be examined before each us to make sure you aren't cheating.

[Mystic Muse]

I give you... tea Russian style! Nono, doesn't have any vodka in it, but it's not like anyone's stopping you either :wink:


Except me.

Another 3 and a half years before I can legally do that (I live in the US)

I prefer to avoid breaking the law.

[Drolyt]

Except me.

Another 3 and a half years before I can legally do that (I live in the US)

I prefer to avoid breaking the law.
Take a trip to Canada. Alternatively, in several states (check your local laws to be sure) if you read the law it is only illegal to posses or purchase alcohol, so if you drink alcohol your parents bought in the comfort of your own home no law is broke.

[Lioness]

Today I was in the store, and I found some Raspberry, Strawberry, and Cranberry tea.

It's amazing. Not bitter, but not too sweet.

[The Succubus]

I am a Englishman, like many people on here, and we take our tea very seriously.

When brewing, use a white cup or mug - this is so that you can measure the colour of tea more closely. It is possible with darker mugs but you run the risk of removing the bag too early and having a very weak flavour. As for whether to add milk or sugar, it depends greatly on the type of leaf used. A rich flavour such as Assam benefits from a simple straightforward taste; a slice of lemon (don't squeeze it, just let it float in the tea for about 15-20 seconds before removal) and a very small amount of sugar (approx 1/4-1/2 teaspoon) helps give a subtle sharpness and brings out the best.

For more conventional tea such PG Tips, Tetley or English Breakfast, feel free to use milk and sugar to taste. Add the milk after the main tea itself is brewed - far too many people make the mistake of adding milk to a bag or loose leaves. The problem is that milk is a lsightly thicker liquid than water and while it doesn't cause it to clump together, is does restrict the movement of the leaves, reducing the flavour.

One other good tip: Sometimes, by making tea this way, it can be lengthy process and you lose some of the heat. Pre-warming the mug helps keep your tea piping hot and delicious.