The Tea Thread

[Yithian]

I think Kamut is the brand name for Khorasan wheat, which I've had in some fancy cereal or other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khorasan_wheat

This is setting off my marketing BS radar.

Although the Kamut brand wheat is thousands of years old, it is a new addition to North American grain productions. It's origins are intriguing. Following WWII, a US airman claimed to have taken a handful of this grain from a stone box in a tomb near Dashare, Egypt. Thirty-six kernels of the grain were given to a friend who mailed them to his father, a Montana wheat farmer. The farmer planted and harvested a small crop and displayed the grain as a novelty at the local fair. Believing the legend that the giant grain kernels were taken from an Egyptian tomb, the grain was dubbed "King Tut's Wheat." But soon the novelty wore off and this ancient grain was all but forgotten. In 1977, one remaining jar of "King Tut's Wheat" was obtained by T. Mack Quinn, another Montana wheat farmer, who with his son Bob, an agricultural scientist and plant biochemist soon perceived the value of this unique grain. They spent the next decade propagating the humped-backed kernels originally selected from the small jar. Their research revealed that wheats of this type originated in the fertile crescent area which runs from Egypt to the Tigris-Euphrates valley. The Quinns coined the trade name "Kamut" an ancient Egyptian word for wheat. Egyptologists claim the root meaning of Kamut is "Soul of the Earth."

Source:
https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1999/v4-182.html#*

 

[AnonyJ]

This is setting off my marketing BS radar.

Although the Kamut brand wheat is thousands of years old, it is a new addition to North American grain productions. It's origins are intriguing. Following WWII, a US airman claimed to have taken a handful of this grain from a stone box in a tomb near Dashare, Egypt. Thirty-six kernels of the grain were given to a friend who mailed them to his father, a Montana wheat farmer. The farmer planted and harvested a small crop and displayed the grain as a novelty at the local fair. Believing the legend that the giant grain kernels were taken from an Egyptian tomb, the grain was dubbed "King Tut's Wheat." But soon the novelty wore off and this ancient grain was all but forgotten. In 1977, one remaining jar of "King Tut's Wheat" was obtained by T. Mack Quinn, another Montana wheat farmer, who with his son Bob, an agricultural scientist and plant biochemist soon perceived the value of this unique grain. They spent the next decade propagating the humped-backed kernels originally selected from the small jar. Their research revealed that wheats of this type originated in the fertile crescent area which runs from Egypt to the Tigris-Euphrates valley. The Quinns coined the trade name "Kamut" an ancient Egyptian word for wheat. Egyptologists claim the root meaning of Kamut is "Soul of the Earth."

Source:
https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1999/v4-182.html#*

Even if it was an older wheat cultivar, it's going to be something akin to Spelt wheats, but with larger grains, nothing particularly special or mystical.

It's called Khorasan wheat - and it's a good quality grain, although a bit temperamental with its yield and diseases when weather conditions are too wet. It's related to durum wheats and one of the earliest cultivars of wheat, Emmer.

I knew my applied botany university courses would come in handy at some point!

Yep, it's marketing BS in all respects

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khorasan_wheat

Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

[AnonyJ]

One of the lecturers who uses our office was keeping an open can of condensed milk in our fridge, which he was adding to tea. He claimed it made it taste like Thai tea. I have no idea what that is, but I say live and let live. Just don't try to persuade me to drink it. :-D

I can imagine it might give a sweetened extra-milky taste, similar to Indian street tea chai. I never normally have 'British' tea with sugar, but milk tea (tea leaves boiled with milk and spices) needs it. It's a comfort drink, like hot chocolate, but couldn't drink a mug-sized Dood Chiyya

I used to know someone who made it with Carnation Milk. Is that the same as condensed?

I think they might mean the evaporated milk? - which although a different taste I find quite nice in a good hot strong mug of builders (no sugar, ta). It looks really strong and bright orange but the milkiness is pronounced. I was introduced to the concept in a Bangladeshi café near Brick Lane about 15 years ago. It also means that you don't need a fridge nearby as an opened can will keep for minimum 24hrs so good for camping or power cuts.

A recipe for Nepalese Dood Chiyya (lit. Milk Tea)

• 2 cups of whole milk
• 2 heaped teaspoons of black tea (the fine ground stuff not leaf tea) or cut open 2 tea bags
• 2 green cardamom pods, bruised
• 2-3 cloves
• 1" stick of cassia bark/cinnamon
• 2 tsp sugar (or more if you have a sweet tooth)

Heat the milk in a saucepan with the loose tea and spices, stirring with a whisk until almost boiling.​

Turn off the heat and whisk for another minute. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.​

Strain into a jug through a sieve holding the pan as high as you can without splattering everything with tea.​

Pour into tea cups or small mugs, again from a height if you can.​

 

[ramonmercado]

Condensed milk has sugar added and it's thick (and yummy).
Evaporated milk has been dehydrated a bit.

OK, evaporated milk for me then.

 

[brownmane]

This The Spruce link also includes how to use Kamut. It does state that "kamut" is a trademarked name.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/kamut-an-ancient-grain-with-a-lot-of-history-4767688

 

[brownmane]

Does condensed work in coffee? It wouldn't be such a reach.

I might put evap milk in coffee, but never condensed. I don't usually have sweetened coffee, only coffee with cream. The condensed milk is too thick and sweet for me. It's like a dessert.

Evaporated milk, I might do if I really thought I wanted it, but would probably drink it black. I don't like milk in coffee. Cream smoothes the flavour.

 

[Kondoru]

Ive bought a big bag of Pueh tablets and an busy knocking my socks off.

 

[brownmane]

So you Brits say you love your tea. What the heck is "tea powder"?

 

[Yithian]

So you Brits say you love your tea. What the heck is "tea powder"?

 

[Erinaceus]

It sounds as though it's the sweepings off the floor at the end of the day's production.

I think the Japanese tea ceremony uses powdered green tea.

 

[Steven]

What the heck is "tea powder"?

It is a time-honoured ritual amongst aristocrats like my maiden aunt Bismillah. At noon, precisely, she would arch an eyebrow - thus signalling her desire to the under-butler without sullying herself via actual discourse with the lower classes - and the under-butler would proceed to Morris-Dance around the silver platter that Cellini once made for her ancestors. He in turn would then announce the 'Coming of the Tea Bags' at the behest of the Greek god Domestos; an ancient, processional role inherited by Ethel the Teas-Maid who spends her life devotedly chained to a kettle. After several hours of this hallowed ceremony, the tea tastes bloody disgusting, so Aunty bins it and drags on Coke through a straw instead. In short, in answer to your question: I don't know.

 

[brownmane]

It sounds as though it's the sweepings off the floor at the end of the day's production.

I think the Japanese tea ceremony uses powdered green tea.

Powdered green tea, here, is called matcha, which is made differently from regular tea. And it is mostly produced in Japan.

According to wiki, it is used in the Japanese tea ceremony.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha

I still don't have a clue as to what powdered tea is. Though I am inclined to think your description of it is probably accurate.

 

[kesavaross]

Powdered tea is... well... powdered tea.

 

[Tempest63]

Reusing teabags in wastewater treatment to remove pollutants.

People in Northern Ireland love their tea, drinking an average of four to six cups a day.

But when does a habit become a problem? Possibly when all those cuppas result in millions of teabags which may end up in landfill, generating climate-changing methane.

But a tea-loving scientist at Queen's University Belfast has found a way of using that tea waste, which could improve health and save lives around the world as well as keep it out of landfill. Dr Chirangano Mangwandi, a lecturer in chemical engineering, suspected tea leaves could be used in wastewater treatment to remove pollutants.So he collected the waste from a coffee shop on the university campus to test his theory. He cleaned the used tea leaves and put them through several processes to make an absorbent product. He then tested that product's ability to remove heavy metals such as chromium and arsenic from wastewater. And it worked.

"It's just a simple case of measuring a known quantity that you put it in the wastewater, depending on the concentration level that you want to remove," he said. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-68180875

We buy organic tea bags, I mostly drink herbal tea and Mrs T63 drinks fruit teas. if we drink black tea it is always without milk. The bags are then put in a crock before placing them into the compost bin where they break down and get composted by the worms. The resultant compost then goes into the flower beds or goes down to the allotment.

 

[Yithian]

Powdered green tea, here, is called matcha, which is made differently from regular tea. And it is mostly produced in Japan.

According to wiki, it is used in the Japanese tea ceremony.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha

I still don't have a clue as to what powdered tea is. Though I am inclined to think your description of it is probably accurate.

I've tried a number of matcha-flavoured foods (cake, ice-cream, chocolate—all bad), but I've never drunk the tea itself.

Generally, as with coffee, although I drink many teas, I dislike it as a flavouring.

Earl Grey is a common flavouring for cake in Korea—I find it revolting.

 

[Kondoru]

We have a village fridge now.

(Though the shelf next to it is used more)

Always worth while to see if anyone has been gifted something fancy they have taken a dislike to.

Today is Hari Teas Honeybush, Cinnamon and Rosemary.

In cloth sacks, none the less.

 

[Floyd]

So you Brits say you love your tea. What the heck is "tea powder"?

The only thing I can think of is that it is something vile like the stuff they put in vending machines that nobody in their right mind would go within a mile of;

 

[Sharon Hill]

As with instant coffee (freeze-dried), we've always had instant tea powder in the US. But it's for iced tea. The aforementioned instant coffee is possibly drinkable in some instances, but it's actually much better to use as flavoring or iced lattes.

 

[brownmane]

As with instant coffee (freeze-dried), we've always had instant tea powder in the US. But it's for iced tea. The aforementioned instant coffee is possibly drinkable in some instances, but it's actually much better to use as flavoring or iced lattes.
View attachment 73717

That I am familiar with. I don't think our iced tea products in Canada are made with tea leaves as your picture has. It is always sugared.

I don't care for cold coffee or tea. I do enjoy mint iced tea made only with fresh mint leaves. Funny, mint (just mint, not peppermint) can taste different depending on how it's grown, or possibly where. Sometimes it can be tasty and other times blah. I have a farm from which I order veggies throughout the spring/summer and always order fresh mint from them.

 

[brownmane]

I've tried a number of matcha-flavoured foods (cake, ice-cream, chocolate—all bad), but I've never drunk the tea itself.

Generally, as with coffee, although I drink many teas, I dislike it as a flavouring.

Earl Grey is a common flavouring for cake in Korea—I find it revolting.

Actually I lied in my earlier thread. I do like a matcha smoothie. That is blended ice with matcha and a little sweetener, usually a touch of vanilla.

Earl Grey anything is vile.

 

[Steven]

I realise that I have some difficulties but I can't get my head around these cold drinks that are so popular nowadays (iced coffee etc); I just associate those drinks with heat, and can't get over that.

 

[Dinobot]

It is a time-honoured ritual amongst aristocrats like my maiden aunt Bismillah. At noon, precisely, she would arch an eyebrow - thus signalling her desire to the under-butler without sullying herself via actual discourse with the lower classes - and the under-butler would proceed to Morris-Dance around the silver platter that Cellini once made for her ancestors. He in turn would then announce the 'Coming of the Tea Bags' at the behest of the Greek god Domestos; an ancient, processional role inherited by Ethel the Teas-Maid who spends her life devotedly chained to a kettle. After several hours of this hallowed ceremony, the tea tastes bloody disgusting, so Aunty bins it and drags on Coke through a straw instead. In short, in answer to your question: I don't know.

Worst episode of Downton Abbey ever. And that's saying something...

 

[escargot]

Some people take their tea obsession too far.

 

[escargot]

I realise that I have some difficulties but I can't get my head around these cold drinks that are so popular nowadays (iced coffee etc); I just associate those drinks with heat, and can't get over that.

I'm the same with salsa. Cold and spicy, seems wrong.

 

[Steven]

Fantastic pictures.

 

[brownmane]

Some people take their tea obsession too far.

How the heck do you keep THAT clean?

Btw, there's no way these would fit in my house, forget my 9'x7'ish bathroom.

 

[Dinobot]

Some people take their tea obsession too far.

Which one is yours?

 

[kesavaross]

How the heck do you keep THAT clean?

Btw, there's no way these would fit in my house, forget my 9'x7'ish bathroom.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I'd rather have a practical bathroom that is designed around functionality and ease of cleaning rather than a vanity statement based around a teapot.

That teapot shower wouldn't even fit in my sitting room let alone my smallish bathroom.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

Some people take their tea obsession too far.

Those showers remind me of the Tefal Tea-Maker*, which I still have, cluttering some place, out-of-reach, for decorative purposes only.

I hoped it would, at least, revolve, ceremonially, while sparging the leaves in the upper-chamber. It could never be trusted even to turn itself off.

My ideal Tefal-type Tea-Obsessive Shower would do all these things, boiling the owners alive, while playing Tea for Two on a whistle!

*I see it was named the Magic Tea!

 

[Floyd]

Does anyone use these types of strainers?
They're very good actually.