Making a good cup of tea

[Emperor-TK]

Suited to lazy people, well I never....

To my tastes, at 100C you can't get the leaves out fast enough to make a great cup of Earl Grey without the bitter tannin flavor being overwhelming. If I were to take the leaves out at the time when tannin levels were low enough for me, there wouldn't have been enough time for the other goodies to diffuse into the brew. But maybe I'm more sensitive to that flavor than most.

British maybe, but who's to say that the Brits know how to make good tea anyway? Milk and lemon? Eeeeeyuck! Hows abouts some HP then?

<Ducks and runs for cover> :green:

 

[SSLtech]

Ah yes...

perhaps I really ought to clarify that I don't wish to imply that EVERYONE who likes longer draw/lower temp is ipse facto 'lazy', but it IS a vastly more variation-tolerant method, and as such is preferred by junior studio assistants and tea-boys who don't reallly have their heart in everything that they do.

I -on the other hand- am known to favour a robust tea-drinking experience, and I refer to my tea a "mighty brew". Milk of course, -and sugar if that kind of misbehavior is your sort of thing...

...but -as you so rightly observe- milk in Earl Grey is like putting 'doctor pepper' in a hand-labeled vintage single malt.

Milk and lemon?

No. -NEVER.

Milk OR lemon... but only Lemon would be permitted in Earl Grey (preferably without for me, but it would not be a hanging offence... whereas putting milk in Earl Grey is punishable by firing squad! :twisted

Those who like lemon in Earl Grey might like to try Twinings' "Lady Grey", which is Earl grey with a slight twist of lemon... -My (US-born) missus loves it.

Keith

 

[peter purpose]

[quote author="zebra50"]You want YORKSHIRE TEA....
None of that foreign muck![/quote]

Ah yes... the rolling tea plantations of Bradford are a sight to behold.

 

[SSLtech]

...though the cognoscenti will claim that the south-facing slopes to the west of Huddersfax give the most pleasing yield.

...and the small crops grown outside Bingley are simply to die for!

:green:

 

[zebra50]

:green:

We may jest, but we should soon be able to follow our tea with yorkshire wine...

http://www.holmfirthvineyard.com/

 

[sahib]

Sugar is allowed.

Milk?????

But I forgive you Keith.

 

[SSLtech]

Ah, sahib... -you and your fuzzy foreign ways... :wink:

:green:

 

[CJ]

Also, when you pour the Tea back in forth during the "panning" process, you cool the Tea, whic makes it "chugable".

Type A Bi Polar's have no patience.
So as soon as the Tea is done, it's in my belly, then, back to the computer.
Drink it in the kitchen so you do not spill it on the carpet.

I am so relieved to have the Mighty Emperor in my corner, sometimes I think I am just blowing smoke out the ol wazzo.

When your Tea is you substitute for Ginny, the Black Gold, the Nectar of the Gods, then it must be perfect.

" A historical note: According to Gerhard Haneveld, a Dutch scientist, esophageal cancer was widespread among the Dutch when they were insatiable tea drinkers. By the early 1800s, however, coffee had displaced tea as the national drink and throat cancer practically vanished in the Netherlands.

Dr. Morton has also found relationships between the consumption of dry red wine, high in tannin, and cancer of the esophagus.

The Chinese, although they are heavy tea drinkers, drink tea that is low in tannin and have little throat cancer. The British, also profuse drinkers of tea that contains tannin, add milk to their drink which binds tannin, rendering it harmless."

 

[sahib]

[quote author="SSLtech"]Ah, sahib... -you and your fuzzy foreign ways... :wink:

:green:[/quote]


:grin: :grin: :grin:


Slipperman once said the coffee was an ancient religion.

So is tea.

 

[bcarso]

Those of you who have read it will recall what prompted the title of Leighton's collection of Feynman reminiscences, Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman...

 

[clintrubber]

[quote author="CJ"]The Chinese, although they are heavy tea drinkers, drink tea that is low in tannin and have little throat cancer. The British, also profuse drinkers of tea that contains tannin, add milk to their drink which binds tannin, rendering it harmless."[/quote]
Yep, as I understood it the difference between non- or minimal-fermented tea (for instance green tea) and fermented-teas (black).

Black tea is generally stronger in flavor and contains more caffeine than the less oxidized teas.

For this bold reason I'm drinking black coffee & black tea (mostly Earl Grey) during the day and switching to green/jasmine in the evening here. No sugar, no milk, no lemon :wink:

 

[headman]

Sorry Keith,
Twining's tea (English Breakfast, Earl Grey and all the others) pale into insignificance against Bushell's Blue Label, a great Australia tea. Refreshing and stimulating at the same time.
No tea bags allowed in our household.
headman

 

[clintrubber]

[quote author="headman"]pale into insignificance against Bushell's Blue Label, a great Australia tea. Refreshing and stimulating at the same time.[/quote]
Let's groupbuy !

 

[bcarso]

It's surprisingly hard to find loose tea for sale in So. California these days. But the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf stores have some outstanding premium ones. Pricey but top-flight.

Unfortunately I don't drink enough tea to justify having a lot on hand, although it keeps fairly well. I burned my stomach out drinking tea, always brewed from loose leaf, usually Twinings Darjeeling, in high school and college, to the point that without a careful amount of cushioning food with it I get quite nauseated. Coffee OTOH doesn't upset me near as readily. Green tea doesn't bother near as much either---I have a cup of that usually once a day, with some Chinese and American ginseng extract in it. No sweeteners.