Enjoying a cup of tea

[shindeco]

Okay, you've inspired me to go to the kitchen and brew up a cup...but wait, what do you like with your tea...honey, sugar, milk, cream...or, without any complications? Does it depend on the tea and the preference of the imbiber? My Scottish grandparents always added cream and sugar which made tea enjoyable to me, even as a child. Does tea have a "shelf life"? Should it be stored in a moist environment to prevent dry out? I've brewed bone dry tea with no apparent ill effect.

It does have a shelf life but it lasts for quite a long time. It should be stored in an air-tight container; definitely don't want it in a moist environment, that would cause it to mold! Try not to keep it too close to coffee or spices as it will absorb the flavours (unless you like flavoured tea...)

I drink it straight up, personally. Tea is very "forgiving"; you can add whatever seems right for you.

 

[Burma Shave]

If you don't mind a little fungus...

... in your tea, and if you're looking for health benefits, try some Pu-erh (sometimes called Pu-erhcha, but "cha" just means tea).

"Fungus, yum! I think I might go grab a cup right now," someone said a couple of posts ago. I don't think there's an actual fungus in Pu-erh, but it certainly smells as if there is. Pu-erh has long considered medicinal in China, and has actually been shown in tests to reduce cholesterol, help burn fat, and to have other health benefits.

Pu-erh is aged for between one and four years, usually underground (such as in a cave) after it has been dried and semi-fermented. If you've ever spent any time in a cave, you know what it cave mud smells like, back away from the surface. That's the smell the tea picks up. However, when I have a cold, or an upset stomach or am otherwise feeling dowly, Pu-erh is the tea I turn to. It can be purchased in brick or "ball" form, with just enough crumbled off for each pot, or you can buy it loose. I prefer it loose, in coarse leaf form, rather than the finer leaves.

Its biggest benefit, as far as I can tell: It aids digestion -- and so may fit the same beneficial description as the aforementioned tea with fungus.

 

[Alan Eardley]

Oh, no!

I have heard the Phrase That Is Never To Be Used...the verb that should not be allowed out in public in relation to the sacred drink... 'To drink (sic) tea'.

One does not 'drink' tea. One drinks coffee, whiskey, beer, water and almost every other liquid, but not tea. One TAKES tea, doesn't one?

This relates to the time when tea was regarded as medicinal in Europe. You take a pill, you take medicine etc, so you take tea. In transport cafes all over England you will hear big hairy lorry drivers (truckers) politely enquire, 'Will one take a cup of char?' ('Char' from Tchai or Cha).

MK, Typhoo is a common English Breakfast tea. It's a kind of 'everyday' tea, bland but inoffensive. You can drink it all day. The best blend of such tea, however, (IMHO) is Yorkshire Tea. The tea most likely to be served in 'Westernised' hotels in India, Pakistan and Kashmir (oh, to go back to Shrinagar!) is Liptons.

Now, why was milk first put into tea?

 

[vespasian]

Being thoroughly patriotic about being from Yorkshire (Yorkshire lad born and bred, strong in arm, thick in head) It has to be Yorkshire tea for me. Actually its a blend of a number of teas to make a more palatable taste, generally preferred strong with a dash of milk and a bit of sugar. Has to be drunk (in Yorkshire no-one would say take tea or they would be in the running for a right good kicking, what next? blokes washing, using shampoo! By heck no!).

Oh and have it with a chocolate biscuit, but when youre at least 70 you can add a slug of whiskey or brandy. By that time in Yorkshire your taste buds are so shot away with black pudding, lung disease from working down't pit or from gossiping at your front gate, you need that extra dash of summat strong or you wont taste nowt.

Ta'ra.(bye)

 

[Salv]

I've settled on Yorkshire tea as well, having tried all the usual blends by Typhoo, Tetley and Sainsburys Red and Gold own-brand blends. A splash of milk, no sugar, and a chocolate Hob Nob make it perfect. If I have cereal and toast for breakfast, or the very rare Full English, I always have tea to drink with it, and tea goes perfectly with fish and chips, or pie and mash. It's very easy to brew blended tea well and I haven't had to experiment with different methods like I had to do with my coffee.

I used to cycle a lot with a local cycling club, and the Sunday morning club runs always had a half-way point tea stop. Tea never tastes as good as it does after 20-25 miles on a bike in the winter cold, with a couple of toasted tea cakes liberally smeared with butter.

 

[ProperRogue]

I found them at Old Town Coffee, Tea and Spice in Alexandria, VA, but recently moved to South Carolina. I guess I'll need to get a different source,now.

Burma, since I live in Old Town, I walk by Old Town Coffee, Tea and Spice on Union Street on about a weekly basis. Let me know if you can't find it someplace else or order it off the net, we could always set something up.

 

[ProperRogue]

If in DC...

If you travel and you find yourself in DC, a couple of "tea events" you should try. First, afternoon tea at the Hay Adams Hotel or the Jefferson Hotel are wonderful relaxing pleasures. Then of course there is the Willard for afternoon tea. They are all worth trying and as much fun as watching the Congressmen and staffers trying to impress everyone during breakfast at Old Ebbet's.

The other event you should try is having lunch at Teaism. There are three locations in DC, one behind Lafayette Square near the White House, and they have some wonderful Japanese lunchs and binto boxes that involve green tea.

 

[Speedster]

30'ies style teapots

For all you teadrinkers out there the dutch company Bredemeijer is still producing insulated teapots basically unaltered from the 30'ies.

A link to them: http://www.bredemeijer.com/templates/mercury.asp?page_id=1491

Speedster

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Given Winston Churchill's drinking habits, probably his whiskey was taken (?) with a shot of tea.

With black tea, i like a spot of milk - takes off some of the bitterness that you get in some blends. Earl Grey & Lapsang Souchong milkless. Never sugar. I can't stand sweet tea.

My students are disgusted by the smell of the Lapsang. I was introduced to it by a friend in undergraduate, and i've never looked back.

I've been thinking of experimenting with keeping tea in a cigar humidor - in a sealed bag, of course. I don't drink nearly as much as i used to and i find a lot of my teas getting beyond their shelf life. Maybe the humidor will help. A little fungus never hurt anyone, right?

bk

 

[Salv]

Excellent link Speedster, thanks very much. The Cosy Manto is a very nice looking pot, and I've just emailed them to see if I can get one in the UK.

 

[Speedster]

Excellent link Speedster, thanks very much. The Cosy Manto is a very nice looking pot, and I've just emailed them to see if I can get one in the UK.

We have had the Cosy (1.3 litre) for about 20 years and bought a Cosy Manto (0.6 litre) last year. The Cosy Manto was on sale for DKK 600 (about GBP 55) over here. So can only recommend them.

Speedster

 

[geo]

I drink 4-6 cups everyday. I like anything from Twinning, with a preference for Lapsang Suchong. Sadly, I haven't been able to find any Lapsang Suchong lately. I also sometimes drink green Chinese tea, for a change. I think it is of capital importance to drink black tea from English china cups and Chinese green tea from chinese cups.

 

[Burma Shave]

Thank you...

...ProperRogue, for the offer! I'll probably get up there in a month or so to visit some friends, and a stop at the Old Town store will certainly be on my agenda for the weekend. I have one full quarter-pound tin of the Lapsang remaining, and that will probably last me till then, as long as I also sometimes drink some of the other 20-odd teas I have on hand.

That said, if I PM you when coming up there, maybe we can meet up and do an "expedition" about the shop for others on Fedora Lounge. I think some photos of their establishment would be in order. It certainly has an old-world (as well as Old Town) feel about it. Barring that, sometime in a few months (depending on how much I can afford when I'm there in the near future) I may take you up on the offer.

Baron Kurtz: I would advise against the humidor for tea storage, unless you decide to turn off the actual humidifier device. Tea should be stored in an air-tight container -- and if it's actually air-tight, there wouldn't be any moisture getting to the tea, right? And if you're going to not humidify the humidor, you may as well just store your teas in a nice wooden box. That said, if you happen to have an extra humidor sitting around, let me know and I'll trade you a pretty wooden box for it!

Seriously, too much humidity or moisture can cause tea to mold. And while extraneous vegetal growth is essential for cheese and to be expected in some specialized teas, you wouldn't want the majority of your teas to suffer detrimental effects. I have some teas on hand that I've had for upwards of three years, properly sealed, and they still brew wonderfully. I wouldn't worry much about shelf life.

 

[ProperRogue]

Thank you for a great discussion about tea - too bad it wasn't over a cup of tea.

Burma Shave - I would PM you but I haven't made it through the initiation yet. Just let me know when you are in town and if I am not traveling, I will take you up on that.

I wonder how many people drank tea, as compared to coffee, in the 40's. According to the family historian my great uncle was a coffee drinker before the war. After serving as a liaison to and fighting along side the British and Australian armies for most of the war, he never drank another cup. I am not sure I completely agree with him, according to my aunt, he said he couldn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t stand coffee and the only civilized hot beverage was tea. Her favorite joke was maybe it wasn't his cup of tea.

Anyways, back to my book and cup of tea...

 

[photobyalan]

... in your tea, and if you're looking for health benefits, try some Pu-erh (sometimes called Pu-erhcha, but "cha" just means tea).

"Fungus, yum! I think I might go grab a cup right now," someone said a couple of posts ago. I don't think there's an actual fungus in Pu-erh, but it certainly smells as if there is. Pu-erh has long considered medicinal in China, and has actually been shown in tests to reduce cholesterol, help burn fat, and to have other health benefits.

Pu-erh is aged for between one and four years, usually underground (such as in a cave) after it has been dried and semi-fermented. If you've ever spent any time in a cave, you know what it cave mud smells like, back away from the surface. That's the smell the tea picks up. However, when I have a cold, or an upset stomach or am otherwise feeling dowly, Pu-erh is the tea I turn to. It can be purchased in brick or "ball" form, with just enough crumbled off for each pot, or you can buy it loose. I prefer it loose, in coarse leaf form, rather than the finer leaves.

Its biggest benefit, as far as I can tell: It aids digestion -- and so may fit the same beneficial description as the aforementioned tea with fungus.

I'm also a big fan of Pu-erh. I get mine, and quite a bit of other teas like Jasmine Green, from Ten Ren. I particularly like their whole leaf tea bags. They are vastly superior to regular tea bags, yet with all the same convenience.

 

[Kt Templar]

THE best cup of (English/Indian) tea I ever had was in a mug in a pie and mash shop. It's brewed in one of those huge aluminum teapots with an industrial sized teabag I think they put the milk in too. The water must be hot to make good tea they use one of those standing urns it is as close to on the boil you can get when it hits the tea. Add sugar. It's so hot you've finished your Pie and Mash before you can drink it. Fabulous. Have no idea what blend - Caff Tea!

If you are talking Chinese tea then try Tit Kwoon Yum, a type of Oolong straight in a chinese tea cup (the kind with the lid) is one of my favourites too. or loose leaves in a proper china tea pot and little cups. Never drink Chinese or Japanese tea with milk or sugar.

But the most important thing with tea. The water MUST be very hot otherwise you get a grey lifeless tasteless brew. "Bring the pot to the kettle not the kettle to the pot" as the saying goes.

Oh, if you can't decide between tea or coffee you can always do what they do in caf?ɬ©s in Hong Kong and mix the two and drink it with evaporated milk and sugar. They call it Yin Yang. (Horrific stuff by the way! ). They use Indian tea for this.

 

[BellyTank]

Well- my Father-in-Law just dropped off my latest consignment of tea, hot off the 'plane from Delhi. This parcel consisted of Lipton's (Green Label)Darjeeling(Long leaf) and Lopchu (Darjeeling) Orange Pekoe.
Not the most exotic selection but a welcome delivery nonetheless...

I have just made a pot using equal proportions of the two and the result is excellent- really tasty and fressh and fragrant.

Lipton Darjeeling loose tea is sometimes available in well stocked grocers', even though it seems to be for the Indian market- keep yer eyes open for it- it REALLY is good.

I actually met Mr.Twining (the most recent of 10 generations) at a supermarket tea tasting, here in Copenhagen yesterday and he served me a cup.... which was nice.

BaronKurtz-
the addition of milk to tea is one of those mysterious alchemical transmogrifications- if you sniff and taste a certain tea or blend without milk, then add milk and try again, a whole new world of flavour and bouquet opens before your very nose. Same goes for sugar- some of the flavours aren't realised without milk and sugar.

B
T

 

[GA Wildlifer]

Tea time is a wonderful workday addition

I was introduced to tea time when I had a client in London a few careers ago. At first, I thought it was an inefficient, waste of time to stop everything and just chat, sip tea and eat "bikkies"... two times a day! I soon found out tea time is when I really got to know everyone in the office well enough to really get something done. It turned out to be highly productive. Besides, it is fun.

 

[Alan Eardley]

BaronKurtz-
the addition of milk to tea is one of those mysterious alchemical transmogrifications- if you sniff and taste a certain tea or blend without milk, then add milk and try again, a whole new world of flavour and bouquet opens before your very nose. Same goes for sugar- some of the flavours aren't realised without milk and sugar.

B
T

BT,

Ah, so true, but no one has answered my original question. Why did English people start the practice of putting milk in tea in the 18th Century? It wasn't to do with flavour...

A

 

[Baron Kurtz]

the addition of milk to tea is one of those mysterious alchemical transmogrifications- if you sniff and taste a certain tea or blend without milk, then add milk and try again, a whole new world of flavour and bouquet opens before your very nose. Same goes for sugar- some of the flavours aren't realised without milk and sugar.

So i've heard. I guess i've been turned particularly against the practice by the wife of an Indian colleague, who refuses to make a cup of tea sans: a gallon of milk ... and a mountain of sugar. My sweet tooth is not so well developed as to stand such exposures.

bk