The Tea Thread

[Coastaljames]

Any suggestions?

You don't like Earl Grey?

 

[Swifty]

Tea anyone ?

 

[Ulalume]

Those in hotter climates will regard us as terrible wimps but we are not accustomed to the sudden warmth. ...

Seriously, though, you can survive this as long as you don't trap yourself in a closed, muggy room. Open your windows, put your fans into them to pull in the night air. Put an ice pack on the back of your neck. Drink lots of water or even lemonade. Try iced tea. Yes, I know the British generally shudder at the thought, but really, it will help cool you down.

 

[Andy X]

Cold tea? Are you INSANE, woman??

 

[Ulalume]

Cold tea? Are you INSANE, woman??

IIRC, when Prince Charles came to Texas, he was given iced tea and he nearly gagged. That should make the Anti-Royalists feel a bit better about it.

Really, it's fine. Just don't put milk in it (obviously).

 

[Yithian]

I have a single situation in which I drink iced-tea. The bath-house in the city I used to live in would sell litre bottles of it to take into the sauna (cranberry, peach and strawberry being the most popular). When you're swearing out your soul, they certainly hit the spot.

 

[Andy X]

I'm somewhat kidding, of course; I quite like iced tea (though I wouldn't seek it out deliberately).

Mind-expandlingly hot Earl Grey with a homeopathic quantity of semi-skimmed milk is my tipple, and I'm sure HRH Charles would mostly agree. If not, he is a traitor and should be treated as such, whatever his parentage.

Can't bear milky sugary tea - which I believe we (Brits) invented to encourage the Indian subcontinent to consume our imported Chinese tea - then 'went native', introduced this sickly mess to our native shores, and thereby invented the British "builders' cuppa".

It's still a class-based joke in Britain that the more 'common' a visiting tradesman is the, more milk and sugar they'll expect in their mug of Rosie.

We're a funny lot.

 

[smokehead]

I can't find a decent teabag. I have to put two in.
Number crunchers I reckon, having worked out a h'aporth less tea in each bag adds up to a tidy profit seeing as they are sold in the billions.
Milky tea, makes me gag.
I've found a bottle of something cold held against the wrist can make you feel cooler. I'm off to Dragons Den to present the smokehead wrist bottle retainer.

 

[rynner2]

The bath-house in the city I used to live in would sell litre bottles of it to take into the sauna (cranberry, peach and strawberry being the most popular). When you're swearing out your soul, they certainly hit the spot.

Is bad language allowed in the sauna?

 

[Yithian]

Is bad language allowed in the sauna?

I could fix that typo, but I rather like the image of lying on my back and cursing as I sweat.

 

[Mythopoeika]

It's still a class-based joke in Britain that the more 'common' a visiting tradesman is the, more milk and sugar they'll expect in their mug of Rosie.

I must be dead common, me.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I could fix that typo, but I rather like the image of lying on my back and cursing as I sweat.

I think being in a sauna would definitely make me swear.
I don't do hot temperatures.

 

[Min Bannister]

It's still a class-based joke in Britain that the more 'common' a visiting tradesman is the, more milk and sugar they'll expect in their mug of Rosie.

I don't take either, I must be dead posh!

 

[Andy X]

I must be dead common, me.

Aye, 'appen

I was brought up on that stuff but was once given a cup without sugars, and found I preferred it. The gradual cutting down on cow juice came later.

 

[Graylien]

Twinings Extra Strong Breakfast Tea reaches an acceptable strength if you leave it long enough. I favour lots of milk.

 

[Andy X]

Twinings Extra Strong Breakfast Tea reaches an acceptable strength if you leave it long enough. I favour lots of milk.

Your British cuppa is a complex beast - like the sea, she has many moods. At a previous workplace we had in the kitchen area a list of individual tea preferences every bit as byzantine as any coffee shop menu. The subtle distinctions between strong, strong and milky, weak and weakly milky were too much for some to grapple with.

Edit: also bullshit sugar requirements such as '1 ¼ tsp' hardly simplified matters.

 

[Coal]

Black, no sugar. Everyone, baffled, then make the tea too strong, but I drink it to be polite.

 

[Andy X]

It's a good argument for getting one of those machines where everything tastes a bit like coffee and no one is very happy but no one ever complains - like communism in beverage form.

It's certainly true that people tend to make black tea and coffee too strong - it's a weird psychological effect like the way some videogames of old would panic you into swerving into the path of your enemies. Or is it? Maybe I need a cup of tea and a sit down...

I hover annoyingly at the teabag stage and add my own splash of milk, just to be sure - thereby entirely invalidating a colleague's kind gesture of making the thing 'for me' (we all know it's an excuse to fuck about for a few minutes and doesn't actually count as work )

 

[Coal]

It's certainly true that people tend to make black tea and coffee too strong - it's a weird psychological effect like the way some videogames of old would panic you into swerving into the path of your enemies. Or is it? Maybe I need a cup of tea and a sit down...

I like coffee (also black) strong.

It's tea I prefer a little weaker and if you've ever drunk black stewed PG tips you'd know why...

 

[Andy X]

Indeed I have...fairly sets your teeth on edge, don't it ?

 

[Yithian]

I buy English Breakfast & Assam bags from Twinings. The latter I usually order from the UK, but the former is on sale all over the world.

The anomaly I've found, however, is that at some point they started adding a strength score out of five on the packaging and I've seen identically packed boxes rated at 3/5, 4/5 and 5/5--can they really be selling so many different strengths? I always assumed that they sourced the same leaves (or very similarly produced ones) from year to year.

 

[Yithian]

Love tea of all sorts.

My Eastern European colleagues have got me hooked on Melissa Tea- a most delightful brew.

What's that?

 

[David Plankton]

I buy English Breakfast & Assam bags from Twinings. The latter I usually order from the UK, but the former is on sale all over the world.

The anomaly I've found, however, is that at some point they started adding a strength score out of five on the packaging and I've seen identically packed boxes rated at 3/5, 4/5 and 5/5--can they really be selling so many different strengths? I always assumed that they sourced the same leaves (or very similarly produced ones) from year to year.

Marketing gimmick, Shirley. Just leave the bag in longer.

 

[escargot]

Love tea of all sorts.

My Eastern European colleagues have got me hooked on Melissa Tea- a most delightful brew.

Typo?

 

[skinny]

Just the thing to have on hand if a super-creepy Martin Sheen comes knocking at your door.

He looks like he could do with a cuppa.

 

[James_H]

This morning I had Thai milk tea that I bought from an airport in Thailand a while back. This is the stuff that turns bright orange (the colour of a brick) when you put milk in it, and is flavoured with vanilla, but is otherwise very strong black tea.

Since nobody asked, here's all the tea in my possession:

1st column: freeze dried lemons (I know that's not tea but you can put them in hot water to make a drink), something unknown I bought off an old lady (I think it's wild tea)
2nd column: Tieguanyin, Thai black tea for milk tea
3rd column: oolong tea, Japanese green tea, (in jar) oolong tea, Chinese green tea
4th column: Yorkshire tea (I have multiple boxes in reserve), rooibos
5th column: three different pu erh teas. The bottom one I actually bought in Yunnan but doesn't very much resemble what I'm used to as pu erh – it's not black and it feels quite caffeinated.

I buy a lot of tea but I only really drink a few cups at home a week so the collection keeps growing.

 

[Anome]

A cafe I frequent is changing hands, and the old owners just gave me two bags of English Breakfast as a parting gift. That's fine, it's the tea I drink there, but that's only because it's the only unflavoured Assam they have. This means, though, that they think it's my favourite, since I have it all the time. It's not, my favourite is Dimakusi Assam from The Tea Centre, and I prefer Scottish Breakfast, or Irish Breakfast to English Breakfast, but no-one serves those these days, despite them being popular.

Anyway, I guess I'll add these to the pile of teas I have to work through, including the last time I went crazy on a tea retailer website.

 

[Min Bannister]

There is a very familiar looking tea fan on The Chase right now!

 

[hunck]

Something I wasn't aware of - most teabags contain heat-resistant polypropylene which seals the bags & is not biodegradable.

Probably not one of the worst plastics issues today but... there's a list of the most popular bags here.

 

[David Plankton]

I've just accidentally ripped a Twining's Earl Grey teabag and noticed these small white flecks inside. Anyone know what they are?