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When water boils, some of the water evaporates, leaving behind the impurities. This means that boiled water has a higher concentration of these impurities in it than "fresh".

The more times you boil it, the higher the concentration. If you live in an area with particularly hard water, this can lead to a dramatic change in taste.
 
That would explain it, our water is vile as it is. I was up in Derbyshire a couple of weeks ago, and the tea was gorgeous! :) I notice that when I'm staying at a relitives in North Wales too. For a tea which covers a multitude of ' tastes ' Lapsang Souchong, it's ' smokey ' and strong, but luverly. A friend in the US who spent years in the UK, says she can't get tea to taste anything like it does here, I don't know if its the teabags, or what she quite means. Don't they sell PG Tips and Tetley etc, in the US? If not I'll send her some.
 
I can't stand Tetley. I know it's personal taste, but PG tastes much better to my mind. Tetley tastes awful.

But then, I'm known for my specific tastes! :roll:
 
I may be wrong, or remembering things incorrectly, but one thing about using freshly boiled water is something to do with how oxygen reacts with the tea itself... But I could be talking crap of course, if my memory is anything to go by...
 
I heard that too, the more oxygen in the water then the better your cup of tea. Twice or thrice boiled water will have less oxygen in it.

Maybe if you boil it too much you'll be making your tea with liquid hydrogen. Ahem.
 
Re: the oxygen in the water - that's also possibly a factor. Then again I have been known to give my tea mouth-to-spout resucitation to get it up to strength faster.

Tea loves oxygen. The more oxygen available to it (either in the water, or in the air near the surface) the better it will be.

As for Lapsang Souchong (Smokey Bacon) - it tastes like coal tar. I know how coal tar tastes due to a failed attempt to rid me of dandruff as a child.
 
Have to agree about Lapsang Souchong, that's one taste I could never acquire.
food-smiley-010.gif
 
And don't get me started on Earl Grey...

Hang on, I've mentioned that before, haven't I?
 
I love earl grey! I have it with milk, though, I don't think you're meant to. Bought earl grey with vanilla (Tetley i think) the other day, weird at first but it grows on you.
 
weird at first but it grows on you.

Like mould! LOL.

It tastes to me like washing up liquid smells.If that makes sense? I have to say my fav is assam.
 
I like Assam. Chai is quite nice as well, if a little sweet for too much.
 
Quite fond of the produce of the Assam region, myself. My favourite at the moment is Dimakusi, a BOP from Assam.

Earl Grey tastes like soap, mainly due to the saponins in bergamot. And I know people who buy bergamot oil to add to it, to make it taste even more soapy.
 
Emperor said:
Susan Smith, a chemistry teacher at Petaluma high school in California, follows a simple procedure. "Brew the tea. Find it two hours later, cold. Add sugar, microwave. Remember it two hours later, cold. Microwave again. Repeat until time to go home. Return to work, wash cup, try again. Repeat as necessary."

she needs drowning in a proper cup of tea :grrr:
 
Perhaps shes a coffee drinker?

Tea is an aqquired taste. I was advised to lay off pop a while back (I was drinking mostly artificial sweetened and joice, if thats any use to you) and drink fruit teas. I didnt think much of it at first, but could tolerate it (unlike coffee) and now I like it.

My fave is apricot tea.
 
ive mentioned elsewhere on the board

friut teas (proper term:- tisanes(sp?) thanks caroline :) ) looks, smell great and taste bloody awful without suger

there was a tea drinking before the change over but now sadly extinct :(
 
I got into Lapsang because my nan used to buy it and make it in the pot, so when you then made tea afterwards, ( and I learned to make tea very young ) you still got that tang, horrid at first, but I gradually got used to it. ( case of having too, we didn't do the old teabag in the cup back then , I only do that now, older and more lazy ) I put honey in my Camomile tea which I drink before I go to bed, I love the smell, it reminds me of walking on the Ridgeway in the summer, but it tastes awful without anything sweet.
 
As I'm once again using coal tar shampoo for my dandruff, if I want Lapsang Souchong, all I have to do is not rinse my beard properly. It smells of the stuff anyway, but so far (bashes on formica desktop) I haven't tasted it.

I'm quite proud that I've finally got myself out of the habit of taking my tea with sugar. I don't even have honey anymore. I just go for the tea (and milk) on its own.

I don't think I'll be able to drink it without milk, unless I go back to putting sugar in it.
 
Being from the southern region of the USA, iced tea is a big thing for me. Usually made with two quarts of water or less and three family sized iced tea bags and god knows how much sugar. When it gets down to the bottom of the pitcher it's like tea-flavoured syrup. When I make plain hot tea(I like fruity kinds and such too), I put a family-sized bag or two in a cup of microwaved water, then quickly dump in a profuse amount of sugar, a big scoop or more, and stir it in, then wait for it to cool enough, and drink it for hours.
When I was little I liked iced tea with milk but I somehow don't like that anymore.
As for coffee I like mild coffees brewed very strongly with a TON of powdered non-dairy creme. I only like sugar in flavoured coffee.
 
I don't have sugar in drinks because I read as a teenager that sweet beverages encourage a taste for sweetness. (I did a lot of reading then. ;) )

Seems to have worked as I rarely eat sugary things. Every person I've lived with (boyfriends, flatmates, one husband) has been successfully badgered to give up the sugar and my kids were brought up without it.

Just the taste of that lovely tea........ 8)
 
I love hot sweet tea. Tea is always good. It also tastes better when drunk outside. My Dad and I always used to have a cuppa in the pavilion during half time at the football and it always tasted wonderful whether sugared or not. Earl Grey always tastes like someone has emptied an ashtray into it to me. And fruit teas always smell better than they taste.

The best tea I ever tasted was on a tea plantation in Kenya. God knows what it was, but it was perfect.
 
GreenJeanz said:
Being from the southern region of the USA, iced tea is a big thing for me. Usually made with two quarts of water or less and three family sized iced tea bags and god knows how much sugar. When it gets down to the bottom of the pitcher it's like tea-flavoured syrup. When I make plain hot tea(I like fruity kinds and such too), I put a family-sized bag or two in a cup of microwaved water, then quickly dump in a profuse amount of sugar, a big scoop or more, and stir it in, then wait for it to cool enough, and drink it for hours.
When I was little I liked iced tea with milk but I somehow don't like that anymore.
As for coffee I like mild coffees brewed very strongly with a TON of powdered non-dairy creme. I only like sugar in flavoured coffee.

How popular is tea in the US? You lot seem to be more into coffee.

Has anyone else had Tesco's Finest english breakfat tea? That's my favourite tea of all. :_pished:
 
I have, Giant Robot, we bought some a couple of weeks ago, when a Dutch friend was staying, ( I'm not sure of the logic behind it either ) I went through it like mad. I've occasionally had coffee for breakfast, but I can't say it refreshes me like tea does, it's got to be tea, first thing, coffee later.
 
GiantRobot said:
GreenJeanz said:
Being from the southern region of the USA, iced tea is a big thing for me. Usually made with two quarts of water or less and three family sized iced tea bags and god knows how much sugar. When it gets down to the bottom of the pitcher it's like tea-flavoured syrup. When I make plain hot tea(I like fruity kinds and such too), I put a family-sized bag or two in a cup of microwaved water, then quickly dump in a profuse amount of sugar, a big scoop or more, and stir it in, then wait for it to cool enough, and drink it for hours.
When I was little I liked iced tea with milk but I somehow don't like that anymore.
As for coffee I like mild coffees brewed very strongly with a TON of powdered non-dairy creme. I only like sugar in flavoured coffee.

How popular is tea in the US? You lot seem to be more into coffee.

Has anyone else had Tesco's Finest english breakfat tea? That's my favourite tea of all. :_pished:

Hot tea is pretty popular. Cookies/biscuits with tea are something most people have yet to adopt though. :)
Coffee is indeed probably more partaken of. I like them about the same really. I like pretty much all tea that I've tried, but chamomile is my least favourite. It's a bit overly bitter for me.
 
Being into the pharmacology of plants and herbalism, tea of any description interests me and on tuesdays doubly so.
Iced tea and gin 8) excellent in hot humid weather.
Whats to distinguish a herbal infusion from tea?

Anyone drink the Yerba Mate?
 
Green tea is said to contain powerful anti-carcinogenic chemicals. Gunpowder Green Tea is worth acquiring the taste for - every leaf is said to be rolled by hand. Once you have got over the sense of drinking spinach-water, it does grow on you. Or you could look for the jasmine-scented variety.

I love Lapsang Souchong - but not every day. Luckily it keeps quite well.

Leaf tea is rather a nuisance - swill the spent leaves into the garden, rather than down the sink. But is there anything so horrid as the sight of a spent tea-bag? :cross eye
 
James Whitehead said:
Gunpowder Green Tea is worth acquiring the taste for - every leaf is said to be rolled by hand. Once you have got over the sense of drinking spinach-water, it does grow on you.

A friend gave me a small box of gunpowder tea on his return from Morrocco last month haven't tried it yet.
 
GiantRobot said:
How popular is tea in the US? You lot seem to be more into coffee.

i'm a big tea drinker, hot and cold, and in many areas of the United States, you can't get tea. i've gotten in the habit of bringing along my own tea because i hate to be without it. many restaurants have tea on the menu, but it is undrinkable. iced tea is often made from powder, with the mixed crap being left sitting around for a week. gag!
 
James Whitehead said:
Leaf tea is rather a nuisance - swill the spent leaves into the garden, rather than down the sink. But is there anything so horrid as the sight of a spent tea-bag? :cross eye
You should watch The Anatomy of Hell...

Then again, no-one should watch it. It's not a very good film.

Jint: Do you remember a joke about a vampire asking for a glass of warm water in a pub?
 
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