need help with tea!

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:55 pm

SteveShaw wrote:Indeed, Yanks. Just consider tea to be just one of that plethora of things you simply can never understand, others being (1) proper football, (2) that national sport of yours that is basically the bat-and-ball game of pre-pubescent girls, and (3), the fact that you have no idea whatsoever of what "beer" is. I could go on, but cruelty doesn't really become me.

You could help us by sending care packages.

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 9:05 pm

I'll consider it, but they won't contain teabags. We have to hang on to our superiority somehow.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:33 am

buddhu wrote:Tea is a bigger deal than you ex-colonials will ever grasp, but there's no need to make such a big deal out of it.

You, sir, may wax all verbal jujutsu-ish as you like but I for one am not bamboozled by your Yoda-like windbaggery.

I get it, already.

For you, tea is more than just itself: it's an institution, the still point amid the mad whirl of the day, the comfort non pareil, the foundation of All That Is Right With Civilisation; it is the sybaritic Mecca even the humblest can afford, and its preparation and taking can be read and judged like the flippin' I Ching. It's a meme.

Tea, for me, is a beverage. Thank God.

john_t · Post by **john_t** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 2:36 pm

I love Assam tea,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assam_tea
A very tiny bit of milk and no sugar. Mmmmm!

I first enjoyed cup of tea when I was about 13 or 14, at which time my favourite drink was vodka. Drank out in the streets of meersbrook, Sheffield with my friends.

Then one day I went around to my beautiful friend, Ruby's house and she made some tea, I decided to be grown up and try it. It tasted beautiful, like nothing I had tasted before. Now at 21 I still remember that day and have tried many different varieties of tea. Deciding a couple of years ago that Assam tea was my favourite, my Dad prefers Ceylon tea.

If I didn't drink Assam tea, I think I'd be dead. Either that or I'd be drinking 'Yorkshire tea' instead. Yorkshire tea is... as I understand is a blend of Assam, Ceylon and some African tea.

The only time I have drank coffee is when I got a free mug of it from a pretty café girl who I helped clean some tables for.

I pretended to like this coffee stuff but it was difficult... A mix of a disgusted and pretending to love it expression was on my face.

MMMM TEA!

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 2:38 pm

Put one spoonful of gunpowder tea in a mug, throw in one or two unbleached cardamon pods cracked in a mortar and pestle, pour hot water over the top and wait for the leaves to sink.

Drink.

Patrick Cavanagh · Post by **Patrick Cavanagh** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:36 pm

My everymorning tea: Tetley "British Blend"--compares favorably to Barry's or Lyon's and cheap as dirt.

Assam from the co-op is my "relaxing on a Sunday afternoon" tea, but when was the last time that happened?

When I'm at Teaism, and feeling adventerous, I'll order Pu Erh Camel's Breath, which is a fermented tea and supposedly beneficial to one's innards, but more to the point it has a complicated flavor which is rewarding when you have the time and inclination to really pay attention to what you're drinking.

On a cold, snowy day, Lapsang Souchong can't be beat to conjure up the feeling of sitting by a smoldering fire.

Sadly, I've never been in a sufficiently Zen-like state to appreciate white tea. I can recognize that it tastes different from plain boiled water, but not in an especially interesting way.

Anyway, that's me on tea.

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:33 pm

SteveShaw wrote:Indeed, Yanks. Just consider tea to be just one of that plethora of things you simply can never understand, others being (1) proper football, (2) that national sport of yours that is basically the bat-and-ball game of pre-pubescent girls, and (3), the fact that you have no idea whatsoever of what "beer" is. I could go on, but cruelty doesn't really become me.

I'll grant you most of it. We understand the bat and ball thing just fine. It's your cricket that doesn't make a lick of sense. And no pre-pubescent girl could spit like a pro baseball player! If you're ever in my neck of the woods I'll buy you some real beer.
Coors Light!!!!

I'm not even going to start on such oddities as your concept of bacon.

But alas, we'll never understand tea. Which is why I started this thread. In fact I'm drinking a big 32oz glass of fresh brewed, unsweetened iced tea as we speak.

KateG · Post by **KateG** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:38 pm

Ah the power of suggestion...had to pause half-way through this thread to go brew myself a nice cuppa.

Brewed strong with a bag in a mug with a splash of milk....the day rights itself.

Brewed gently from loose leaves in a pot, poured through the silver strainer into pretty cups and served with choices of milk, sugar and lemon; a tot of whisky or a thimble of sherry; and platters of assorted sweet and savoury nibbles....a pleasant conceit to while away an afternoon. (The whisky and/or sherry preclude doing anything else with the day anyway.)

Either way, make mine tea!!!

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:46 pm

KateG wrote:Ah the power of suggestion...

I couldn't agree more. As soon as I saw this thread had been resurrected from the dead I felt an urgent summons from Nature.

djm

WyoBadger · Post by **WyoBadger** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:27 pm

djm wrote:
KateG wrote:Ah the power of suggestion...
I couldn't agree more. As soon as I saw this thread had been resurrected from the dead I felt an urgent summons from Nature.

djm

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:46 pm

I'm not sure how I missed this thread for so long...I've been a tea junkie since I was a kid. My parents only had iced tea, sunbrewed, and it was available all year round. I still like iced tea - if Britain were 105 farenheit with 65% humidity the British would like iced tea as well. That said, I much prefer hot tea.

My favorite bagged teas are PG Tips, Yorkshire Gold, and something sold as Lifeboat Tea (made in Yorkshire I believe). I love strong teas.

The tip on middle eastern markets was a good one. We have a Turkish shop near us that sells a wonderful loose leaf assam and I picked up a unique, bagged, cardamom flavored tea I've been drinking lately.

All these tips about 1 teaspoon per cup or person seems way too little for me...2 teaspoons per cup seems better. Black and oolongs are wonderful, but I only like green if it's flavored (i.e. - jasmine, etc.).

I've tried using a teapot, a french press, and a mug with a top and one of those wire baskets to hold the loose leaf tea - and all made the same cup of tea in my opinion. Since I'm the only big-time tea drinker in my house, I use the mug and basket thing or just a mug and a bag for bagged teas.

We're lucky to have a dedicated tea shop here...

For those trying to replace coffee with tea, I think assam, brewed really dark is as close as it gets (I'm also pretty sure it's the main tea in Irish Breakfast Tea).

Milk? Sugar? Lemon? These all seem to defile such a fine beverage in my opinion...except for a nice Indian chai (not the type of thing you find at Starbucks or anywhere like that, but the stewed variety you find in really authentic Indian establishments).

dwest · Post by **dwest** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:55 pm

I don't think I would have been allowed to drink tea without sugar and milk until I was thirteen or so. Just wasn't done. Hard to break the habit. Just watching the milk disperse in the tea is all part of the ritual/memory. I do use demerara sugar now rather than white refined which I think is quite complementary to the Irish Breakfast that I like.

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:03 pm

Flyingcursor wrote:I'll grant you most of it. We understand the bat and ball thing just fine.

No you don't.

It's your cricket that doesn't make a lick of sense.

That's because it's way too complicated for Americans.

And no pre-pubescent girl could spit like a pro baseball player!

You should have met some of the pre-pubescent girls I taught. They'd make your pro baseball players look like big girls' blouses.

If you're ever in my neck of the woods I'll buy you some real beer.

Stop pretending it's possible.

Coors Light!!!!

No beer with "Light," or, worse, "Lite" in its name can truly be regarded as "beer" in the generally-accepted sense of the term.

I'm not even going to start on such oddities as your concept of bacon.

Then you've clearly never eaten a bacon butty made with John Pett's local Cornish dry-cure bacon, fried to a crisp in its own fat which is then reserved for tomorrow's fried eggs. Thou understandeth not that of which thou speaketh.

But alas, we'll never understand tea.

At last, a bit of much-needed humility from an American - rare indeed!

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:54 pm

And no pre-pubescent girl could spit like a pro baseball player!

'at depends on what neck of the woods yer frum.

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Thu May 01, 2008 7:08 am

Steve,

The mere fact you folks don't play baseball is a clear indication you've missed the point entirely but this and the football controversy has been covered in many a thread.

We've also debated beer though, all kidding aside, you'd be suprised at the quality at some of the microbrews.

I'll stick to food because no matter how much we go back and forth about what is better, there's one item of culinary delight that can't be matched anywhere:

The hot dog.