Orwellian tea injunctions

Love it, except for the “no sugar” rule. Sorry purists, but strong tea with whole milk + one teaspoon of sugar in a big mug is what does it for me.

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took me a minute

Of course, if you’re a green tea drinker, these rules don’t apply. 160 to 170 degrees F is infinitely preferable to boiling - you’d scorch the poor tender little leaves.

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You’ll be needing one of these then.

Although if you are going to ingest tea leaves you may wanna be careful where they come from…http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/whats-in-your-green-tea/

These tea and coffee posts always remind me of wine connoisseurs. The ones who go on and on about delicate details but can’t tell the difference between expensive and cheap, or red wine and white wine with food coloring in blind tests. I’ve given up my aristocratic ways. Now I’m squeezing my second-time-used tea bag into my mug of microwaved water and I’m happy.

Agreed, spejic. Is it my imagination, or does this occur most ironically amongst university professors?

My favorite tea? 1/2 Earl Grey and 1/2 Constant Comment with two sugars, cold.

I also love my dark chocolate cake baked using mint tea instead of coffee. It’s a delicious slice of chocolate mint heaven.

The best tea is made by indentured servants. You can test the quality of the tea by taking a sip. If it’s of poor quality, immediately spit it into the face of whichever plebe made it. Then have the scoundrel soundly beaten for their impudence. Then have another minion make another cup of tea. Hopefully this one will be better, but if it’s not, repeat the process.

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Fortunately, you can use a terracotta peeing boy (or pig, etc.) to make sure the temperature is right.

Each to their own certainly.
My own two cents would be;
If you live in a hard water area, it’s best to leave the boiled water to settle for a bit, so all the leached limescale sinks to the bottom of the kettle before pouring.
I then pour from a good height, to oxygenate the water a bit. (Not sure it makes a difference, just become a habit).

I’d like to expand just a little on my comment about green tea.

Green tea should indeed be exposed to lower temperatures than the black teas Mr. Orwell was accustomed to drinking. If you develop the kind of addictive love for your green tea ritual that I have, there are electric kettles that allow you accurate and dependable control over your water temperature. I use this one:

It holds enough water to fill my Bodum coffee press, and a second teapot for a fellow tea-drinking co-worker. We’ll often set the kettle for 160F, fill his teapot, than switch to 170F for my genmaicha blend, which responds well to the slightly higher temperature.

Like Mr. Orwell, I’m a big believer in using loose tea leaves. The coffee press I use for tea does an excellent job of filtering out the leaves, and halting the steeping process - you just push the plunger all the way down, which quite effectively isolates the leaves from the rest of the water in the press. And the vertical shape of the press does a great job of keeping the tea hot for a good, long time. Here’s the one I use -

http://bodum.bodum.com/us/en-us/shop/detail/1928-16US4/?navid=262

Only high-quality, inert non-absorbant glass and metal come in contact with the tea, and the leaves are free to swim around in the entire press until you hit the plunger - not trapped in a small strainer. I’ve been using the same pair at work and home for over a dozen years, so they’re reliable, and a great investment.

Jim Campbell pointed out a recent New York Times article concerning the amount of lead being found in some Chinese teas. It’s sad and more than a little frightening that this is a genuine and serious problem, especially if you’re drinking two liters daily over periods of many years, as I have. I drink Japanese green teas, and have settled on a couple sources for my favorite teas - sources I trust to be even more manic than I am about the quality and safety of their tea.

At the risk of sounding like a plant, the best genmaicha I’ve ever found comes from Mighty Leaf, which they sell under the name Kyoto Rice. I mention it as a “thank you” - I’ve been drinking their tea for over 16 years. And while genmaicha isn’t for everyone, for those who love it, there’s nothing better.

One last point… green tea’s flavors are (in general) more subtle and nuanced than black teas. I believe they are best enjoyed without adding sugar/honey or milk. I’m not going to be a tea Nazi about it, but if you’re new to green tea, why not give it a try straight; I think you’ll enjoy it. And please be careful about the quality of water you use; this is one case where bottled or at least filtered water makes all the difference, especially if your tap water leaves something to be desired. Enjoy!

Or if you live in the American South the tea is so strong it pulls itself out of the jug and goes and finds its own sugar…(or at least that’s how I make it.)

I realize this is proper tea and what I drink is not, but I will say a lot of it is spot on. I do find that boiling water creates a more astringent, sharp taste, but that is entirely likely the type of tea that is used to make sweet tea vs. a cup of tea. (The cold water over night method works excellent for making a smooth glass of tea.)

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Same her, except semi-skimmed for me. I find whole milk overwhelms the brew. Still, each to their own.

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Oh yeah…sweet tea (a kind of iced tea found in the South) is a whole, nuther animal. Sugar is stirred into the tea while it’s still hot from brewing in order to supersaturate it. I’m a Southerner whose family goes all the way back to Colonial Jamestown, and most sweet tea is too sweet for me. I usually cut it half-and-half with non-sweet iced tea.

Yeah, I often joke about anything with “craft” or “artisanal” thrown on it (e.g. if there isn’t already artisan crafted sriracha, there will be soon), but I’m particular about beer. I wouldn’t wish Corona on an enemy. God bless the Trappists and their godly efforts.

You may be pleased to learn that there are some excellent borosilicate glass tea pots. I own two, including one with the strainer built into the lid so the tea leaves have all the space they need to unfurl. Here’s an example from Amazon to show you what I mean: Glass Tea Pot with strainer

Use simple syrup. Much easier.

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For those who prefer more science-based tea advice, the Royal Society of Chemistry issued instructions on the perfect cup of tea a while ago.

MIF all the way in our household, by the way, whatever Orwell says.

The actively-boiling part is vital.

I still can’t help giving an incredulous blink when a (non-Brit) ‘barista’ smugly serves a dry teabag alongside a cup of hot-ish water, as if that’s the ‘proper’ way to do it.

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