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Tea appreciation
Jeffrey
Veteran
Search function on tea didn't generate results though I know there was a tea thread recently.
I have always liked nice bevarages as a cultivation of enjoyment. Formerly beer and wine. Coffee definately though it is kinda hard on the body. Recently I have become interested in tea, though this is less widely shared than coffee. At most cafes you have a choice between earl grey and chai (spiced). Tea bags and a cup of water from a hot shot. In a paper cup.
I wondered if anyone would share tips, appreciation, and knowledge about tea. What kind of ritual is it for you? Do you think you are more mindful when you drink your tea? Or happy and relaxed? What kinds of tea do you like and how do you take it or prepare it? Any other tea information? I looked on wikipedia and learned that green and white tea is unoxidized and had some healthy anti oxidants. And black tea is oxidized I imagine by exposure and heating. Almost every language has a word for tea and there are two main roots which are different: te or chai. In america chai means a pie spiced tea.
I was introduced to tea by my friend from Indian heritage though he was 2nd generation. We drank it with milk and sugar, not sure what type? Iced tea is really popular here, or sometimes brewed/called sun tea brewed in the sun and iced. In the south more often sweet tea and up north more often unsweetened. I also have always enjoyed herbal tea most often peppermint, raspberry, sleepytime which is a mixture of tastes all supposedly soothing. I also drank stinging nettle for supposed medicinal properties. But only rarely drinking tea sometimes as an event at night with company again tea is more gentle than coffee even decaf on the stomach. Now I drink it almost every day. I drink mostly green tea, but also black tea chai. I recently tried Irish Breakfast, but was dissapointed that it didn't taste more like Irish Creme flavored coffee. Are there any other flavored teas than herbal and chai?
So what is your story on tea?
I have always liked nice bevarages as a cultivation of enjoyment. Formerly beer and wine. Coffee definately though it is kinda hard on the body. Recently I have become interested in tea, though this is less widely shared than coffee. At most cafes you have a choice between earl grey and chai (spiced). Tea bags and a cup of water from a hot shot. In a paper cup.
I wondered if anyone would share tips, appreciation, and knowledge about tea. What kind of ritual is it for you? Do you think you are more mindful when you drink your tea? Or happy and relaxed? What kinds of tea do you like and how do you take it or prepare it? Any other tea information? I looked on wikipedia and learned that green and white tea is unoxidized and had some healthy anti oxidants. And black tea is oxidized I imagine by exposure and heating. Almost every language has a word for tea and there are two main roots which are different: te or chai. In america chai means a pie spiced tea.
I was introduced to tea by my friend from Indian heritage though he was 2nd generation. We drank it with milk and sugar, not sure what type? Iced tea is really popular here, or sometimes brewed/called sun tea brewed in the sun and iced. In the south more often sweet tea and up north more often unsweetened. I also have always enjoyed herbal tea most often peppermint, raspberry, sleepytime which is a mixture of tastes all supposedly soothing. I also drank stinging nettle for supposed medicinal properties. But only rarely drinking tea sometimes as an event at night with company again tea is more gentle than coffee even decaf on the stomach. Now I drink it almost every day. I drink mostly green tea, but also black tea chai. I recently tried Irish Breakfast, but was dissapointed that it didn't taste more like Irish Creme flavored coffee. Are there any other flavored teas than herbal and chai?
So what is your story on tea?
0
Comments
Here is my main tip,
add milk after you add the hot water, and then stir, trust me this makes the world of difference to the taste ( I can't stand tea with no milk :werr: )
There was a university researcher that actually came up with a formula for the perfect cup of tea,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3016342.stm
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=92708
Formula: Perfect cuppa = (T + V) + (H20 @ ( 98.5°c) 2mins + S + oSt
Key: T = Teabag; V = Vessel i.e mug; H20 = Water; S = Squeeze; OSt = optimum Squeeze time
The Royal Society of Chemistry even had a news release for making a perfect cup of tea :rolleyes:
http://www.rsc.org/pdf/pressoffice/2003/tea.pdf
If it aint broke then don't fix it is what I say, so I think I will just stick to my own way :coffee:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_culture#
anyway tea beats coffee anyday in my book
British tea ritual
Even very slightly formal events can be a cause for cups and saucers to be used instead of mugs. A typical semi-formal old-fashioned British tea ritual might run as follows (note that the steps of this 'ritual' may and often do vary with regional and personal preference):
The kettle is boiled and water poured into a tea pot.
Water is swirled around the pot to warm it and then poured out.
Teaspoons full of loose tea or tea-bags are then added to the pot. The traditional quantity is one per person and one for the pot.
Freshly boiling water is added to the pot and allowed to brew for a few minutes while a tea cosy is placed on the pot to keep the tea warm.
Milk may be added to the cup either before or after the tea is poured.
A tea strainer is placed over the top of the cup to catch tea leaves and the tea poured through it.
The tea is then given to guests and they can sugar to their taste.
The pot will normally hold enough tea so as not to be empty after filling the cups of all the guests. If this is the case, the tea cosy is replaced after everyone has been served.
Whether to put milk into the cup before or after the tea is a matter of debate. In the early days of tea-drinking, milk would be added to the cup first to avoid the thermal shock of hot tea cracking the delicate porcelain. Adding milk second may scald the milk when poured into the hot tea before the milk cools the mixture, something avoided by pouring the milk first.
Drinking tea from the saucer (poured from the cup in order to cool it) was not uncommon over fifty years ago but is now almost universally considered a breach of etiquette.[16]
Teaspoons full of loose tea or tea-bags are then added to the pot. The traditional quantity is one per person and one for the pot."
I was wondering why my tea wasn't as good since I used a new infuser today... I'll have to try again.
You know the wiki says to brew green tea at 80 C 170 F... sooo using boiling water could be too warm. Black tea which more british drink is optimal at 99 C so its correct to use boiling water.. Something to note if you drink green tea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea
Cheers Jeffrey, next time I try Green tea, I'll make sure the water isn't boiling
For black tea there are teabags that use strings which you pull and it squeezes the teabag, very ingenious.
I notice that the time you steep is really important. I tried steeping 4 minutes and the tea tasted really bitter. Having some green tea this morning which came out really good. 2 minutes.
I read in wikipedia that people do multiple infusions from the same tea. They said even that the third infusion was the best according to Chinese word. Have you tried a second or third infusion?
Nice description of the Brit ritual, zid. What about the custom of having one pot in which the tea leaves or a couple of bags just soak, to make a concentrated brew, and then a second pot full of boiled water? You pour a little from the tea concentrate, then add hot water separately. Then milk. That's one way it's done in parts of Russia. I've seen it done that way on rare occasion in the US, too, but that might have come from a foreign influence on people who travelled a lot.
Thats a cool idea the russians have. I only have one pot. Its interesting to hear the cultural nuances.
I'm not sure that the practice I saw is exclusive to Russia. In fact, I'm not sure it's part of ethnic Russian practice at all, but it could be. I saw it among Russia's Turkic ethnicities. And I got the impression from a neighbor who did the same thing, that the custom of two separate pots may be popular in India, or perhaps a holdover from an earlier time in England, possibly from the days of empire. IDK.
The same is true for the oolong teas - if they are brewed too long I find them totally undrinkable. *shudders*
I have a teapot which has an integral strainer which works very well for both loose & bagged tea - it allows the tea to brew & when the plunger is depressed it isolates the tea in the strainer but without squeezing the tea at all, thus stopping the brewing process - so again, no bitterness. http://amzn.to/mMQUgS
I cannot drink black teas as I find it too tanic & I also dislike milk too. I drink my green or blue teas as they are but I'm going to try making them with slightly cooler water as has been suggested here (thank you
check it out!