Brit Required
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Perhaps if I whisper no one else will notice. The perfect cup of tea requires a few things, first a white porcelain tea cup of reasonable depth, secondly a proper stainless steel tea spoon. One of Griff's coffee spoons won't do the trick, they're too small. Then a really good tea, bags or leaves doesn't matter, the fresher the better, must be Indian. Steep the tea in the cup by pouring boiling water over it as you do and then the crucial tricky part. When is the tea perfectly brewed? The answer is surprisingly simple and surprisingly complicated. The tea is perfectly brewed when the bottom of the cup is no longer visible ( hence the need for a proper white porcelain tea cup ) and when at the exact depth of a tea spoon the tea is red in colour. Test this by dipping in a spoon and taking out a level teaspoon full, to be examined from above in daylight. ( hence the need for a proper sized spoon and no mat alluminium rubbish ). The tea should be red, niether yellow (under done ) nor brown (over done). At the exact moment this is so, and it is but a moment, the leaves placed by whatever means, should be removed and voila as M'Fermat would have said you have the perfect cup of tea. Why does this work? Only a deity of tea would know for sure but I can tell you that it accounts for all the important factors including the time of day which determines the angle of the daylight for the red test. This is why sublime tea is only achievable at tea time and tea is second best in the early morning. The light being too low or too high will distort the test. As one gets older one eyes become less sensative to blue light and everything appears relatively redened which accounts perfectly for the liking of older people for weaker tea. Builders who work outdoors in bluer light will get the stronger tea they prefer and us sedentry types a happy medium. The perfect cup of tea is the universes way of telling us that at some level it all does fit together and make sense and of course that there's no better way to enjoy it than being British. :-D
"The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage." Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)
Don't forget that Matthew has only told you the "in the cup" method. It is perfectly correct but you can also make it in a teapot (stainless steel or china or thin pottery at a pinch, the idea is for the pot itself to NOT absorb too much of the heat when making a brew). White china or pottery is preferred although once you gain enough experience with your particular blend and timing estimation you can switch to other coloured pots, such as brown or black. Ideally, the pot should be warmed with a little hot water just prior to adding the tea to assist in the reduction of heat loss. This way you can make several cups at a time (tea-cosies are required to maintain the temperature in the pot) and also have the option of putting milk in your cup prior to adding the tea. Some people prefer the milk to be added afterwards but there is a distinct difference in flavouring (among true connoisseurs) between milk-before and milk-after methods. Neither method is technically more correct, although there are often many heated debates on this subject. The difference in flavour comes from the following physical effects: --- milk-after --- When one adds the milk to the tea already in the cup then a small amount of cold milk hits the large amount of hot tea at any given millisecond during the flow. This very quickly heats the milk and can scald it slightly. --- milk-before --- When one adds the hot tea to the milk already in the cup then a small amount of hot tea hits the (relatively) large amount of cold milk at any given millisecond during the flow. This slightly more slowly warms the milk and usually avoids the scalding occasionally caused by the milk-after method. The difference in flavour is due to the scalding or lack of the milk. There is never any need to warm the cups. Anyone who does so is just being pretentious - and we don't want that, do we? Note: True connoisseurs do not put lemon in tea, only milk. Lemon is truly an abomination introduced to the Scepter'd Isle by Johnny Foreigners (yes, I'm looking at you, Frenchman) - almost as bad as iced tea (or herbal teas).
- Life in the fast lane is only fun if you live in a country with no speed limits. - Of all the things I have lost, it is my mind that I miss the most. - I vaguely remember having a good memory...
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A good tea should be a uniform golden shade. There is only one thing worse than the abomination that is iced tea, and that is tea with milk in. I would recommend a good Earl Grey or Darjeeling. If you can get some, I would also recommend Dimbulla (a Ceylon tea). It's my favourite early morning tea.
I was brought up to respect my elders. I don't respect many people nowadays.
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easierObviously Pete knows nothing. Tea with milk[^] is the only correct way for British people to drink it. Earl Grey was an idiot and his tea blend tastes of ash and perfume mixed and is probably the reason people started putting large quantities of lemon it tea in the first place! Darjeeling should be mixed with Assam to make the perfect blend.
- Life in the fast lane is only fun if you live in a country with no speed limits. - Of all the things I have lost, it is my mind that I miss the most. - I vaguely remember having a good memory...
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Especially since Kevin can't spell "biscuit"? ...or use the correct plural for "Lorries".
- Life in the fast lane is only fun if you live in a country with no speed limits. - Of all the things I have lost, it is my mind that I miss the most. - I vaguely remember having a good memory...
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Crystallized honey is the norm in the UK - or at least it used to be when I was growing up there many decades ago. It is easier to spread without sticky spillage than the American stuff - which always tastes incredibly sweet to me.
- Life in the fast lane is only fun if you live in a country with no speed limits. - Of all the things I have lost, it is my mind that I miss the most. - I vaguely remember having a good memory...
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Don't forget that Matthew has only told you the "in the cup" method. It is perfectly correct but you can also make it in a teapot (stainless steel or china or thin pottery at a pinch, the idea is for the pot itself to NOT absorb too much of the heat when making a brew). White china or pottery is preferred although once you gain enough experience with your particular blend and timing estimation you can switch to other coloured pots, such as brown or black. Ideally, the pot should be warmed with a little hot water just prior to adding the tea to assist in the reduction of heat loss. This way you can make several cups at a time (tea-cosies are required to maintain the temperature in the pot) and also have the option of putting milk in your cup prior to adding the tea. Some people prefer the milk to be added afterwards but there is a distinct difference in flavouring (among true connoisseurs) between milk-before and milk-after methods. Neither method is technically more correct, although there are often many heated debates on this subject. The difference in flavour comes from the following physical effects: --- milk-after --- When one adds the milk to the tea already in the cup then a small amount of cold milk hits the large amount of hot tea at any given millisecond during the flow. This very quickly heats the milk and can scald it slightly. --- milk-before --- When one adds the hot tea to the milk already in the cup then a small amount of hot tea hits the (relatively) large amount of cold milk at any given millisecond during the flow. This slightly more slowly warms the milk and usually avoids the scalding occasionally caused by the milk-after method. The difference in flavour is due to the scalding or lack of the milk. There is never any need to warm the cups. Anyone who does so is just being pretentious - and we don't want that, do we? Note: True connoisseurs do not put lemon in tea, only milk. Lemon is truly an abomination introduced to the Scepter'd Isle by Johnny Foreigners (yes, I'm looking at you, Frenchman) - almost as bad as iced tea (or herbal teas).
- Life in the fast lane is only fun if you live in a country with no speed limits. - Of all the things I have lost, it is my mind that I miss the most. - I vaguely remember having a good memory...
Thanks for stepping in there. My pot technique is nowhere near good enough due to lack of practice. I see you're a prelactorist as well which is a much more advanced technique than most people realise given that it makes the by-eye red test impossible. You have to really have your timing down to the second. :)
"The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage." Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)
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Obviously Pete knows nothing. Tea with milk[^] is the only correct way for British people to drink it. Earl Grey was an idiot and his tea blend tastes of ash and perfume mixed and is probably the reason people started putting large quantities of lemon it tea in the first place! Darjeeling should be mixed with Assam to make the perfect blend.
- Life in the fast lane is only fun if you live in a country with no speed limits. - Of all the things I have lost, it is my mind that I miss the most. - I vaguely remember having a good memory...
Only a dullard would ruin a superior brew with milk. ;P if you drink a decent brew, you shouldn't need milk.
I was brought up to respect my elders. I don't respect many people nowadays.
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier -
It's high pollen content that makes new honey cloudy -- different flower stock makes for different colours/flavours. It only crystallises if you mess around with its temperature.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I need a tea expert. I enjoy iced tea, which I suspect is an abomination to most Brits, but I believe there are a few things things that should be true about all tea whether iced or served hot. The tea I buy from our local cafe is cloudy. It used to be very clear (like a jar full of honey) but now it looks as if it was made by placing tea leaves in a blender and atomizing them. I feel as if I should be able to see through a glass container of tea - the world on the other side clearly visible through an amber lense. I may have to go back to making my own tea, which isn't good, because I make it too strong and it stops up my plumbing. Am I wrong about this? Am I drinking mud?
Having access to teas like pu-erh and longjing (not the sweepings that you get in Europe; the real thing, direct from China) has made me incredibly fussy about tea. These days, I wouldn't use PG Tips as kindling.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Tea, whether served hot or cold should be made with great care and attention. Firstly, and this is critical, the water must be BOILING. Hot water is not enough, it needs to be furiously boiling as you are making an infusion. It is best made in a pot, so boil the water and pour this into the pot. Leave for a few minutes, then pour this hot water back into a kettle and reboil. This ensures the pot is warmed and will not cool the boiling water when it is repoured into it. Now it ought to be loose-leaf tea, this allows for free movement but a quality tea-bag is acceptable. Put two teaspoons (or 2x Teabags) into the pot and pour on the now boiling water. Stir several times and allow time for it to 'brew'. A couple of minutes at least. If drinking hot, then pour tea into cup then add milk. (Some will claim that putting milk into the cup first stops the tea from staining one's best china, but it is hard to judge how much milk in required prior to seeing the strength of the tea.) (Note: The Milk rule only applies to monkey tea, not the quality speciality teas that are only to be drunk black, or with lemon and/or a small dash of sugar). If drinking cold, then remove teabags and or strain leaves from the infusion. This will stop it from stewing. As a rider, water quality is very important. If you are in a hard water area then a water filter is required to remove the chalk from the water. This improves the tea by several orders of magnitude. Remember the golden rules... BOILING WATER DON'T LET IT STEW and GOOD QUALITY WATER This should ensure your drinking pleasure for years to come.
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
Luton's almost 200m above sea level, so you can't make a decent cup of tea there without a pressure cooker.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Tea, whether served hot or cold should be made with great care and attention. Firstly, and this is critical, the water must be BOILING. Hot water is not enough, it needs to be furiously boiling as you are making an infusion. It is best made in a pot, so boil the water and pour this into the pot. Leave for a few minutes, then pour this hot water back into a kettle and reboil. This ensures the pot is warmed and will not cool the boiling water when it is repoured into it. Now it ought to be loose-leaf tea, this allows for free movement but a quality tea-bag is acceptable. Put two teaspoons (or 2x Teabags) into the pot and pour on the now boiling water. Stir several times and allow time for it to 'brew'. A couple of minutes at least. If drinking hot, then pour tea into cup then add milk. (Some will claim that putting milk into the cup first stops the tea from staining one's best china, but it is hard to judge how much milk in required prior to seeing the strength of the tea.) (Note: The Milk rule only applies to monkey tea, not the quality speciality teas that are only to be drunk black, or with lemon and/or a small dash of sugar). If drinking cold, then remove teabags and or strain leaves from the infusion. This will stop it from stewing. As a rider, water quality is very important. If you are in a hard water area then a water filter is required to remove the chalk from the water. This improves the tea by several orders of magnitude. Remember the golden rules... BOILING WATER DON'T LET IT STEW and GOOD QUALITY WATER This should ensure your drinking pleasure for years to come.
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
Dalek Dave wrote:
If drinking hot, then pour tea into cup then add milk.
Abso-fruggin-lutely NOT! You put the milk in first, so that it warms up gradually as the tea is poured on top of it. Delicate stuff, milk, full of long chain molecules, which screw up into balls (AKA curdle) if you suddenly increase their temperature.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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As another tea geek, I have to out myself: Iced tea isn't an abomination by itself - but selling overly sweetened "fruit" juice with traces of ingredients almost, but not entirely unlike tea as, well, iced tea is. Plain tea - a strong-ish Celyon or a not to stong Assam, not or slightly sweetened and well iced is a treat on a hot summer day (something those brits don't know about, obviously). As for cloudy, nope, shouldn't happen, unless it's a specialty tea I never heard of.
There is a place in the world for fruit-flavoured teas. It's just nowhere near me.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Lapsang is the one tea I detest - it tastes like liquidised kippers!
It's well known that if all the cat videos and porn disappeared from the internet there would be only one site left and it would be called whereareallthecatvideosandporn.com
If your tea has a fishy taste, it actually means that you've got a good quality one. The fishy taste comes from cottage-industry style farms, where they use ancient-recipe fish glue to bond the tea together into round cakes, for distribution (They look like this[^]). Rinse the tea with a tablespoonful or so of hot water before filling the pot, to get rid of the (perfectly harmless) glue.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Remember, the Brits are the same people who call trucks 'Lorrys' and crackers 'Bisquets'. I really wish they would speak english :):):)
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
Kevin Marois wrote:
Remember, the Brits are the same people who call trucks 'Lorrys' and crackers 'Bisquets' can spell "Brit_on_" and "bisquit".
If your shoe size is bigger than your mouth size, you may have a problem.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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If your tea has a fishy taste, it actually means that you've got a good quality one. The fishy taste comes from cottage-industry style farms, where they use ancient-recipe fish glue to bond the tea together into round cakes, for distribution (They look like this[^]). Rinse the tea with a tablespoonful or so of hot water before filling the pot, to get rid of the (perfectly harmless) glue.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
It's not the fishiness I don't like, but the smokiness - I believe Lapsang is dried over smouldering pine branches.
It's well known that if all the cat videos and porn disappeared from the internet there would be only one site left and it would be called whereareallthecatvideosandporn.com
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There is a place in the world for fruit-flavoured teas. It's just nowhere near me.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
Not near me either! *shudders*
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I need a tea expert. I enjoy iced tea, which I suspect is an abomination to most Brits, but I believe there are a few things things that should be true about all tea whether iced or served hot. The tea I buy from our local cafe is cloudy. It used to be very clear (like a jar full of honey) but now it looks as if it was made by placing tea leaves in a blender and atomizing them. I feel as if I should be able to see through a glass container of tea - the world on the other side clearly visible through an amber lense. I may have to go back to making my own tea, which isn't good, because I make it too strong and it stops up my plumbing. Am I wrong about this? Am I drinking mud?
I'm sorry to say that yes, you're drinking mud. Tea is (or at least should be) an infusion, not a suspension. Incidentally, I quite like iced tea. Spent several weeks working in Georgia in June-July a few years back - iced-anything was welcome, and the iced tea was fine as long as you accept that it's a completely different drink to hot tea.
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Crystallized honey is the norm in the UK - or at least it used to be when I was growing up there many decades ago. It is easier to spread without sticky spillage than the American stuff - which always tastes incredibly sweet to me.
- Life in the fast lane is only fun if you live in a country with no speed limits. - Of all the things I have lost, it is my mind that I miss the most. - I vaguely remember having a good memory...
Honey over here has had a bit of a makeover I think. Gales still make "set honey" (earlier link) but the supermarket shelves are full of clear honey too - often local stuff and you can get your favourite blossom as well! http://www.englishhoneyonline.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=4[^]
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Perhaps you should ask Forogar as it turns out he's a Brit stateside :) . Anyway yes iced tea is considered an abomination by many Brits but not all. Cloudy tea had better be down to chalky water or you really are drinking mud X| You could ask them if they need to change the cartridge on their water filter. If all you get is :~ then I would go elsewhere. There is a simple and elegant secret to the perfect cup of tea but to paraphase Monsieur Fermat, "The textbox is too small to contain it". ;P
"The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage." Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)
Matthew Faithfull wrote:
There is a simple and elegant secret to the perfect cup of tea but to paraphase Monsieur Fermat, "The textbox is too small to contain it".
So neither simple nor elegant then!
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Only a dullard would ruin a superior brew with milk. ;P if you drink a decent brew, you shouldn't need milk.
I was brought up to respect my elders. I don't respect many people nowadays.
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easierWay to insult 99.99% of the British! Go Pete Go. It may not need milk, but I happen to prefer it that way.
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Way to insult 99.99% of the British! Go Pete Go. It may not need milk, but I happen to prefer it that way.
Damn it, I was aiming for 99.9999%. And if you spoil a Darjeeling with milk, I will send Sean around to see to you right now.
I was brought up to respect my elders. I don't respect many people nowadays.
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier
