The hallowed subject of Tea comes up quite regularly in the Gunroom - from its sources to the correct method of brewing to what tastes best, and the reader is invited to peruse the Patrick O'Brian Discussion Archives for more on the subject.
How to Make a Perfect Cup of Tea (.pdf 40K)
Chai
Description of Chai - Rowen
MacKenna Charleson Agrees
The Word "Cha" - Peter Mackay
Etymology of "Cha" and Tibetan Butter Tea - Andrew Midkiff
Masala Chai, A Recipe - Mark Nicholls
Iced Tea - Linda DeMars
Russian Tea - Doug Essinger-Hileman
White Tea - Doug Essinger-Hileman
Cambric Tea - Faith Ingles
Sun Tea - Dee Johnson
How to Drink Russian Tea - Lois
Old-fashioned Relief, Horehound Tea - Rowen
Ginger Tea - Linnea
John Bannon Asks About Teabags
Doug Replies
'Bush Tea' - Ian Watkins
Tea Suggestions
Tom Halsted Asks...
MacKenna Charleson Answers...
Suggestions from Harry Clark
Gunpowder - Susan Collicot
Theo Gazulis Agrees With Susan
Suggestions from Tom Halstead
Kyle Lerfald Defends Earl Grey
Michael Mayer Likes Earl Grey, Too
Vicky Watson's Defense of Earl Grey
Suggestions from Bill Peschel
Jay Reay Responds to Bill Peschel
Yerba Mate
Mauricio Contreras
Traditional Preparation of Mate - Satyam
Marijane Osborne's Mate
Making Tea - Jim Muller Asks...
Making Tea - Jaap Fabriek's Family Secrets
At Kyle's House...
Making Tea in Grad School - Eleanor Marquis
Tea and Alcohol - Alice Gomez Asks...
Rum - Sarah Scott
Whisky - Sue Northcott
Harry Belafonte - Susan Wenger
Ray Martin's Two Suggestions
Rum and Chai and Bruce Trinque
Doug's Irish Uncle
Strong Sweet Tea
Alice Gomez Asks...
The Strong Sweet Replies
Alan Pond
Adam Quinan
Gary Brown
Philip Johnson
Sara Waterson
Martin Watts
Where to Order Tea Online
British Express
Harney & Sons Tea
Bettys & Taylors
Robert Wilson's Ceylon Teas
UK Tea Council Home Page
Tenren.com
Todd & Holland | Fine Loose Leaf Tea, Tea Gifts & Accessories
Upton Tea Imports
Chai
Description of Chai - Rowen
Chai is something like a very smooth tea, with lots of cream and sugar and spices. I think Barnes and Noble carries chai instant mixes, perhaps in their "Republic of Tea" line. It seems to be the "thing" with the high school group who used to go there for espresso or cappucino, and now go for chai.
MacKenna Charleson Agrees
Rowen's got the right of it. Chai is a very dense, dark Indian tea mixed with spices and then blended with hot (and sometimes foamed) milk. It tastes a bit of clove and cinnamon and is typically fairly sweet in itself or sweetened with honey.
I've been drinking chai at Indian restaurants for six years, but it recently hit the Starbuck's et. al. mass market line and one can buy it in grocery stores. I had a disappointing run with Celestial Seasonings Chai mix, so when someone requested Chai, I hoped someone here had come across a good one.
The Word "Cha" - Peter Mackay
I suggest that it is not a Russian word "cha", or an English "char", but an Asian word, which has been borrowed, in the same way that English has lifted anything remotely interesting out of a hundred different languages. Perhaps it is now a global word, much like TV or weekend?
Etymology of "Cha" and Tibetan Butter Tea - Andrew Midkiff
All of these come from the Chinese word "cha" for tea. Of course, it seems tea comes from northern India/Central Asia and spread from there so the original word, who knows. Perhaps Chai was the original and became Cha from there. More than I know.
Which I'm glad the Chinese decided not to drink tea with butter, onions and salt like the original drinkers did. And Tibetan Butter tea is an acquired taste to say the least, Marmite ain't in it.
Masala Chai, A Recipe - Mark Nicholls
For an upmarket chai a la Maddhur Jaffrey (not yer basic chaiwalla) try (yes now!):
Masala Chai
1-1/2 cups water
1 inch stick of cinnamon
8 cardomom pods
8 whole cloves
2/3 cup milk
6 tsp. sugar (or to taste)
3 teaspoons any unperfumed loose black tea
Put 1-1/2 cups water in saucepan. Add the cinnamon, cardomom, and cloves and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the milk and sugar and bring to a simmer again. Throw in the tea leaves, cover, and turn off the heat. After 2 minutes, strain the tea into two cups and serve immediately.
It is customary to tip the tea from cup to saucer from whence it may be slurped, dunking is de rigeur.
Iced Tea - Linda DeMars
Ice tea is very refreshing. I fill a big pitcher with COLD water, drop in a few or lots of tea bags (depending on size) and leave it for a few hours. Cut the paper tags off the bags, they make the tea bitter. No sugar, sometimes lemon or lime.
Russian Tea - Doug Essinger-Hileman
2 cups of Tang
1 3 oz. package lemonade mix
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup instant tea
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Mix and store in airtight container.
White Tea - Doug Essinger-Hileman
We had never had white tea before, but were intrigued by Upton's description:
"White teas undergo the least processing of any of type of tea; young leaves are dried to remove all moisture but preserve the delicate picking. Lighter in body than greens, a white tea yields a refined infusion that is naturally sweet."
We settled on the Mutan White Tea from China. We brewed our first pot according to the directions given on Upton's site (about 2 1/4 grams per cup, water temperature below boiling point, brewed for 2 1/2 minutes). This provided a liquor of light gold with the slightest hint of copper. While neither the aroma nor flavor were marked by great complexity, I found the simplicity (Upton's describes the flavor as being delicate) of the sweet tea to be pleasing.
This tea will become part of our standard cupboard, providing counterpoint to the bracing body of Assam and the complexity of Darjeeling.
Cambric Tea - Faith Ingles
Many years ago when I spent a year in England in a very poor Benedictine cloister that often could not afford tea (oh gasp!) we drank something they called "cambric tea". I am not sure how it would be spelled actually. Anyhow, it was hot water, milk (very creamy, it was, from our own cows) and sugar. Every now and then I still drink it. I love asking for hot water in Denny's and then fixing myself free cambric tea.
Sun Tea - Dee Johnson
Place a glass jug of cold water and tea bags in the sun for a few hours. The sun warms the water significantly and causes convection (bottom to top circular motion of the water) which really extracts wonderful flavor from good tea. And IMHO the tea tastes fresher for the water not having boiled.
How to Drink Russian Tea - Lois
Hold a sugar cube on your tongue, and sip the tea through it.
Or dip the cube in your tea, then suck the tea out of the cube.
You can do the same thing with vodka.
Old-fashioned Relief, Horehound Tea - Rowen
If you'd like to try horehound tea, pour a cup of boiling water over one teaspoon of dried horehound leaves and steep for ten minutes. Sweeten to taste. The candies are hard to find, and if you do find them, you'll see that they no longer come with a medicinal label. You can judge for yourself whether the ancients were right about horehound's ability to relieve a cough. You can also enjoy the candies just as a treat, although the sweet/bitter taste is unusual, to say the least.
Ginger Tea - Linnea
Last year I made gallons of ginger tea: fresh organic sliced ginger with a piece of vanilla bean, cinnamon, cardamon, nutmeg, orange peel, 2 whole cloves, simmered for however long I thought it should simmer in perhaps 2 to 3 cups water (allow for some of water to evaporate.)
After peeling and slicing, perhaps 8 slices of ginger to the pot, it might become too gingery with more.
I strained it into a Pyrex 2 cup pitcher elegantly wrapped with old tea towel and with plate on top to keep warm (I didn't want it in my teapot for some unknown reason) and then had it with lunch and supper, saved the spices and vanilla bean and added more cardamon next day and fresh (frozen) pieces of ginger, perhaps fresh (frozen) orange peel and whatever else I thought might need a refresh. If I got just the right "dew" on it, it would taste very sweet, I always added milk. (I'm drinking whole goat's milk now and it's like a milk shake!)
Sometimes I'd take the brew and add carob powder when it was stewed sufficiently in the water, adding the carob after straining, and then add milk when serving, delicious. I found out later that carob is high in protein. Anyway, it was a nice comforting drink.
Other folks can add honey or sugar but this was perfect for my sugar-free life.
John Bannon Asks About Teabags
Isn't it possible to buy 1st rate tea in tea bag form and avoid the floating leaves thing?
Doug Replies
This may be tea snobbery, Jeb, but I don't think so.
The "standard" tea one buys in the grocery stores in the US is, literally, the sweepings off the tearoom floor, which by this time is really tealeaf dust. The two problems with this are that the tea is of the lowest quality possible, and the smallness of the "leaves" makes for quick extraction, which favors a high level of tannin.
One can, indeed, buy a good quality tea in bag form, but I still find that the quality of the brew is inhibited by the bag. Full-leaf tea occupies a much higher volume than does the broken stuff, making it very difficult to get into a teabag. And for the tea to really shine, one needs to give the leaves the room to expand as it infuses; this expansion is often to three or four times the dry volume.
Still, one does not need to put up with floating leaves to use loose tea. There are any number of gadgets one can use to corral the leaves. The metal tea infusers one can get are better than bags but still not ideal. Better by far are the socks and strainers one can purchase at any number of places. The one we use was purchased at the local coffeeshop in Uniontown, PA -- which is not what I would call a hotbed of tea afficianado-dom. You can purchase them online at any number of tea retailers, including Upton Tea.
In addition to getting better quality by using loose tea with a sock or strainer, one also has the joy of mixing a custom blend. For instance, I love a mix of about 90% Assam of a very malty character with about 10% of a smoky Keemun for a cold winter day. The malty character gives a heartiness and the smokiness, reminding me of a campfire, seems rather appropriate for a cold winter day (or a crisp autumn morning, as well).
This is the second winter that I have made my own blend. Last year, I used a medium-bodied Assam from the Bamon Pookrie Estate in India with the top grade of China Keemun. This year, the Bamon Pookrie Assam isn't available through my standard online retailer, so I ordered a full-bodied Assam from the Harmutty Estate. This Assam has a nice malty character, but also a hint of chocolate which has made for a wonderful blend.
'Bush Tea' - Ian Watkins
To my mind 'Bush tea' is:
Drive some distance into the bush.
Collect some dry wood and clear a big area... must be careful of bushfires
Dig a hole approx 18 inches wide by 18 inched deep by 24 to 30 inches long and light a small camp fire in the bottom.
Put say a 2 liter [2 quart] billy of water onto the fire.
Bring to the boil. [A billy is a basically an open topped tin with a wire handle]
Using your floppy hat as an oven mitt -
Take off the fire.
Throw in a handful of 'Bushells' blue label tea [You can use others, Liptons, Twinings etc. but I think that 'Bushells' Blue label is the authentic one for this recipe.
Place back on the fire just long enough to bring back to the boil.
Remove.
Throw in two gum leaves.
Let stand for a couple of minutes.
Pick up by the handle.
Swing backwards and forwards building up into larger arcs
until you can swing it in a full circle a couple of times being careful not to spill any.
Remove gum leaves and pour into mugs.
Sugar and milk to taste but I have mine smoky and black.
Of course this takes some time and I generally find it quicker to use a Twinings Lapsang Souchong tea bag which is almost as good. [But actually I my favorite is Twining's 'Finest Ceylon' Darjeeling.]
Tea Suggestions
Tom Halsted Asks...
Who WAS Earl Grey, anyway? His tea is abominable.
MacKenna Charleson Answers...
Earl Grey tea is named after the second Earl Grey in 1830, during his spell as Prime Minister under William IV. There's a tale (apocryphal, perhaps) that on of the Earl's envoys saved the life of a Mandarin while on a diplomatic mission to China. This gentleman, in the tradition of the drowning men ever-honouring Jack Aubrey, showed his gratitude by sending the Earl Grey this particular blend of tea.
Earl Grey is blend of large-leafed China, Darjeeling, and ... yep ...oil of Bergamot.
I drink it, do like it, though it's not my favourite -- shocking my family by blending it with a small scoop of rose tea or strawberry-"flavoured" tea or both. I also offend tea purists by occasionally doing the aforementioned and adding ... milk. I've also tried this mix with a touch of Black Currant. The trick is to not overdo it on the added flavours (maybe a half-teaspoon of each per 6-cup pot).
When I do this, the cakes or biscuits must be very simple indeed. All the richness comes from the tea, and froufy cakes with lots of icing just won't "do". Toasted pound cake and butter works nicely.
Suggestions from Harry Clark
Which I am an outcast, instead drink tea by the quart, no herbal ("mouthwash", unless used like chamomile as soporific), no green, but proper fermented black tea in 1-pound foil pouches from Celestial Seasonings, fresh and fragrant: the fruity, inviting Earl Grey blend; the smoky, sultry Lapsong Souchong; the exquisite first flush Darjeeling, rushed like nouveau Beaujolais to Zingerman's in Ann Arbor...
Gunpowder - Susan Collicot
'Gunpowder' is a description of the physical aspect of a tea leaf. You have to say which gunpowder!
My personal favorite: Temple of Heaven Gunpowder tea.
Theo Gazulis Agrees With Susan
I admire your fortitude and willingness to suffer through a whole cup of Earl Grey (offal ain't in it). But Gunpowder, that's the ticket. I'd view it as the litmus test, Susan. If he doesn't adore the stuff, pitch him, leathers and all.
Suggestions from Tom Halstead
Lapsang Souchong is one of my favorites. So is Hu-Kwa, which may just be an ordinary black tea in a classy canister, but I like its smoky flavor.
Kyle Lerfald Defends Earl Grey
There are several differing blends-some more flowery than others. I'm fond of an occasional cup, but the stuff I get is blended here, and I don't think they ship. The blend here's made with lavender, if you can, try several differing brands before tossing out the Earl Grey. It's not bad iced.
Michael Mayer Likes Earl Grey, Too
I for one enjoy Earl Grey, as well as most of the other Twining's varieties. Different teas for different times. Favourites would be Prince of Wales and Yunnan (when available).
Vicky Watson's Defense of Earl Grey
Just felt I had to leap to the defence of Earl Grey. It's extremely refreshing - great in summer with a dash of lemon and a tiny bit of sugar/honey. And great with a tiny dash of milk. Good stuff.
Thoughts and a Questions from Bill Peschel
I've recently turned away from the bargain-basement teas and have started working my way through Twinings variety pack (five each of Earl Grey, Darjeeling, Orange Pekoe, Irish and English breakfast), and am looking for a bit of the 'hard stuff,' if you know what I mean.
Does anyone have any affection for Earl Grey? I have to drink the stuff -- I'm too cheap to throw away five sachets -- but I found the Irish and English breakfast teas far more to my liking.
Jay Reay Responds to Bill Peschel
Breakfast tea is quite strong - not to the standard of Gunpowder tea of course, but if left to infuse for six minutes or more, pretty close. The Irish blends are similar to Yorkshire blends in catering for the strong end of the taste market. It is often a blend of the very good but strong leaf from Kenya and Ceylon.
My trawler deck-hand and dock labouring days were always kick-started by a big belt from a strong cheap commercial multi-blend tea (PG Tips for example), two spoons per man (and one for the pot), left to "brew" in a big ironstone teapot for 10 minutes and served hot and sweet.
Earl Grey is disgusting. It is a marketing ploy to sell cheap blends, the poor taste disguised by bergamot oil. It stains paper nicely to make props for Shakespearian plays. The leaf, preferably unused, makes excellent compost.
Orange Pekoe is a variety, and Darjeeling is a location, so it is possible to have Darjeeling Orange Pekoe, of which the best is the young end leaves called Tips, Broken OP being used for good quality tea-bags. I love Darjeeling tea, lightly (3 minutes) infused, using good filtered water, poured boiling onto the leaf to release the oils; a slight touch of milk to cloud but not discolour or mask the taste. Truly the "Champagne" of tea, delicate but tasty.
In summer I very much like Japanese sencha, infused from the full leaf, not the very fine leaf whisked into a pretty bright green froth in the classic tea ceremony. The full leaf type looks like cabbage leaves when infused, and the tea tastes slightly lemony with gooseberry overtones, very refreshing served in tiny satsuma bowls, no additives. My guests are always slightly quizzical about it but most quickly decide they like it.
China tea - black leaf - is a superb accompaniment to Chinese food but I quickly tire of the perfume after the first three or four small cups.
Iced tea is best made, to my taste, with plain Ceylon or Kenya leaf, infused for 3-5 minutes and quickly chilled.
As with all diluted drinks (whisky, beer, cordials, tea, coffee), the absolute essential is the best quality water. I have a friend who makes tea and coffee with bottled still spring water from Scotland or Ireland. One reason why Jack and Stephen imbibe coffee is to disguise the taste of the old water, the poor standing quality of which was the main reason why sailors drank beer, wine and later rum in such quantities (old thread).
Yerba Mate
Mauricio Contreras
Yerba mate (no accent on the "e", but on the first syllable) Ilex paraguayensis. A very interesting link is Database Entry: YERBA MATE.
Argentines, Uruguayans, Paraguayans and Southern Brazilians drink it with a passion. I like to drink boiled mate, prepared as it were tea, as the more traditional method of pouring dried mate in a specially cured gourd, pouring hot but not boiling water to first dampen then soak the leaves and drinking the concoction through a fine metal tube that filters the mate leaves and twigs on one end (bombilla) is messy and tiresome unless you're in large groups.
I don't drink mate much: I'm more of a coffee person. My wife drinks a lot of mate while working. There's a liturgy of correct mate procedures. I expect my fellow Argentines on the list will have better pointers on curing mate gourds. People in my office are "cebando mate" most of the day in groups of three to five people. "Cebar" implies preparing a gourd with the right amount of ground yerba mate, moistened with hot water, with enough hot water for one person; you pass it around, one person per turn; each person sips a full load of hot water, must be less than a quarter-cup. When you finish your sip and suck all water from the prepared gourd, you promptly return it to the "cebador" the person whose job is to pour hot water and pass it to the next member of the group. "Cebar" supposes placing the correct amount of ground mate, placing the "bombilla" (metal tube you suck from it has a filter at one end) in the appropiate angle, pouring the correct amount of hot (never scalding or boiling) water that can be sweetened with sugar or left plain. Most people around me frown on sugar or sweeteners. Normally most groups have their Thermos bottle and a litre of hot water. Cleaning mate gourds is a mess, that's why some offices and companies actually prohibit preparing mate in office hours. There's nothing better for long chats or study groups than a steady supply of "mates".
Out camping, I have drank mate from discarded cans of cling peaches, empty glass yoghurt jars, or even wine glasses. Mate cocido does away with the gourd, mate is boiled in water for a minute or two, strained, and drank as tea. Personally I've prepared mate cocido much more times than I have "cebado mate".
I wonder how the Guaranies prepared yerba mate. The Jesuit missionaries in 17th century Paraguay had a lot to do with the diffusion of the practice of drinking mate.
Traditional Preparation of Mate - Satyam
I have my mate (gourd) on the left hand side of the keyboard and the thermos bottle to the right. In between sentences I will be most likely pouring (cebando) some water on the mate and sipping it dry. My mate is not a gourd as is traditional but a china that the bar "London City" (literally, I'm not translating) in downtown Buenos Aires (Peru y Av. de Mayo) sold commemorating their 50th anniversary. For hygienic reasons, bars cannot have real gourds they either have to use disposable or fully washable containers. Neither needs curing, but real gourds need some curing. There are lots of traditions and myths about it, but the basic idea is to fill the gourd with 'yerba' (herb) and let it penetrate the gourd so it overcomes its woody flavor. However, unless the gourd is freshly cut or improperly let to dry, most people won't be able to tell the difference, specially if it's the first time you are having mate. Anyway, it is not a bad idea to mature the gourd, but if you don't do it, it often makes no difference.
Mate refers both to the drink as a whole and specifically to the gourd or whatever container you use for it. Yerba comes from 'hierba' which in Spanish means 'herb' and is also used to refer to the kind you smoke. "Yerba mate", which is the full name, simply means herb to drink in the mate (container). Cebar is the action (art?) of pouring water on the mate. A 'cebador' is for 'mate' as a 'barista' is for coffee.
As for 'cebar' (pouring) the mate, it is better to follow the instructions for two reasons, the first one is that if you don't the holes in the filter at the tip of the 'bombilla' (metal straw) will clog and you won't be able to suck the mate through it. The reason to shake it is to make the finer pieces of ground yerba, the ones that get into the holes, to end at the top and the coarser to be at the bottom close to the tip of the filter. You also let the yerba pile on one side while putting the bombilla on the other for the same reason. One way to alleviate this problem is to buy Argentinian yerba 'con palo' instead of the Uruguayan variety which is usually 'sin palo'. Literally, it means with and without sticks and it refers to the grinding process. 'con palo' will be ground coarsely and it will have little pieces of the stem of the leaf, the 'palo' (stick) in it. Uruguayan yerba ('sin palo') is harder to use because it you don't follow the instructions it will soon clog the 'bombilla'. I am quite careless, not a good 'cebador' at all and can't use Uruguayan yerba. If it clogs, and it will, pull the 'bombilla' out and put it under the faucet to wash the pieces stuck in the holes, then place it once again in the gourd, on one side, pushing the 'yerba' to the other. Don't stir the mate with the 'bombilla', you will only worsen matters. Once the 'bombilla' is settled in a place where the water can flow freely, leave it there.
The other reason to pour as per the instructions is to make the taste even throughout, from the first to the last 'mate' from the same batch. The flavor will wash out over time, but a good 'cebador' will make it last longer. With the 'yerba' packed to one side, not all of it gets wet as much so you don't get those first mates as strong. As you go along, you start pouring water in the drier sections to pull the flavor of those unused sections.
So, that's the reason for so much ceremony. Yerba 'con palo' will spare you from much of the trouble and you'll be the judge of how strong you want it and decide upon the second. One thing you should never do is let the water simmer in the gourd for long. If you are drinking mate and the phone rings, sip it through the end at once, don't leave it for later, because the brew in there will get stronger and stronger and by the time you go back, it will be disgustingly strong and cold.
The nice thing about mate, if you are having it alone, is that it allows you to have brief sips of a hot drink for a long while. Instead of having a cup of tea which will get colder as the time goes by, the mate is always hot. You pour hot water from the thermos and drink it right then, just a sip each time for quite a long time. As Mauricio has written, you can get yerba mate in tea bags and have it like regular tea ('mate cocido') and you can even have it with milk, it is no more than another variety of herbal tea and in some places you will find it referred to as Paraguayan tea or Jesuit tea, since that is where the bush is native from and them who spread it.
If you are cooking in an open pit, you don't want your chair to be tall, it forces you to bend deeper. Workbenches were not the norm, usually you either worked standing or sitting on a tree stump with your tools laying in the floor around. An uncle of mine had such a small chair as you describe it was his chair for serving 'mate'. Mate is a variety of tea from Paraguay which is quite widespread in all of Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil and, of course, Paraguay. It is served in a dry gourd filled with the tea leaves, drank through a perforated metal straw that filters the infusion while drinking it. One person has the kettle with the hot water or, more often nowadays, a thermos bottle, and he fills it up and passes it to the next. Yes, they all share the same straw and each turn it is just a sip, it is not like a full cup of tea, most of the gourd is filled with the crushed leaves with little space left for the water. So the 'mate' (the gourd) goes back and forth. Why was his chair so short? Traditionally, mate was shared in the campfire, the kettle kept warm close to the fire, people would be seated around in tree stumps, stones, whatever they found, and my uncle chair was nothing more than a portable, lightweight tree stump. Where did he get that from? In many workshops, at mate-break, people would gather in some corner in a circle as if in a campfire, usually the kettle would stand in an electrical heater a few inches high. In the Navy it was quite frequent to see a solid brick with a groove in the shape of an M with an electrical heating element in it. I am an electrician so tinkering with such things was normal. In other workshops they would probably have improvised with whatever they had at hand. The brick would sit on the floor by the side of the guy serving. A tall chair would not do, small chairs, upside down wooden crates, toolboxes, all seating was low, which had another advantage, they would be below the level of the workbenches around, hidden from passing officers. My uncle got used to that. He would also work in that chair, he worked for a with leather: saddles, footballs with his tools spread in the floor around him. Funny thing, he was the least 'gaucho' of the three brothers, he being the only one born in Spain, my father and my other uncle both Argentinean.
Marijane Osborne's Mate
I grew up on it, my mother believing it had good health benefits, though now they know it contains some form of caffeine. Here in Davis you can get the loose leaves in our local good grocery store. I just put some in a mug and pour boiling water over, and let it steep as you do any tea, add sugar (I'm now using agave nectar in place of sugar in tea), milk or lemon if you like, and drink. No gourd (mate), nothing elaborate. Some people use a French press coffee maker or other devices.
Making Tea- Jim Muller Asks...
How should one make tea? In the parts of the US where I grew up, someone making tea not with tea bags would place tea in a metal tea ball over which one would pour hot water. The problem I see with that, as compared to a tea bag, is that all that metal would cool off the water rather quickly. My experience has been that tea brews up better if the water is as hot as possible. But then, what do I know?
Making Tea - Jaap Fabriek's Family Secrets
My Mum would pre-heat her porcelain (china) tea-egg/ball in the hot water, then dry it and fill it. Don't know why she dried it, probably not to moisten the tealeaves prematurely. All my many aunts did the same but never in a metal tea-ball, presumably fearing some metallic taste. I think all this was a family-tradition, learned from my GrandMa.
My Indonesian wife uses huge amounts of loose Chinese or Javanese leaves in a pot of at least 1 liter and wants to have nothing to do with Western 'innovations' like eggs or bags.
I drink unsweetened coffee black as my soul, tea being coloured water. Caffeine is what this man needs!
At Kyle's House...
Tea is good. Warm. "Relaxes the fibres" as Grandma would have it.
Good lifeline, tea.
The way it was made in my house when I was growing up, was to put a fresh kettle on, wait for the first notes, then quickly remove the water from the heat. Then grab the tea-pot (the white one, not the china) and slop a touch or two of water into it, swirl it around to heat the pot, then dump it and put the lid on... take the tea, and add a spoon of it for every cup (usually four), plus one for the pot...pour the water into the leaves, and lid the pot again, and slide the cosey over it for 5 or 10 minutes depending on the tea.
Get the cream from the 'fridge, set it at table with the sugar bowl. Slices of lemon on plate, if we had any. The strainer and slop-bowl. Still seems odd to call something so delicate a "slop-bowl."
I can see Mom sipping the tea, looking over the brim at me and talking. I realized the other day I have the same tea-drinking mannerisms. I also still shudder as she did in supercilious, snobbish horror when I, or anybody else, slap a tea-bag in a cup and drown the thing in hot water. That I am 'common as muck' doesn't matter- this is tea. That I almost exclusively use tea-bags these days doesn't matter either.
Mom took it all pretty seriously. When a nurse came for a day to take care of her (I forget why I wasn't going to be there, probably work) she was sitting
propped in the living room, and asked for a cup. Nurse Somebody leapt to her feet, and brightly announced "I'll make it!" and thundered into the kitchen,
grabbed a saucepan, threw a teabag into it, and turned on the tap.
Mom's face was a study, to say the least.
"Son...?" The note of command.
"Uh, I'll take care of that..." I made the tea, after dumping out the saucepan and washing it, putting it away. Nurse Somebody seemed confused. I had to leave, and I remember the look on Mom's face- a sort of "That Which Does Not Kill Us, Makes Us Stronger" sort of look, with capital letters and all. I felt a odd jolt of guilt as I left them.
Making Tea in Grad School - Eleanor Marquis
When I have time I will always use a tea pot for making tea. I get the water to just before boiling point, pour it over the leaves loose in a pre-heated pot. I then pour through the copper-and-wire strainer and into my mug. Voila! Or I use a tetusbin (a small cost iron pot with a built-in infuser).
Then I got my grad school schedule which required me to be at school from 9am to 9pm. There was no way I was going to keep a cup of tea brewed at home warm until I needed it in the evening and I was not going to lug my tetsubin with me to class. So I invested in a box of empty tea bags, which can be filled with your favorite loose tea. I was wary at first because it seemed like cheating, somehow. But, I'm a total convert! When in a pinch, these bags are a life-saver. The bags are big enough that the tea does get to expand and clean up is a cinch.
Tea and Alcohol - Alice Gomez Asks...
Lots of liquours, Scotches, whiskeys, whiskys, rums, wines (in the form of brandy and cognac) can be added to coffee, but is there any kind of alcohol that is routinely added to tea?
Rum - Sarah Scott
Rum. "Chai s rumom" in Eastern Europe. Hot strong tea, a shot of rum and a little sugar. Nothing like it on a bitter, sleeting fall day.
Whisky - Sue Northcott
Whisky goes very nicely in tea, even if only used to cover the taste of goat's milk (that was my excuse the first time).
Harry Belafonte - Susan Wenger
Marianne, Oh, Marianne,
Oh won't you marry me?
We will have a bamboo hut,
Brandy in the tea.
Ray Martin's Two Suggestions
It would have to be laudanum for me - I agree with POB that tea is an "insipid wash". Perhaps gin would just about leave tea potable, but 'twould be better with just the gin.
Rum and Chai and Bruce Trinque
On a cold night, we often add a dash of rum to a cup of tea. And sometimes we do the same with a brew made from powdered chai mix.
Doug's Irish Uncle
My wife's uncle, born in Ireland, used to regularly add whiskey, cream and sugar to his tea.
Strong Sweet Tea
Alice Gomez Asks...
Along with the A-to-Zed (A-Z) in recent British novels, there is a penchant for giving people under duress "strong sweet tea." I would have thought brandy was the universal panacea for trying times, but there is recent emphasis on non-alcoholic ... um ... brews.
So what is the classic British "strong sweet tea"? E.g., how strong? How sweet?
The Strong Sweet Replies
Alan Pond
Classic British tea is an Orange Pekoe and Black Kenyan Mix.
In pre-teabag days it was usual to put one teaspoon of tea in the pot, plus 'one-for-the-pot'. Add *boiling* water and let steep for 6 mins.
Strength is such that you can't see the bottom of the mug.
Add milk and sugar to taste (more sugar in a disaster situation).
Drink as hot as you can stand it - with practice you'll be able to drink it still scalding hot!
Adam Quinan
Loose leaf strong Indian tea (one teaspoon/cup plus one for the pot), brewed in a teapot for several minutes, poured into a china cup with saucer (a mug might do for a workman) and then add two or three lumps of sugar or equivalent in teaspoonfuls.
Gary Brown
Milk. Condensed, for the true working man / woman.
Philip Johnson
How strong? Insert a teaspoon vertically into the cup of tea. Release.
The spoon should a) remain vertical; b) descend slowly into the cup as it dissolves.
Sara Waterson
It's supposed to help with the shock of any kind of accident or severe fright, and the chill which this induces. The sugar provides a rise in one's blood sugar, to help counteract the effects of shock; and the heat of the tea helps the shivering. The caffeine in the tea helps kick-start the body back to life.
Almost all English people drink their tea with milk in it - there's nothing worse to most Brits than waking and finding you've run out of milk, or the milk has gone off, and there's none for your tea!
I really dislike drinking ordinary Assam etc as 'black' tea, though I do sometimes have China tea or Earl Grey without milk, and sweetened with honey rather than sugar. Sometimes I put milk in the Earl Grey, though never in China tea. I do take a very little sugar - about half a teaspoon - in my 'normal' tea; I've never been able to persuade myself to enjoy unsweetened tea, except in Chinese restaurants. And I hate strong tea - that awful taste when the tannin starts to take over - most Brits love it of course, especially the male of the species.
Hot sweet tea is served to blood donors here, to get them back on their feet asap. It's the universal British 'pick-me-up'.
Martin Watts
The classic recipe is one teaspoonful per person and one for the pot.
Sugar to taste, but I'd guess 2 or more. With milk.
It was the pick-me-up administered to blood donors when the needle was removed. Usually with a biscuit. In a wartime context for blitz victims the biscuit might not be available. In that case the tea and sugar would also be on ration so it might not be so strong or so sweet.
Which it's the Patrick O'Brian list of the world!