velvetpage (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
velvetpage) wrote2005-03-18 09:07 am
velvetpage) wrote2005-03-18 09:07 am
A cuppa tea!
I read with surprise that someone on my friends list, who shall remain nameless, was actually surprised to find that tea tasted better with milk than with cream. I asked myself: self, how is it possible to not know this? And my self answered: this poor unfortunate soul did not grow up with the benefit of a very-English grandmother to show her how to do it properly. My self pointed out that I was in a perfect position to enlighten this sad state of ignorance.
Accordingly, then, How To Make a Proper Cup of Tea (with variations)
1. Boil the water, preferably in an electric kettle. It must be actually bubbling when you go on to the next step.
2. Put tea bag into the teapot. (Note: teapot and kettle are two separate items. Do not simply insert tea bag into the kettle!)
3. Pour still-bubbling water over the tea bag. Number of tea bags varies according to taste, but the rule of thumb is one tea bag for two cups of tea.
4. Put the lid on the teapot and allow tea to steep for two to four minutes, again depending on taste. Any longer than four minutes and it will get bitter. Any less than two and you might as well just be pouring the water over a teabag in a cup. (Who on earth makes tea like that? Sheesh!!)
5. This is important enough to warrant its own step: do not squeeze the teabag or stir the tea to make it stronger. It will certainly make it stronger, but it will also make it bitter.
6. Pour steeped tea into a teacup. (Purists say the cup requires a saucer. My only requirement is that it be the right size. I often use coffee mugs for this. My grandmother would be spinning in her grave at that admission, but there you have it.)
7. Add sugar, milk, or lemon juice to taste. (Note: cream does not appear in that list, nor does whitener. Cream overpowers the flavour and brings out every last bitter note in the tea. It's just gross. Nothing heavier than 2% is acceptable for a good cuppa.) Certain flavours of tea require less of these items than others. I do not, for example, put milk in Earl Grey. I put extra milk in Chai.)
8. Drink when it is just cool enough not to burn your tongue.
Warning: do not use leftover tea by warming it up in the microwave. It will be black as tar and very bitter. The only acceptable uses for cold tea are watering African Violets and staining paper for history projects. It works very well for both of these, though.
So there you have it. Velvet's English Black Tea Method, from a second-gen British emmigrant.
Accordingly, then, How To Make a Proper Cup of Tea (with variations)
1. Boil the water, preferably in an electric kettle. It must be actually bubbling when you go on to the next step.
2. Put tea bag into the teapot. (Note: teapot and kettle are two separate items. Do not simply insert tea bag into the kettle!)
3. Pour still-bubbling water over the tea bag. Number of tea bags varies according to taste, but the rule of thumb is one tea bag for two cups of tea.
4. Put the lid on the teapot and allow tea to steep for two to four minutes, again depending on taste. Any longer than four minutes and it will get bitter. Any less than two and you might as well just be pouring the water over a teabag in a cup. (Who on earth makes tea like that? Sheesh!!)
5. This is important enough to warrant its own step: do not squeeze the teabag or stir the tea to make it stronger. It will certainly make it stronger, but it will also make it bitter.
6. Pour steeped tea into a teacup. (Purists say the cup requires a saucer. My only requirement is that it be the right size. I often use coffee mugs for this. My grandmother would be spinning in her grave at that admission, but there you have it.)
7. Add sugar, milk, or lemon juice to taste. (Note: cream does not appear in that list, nor does whitener. Cream overpowers the flavour and brings out every last bitter note in the tea. It's just gross. Nothing heavier than 2% is acceptable for a good cuppa.) Certain flavours of tea require less of these items than others. I do not, for example, put milk in Earl Grey. I put extra milk in Chai.)
8. Drink when it is just cool enough not to burn your tongue.
Warning: do not use leftover tea by warming it up in the microwave. It will be black as tar and very bitter. The only acceptable uses for cold tea are watering African Violets and staining paper for history projects. It works very well for both of these, though.
So there you have it. Velvet's English Black Tea Method, from a second-gen British emmigrant.
no subject
I was utterly amazed when Martha Stewart showed how to make a proper pot of tea on her show one day. I watched in disbelief as she said "I like to warm the teapot, first" -- because seriously, I thought everyone did that (in any case, warming a teapot is not a Martha invention!!!). More to the point, I figured anyone who drinks tea knows how to make a pot of it... but obviously not.
But that probably comes from being not-too-far-removed from the Old Country -- Scots drink as much tea as the English, that's for sure!
no subject
I like my tea in a ceramic PINT mug. Or a BIG (yes 1 pt) cup. And I take my time over drinking it. Cold tea tastes OK when you are thirsty.
My grandfather used to take a jug of tea down into the Anderson shelter at the end of the garden during the Blitz so I've been told. Generates a family liking for cold tea.
As to teabag in the cup and pour on hot or worse boiling water...damnit those people deserve the scalded tongue that results.
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I usually do warm the pot, but I do it because I'm cleaning the old tea out of it before making the new pot.
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We had a chap at work who applied the principle to his tea mug until the Health & Safety officer condemned it. This would be the late '70s early '80s when political correctness infested H&S thinking....
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Sorry. it's one of those habits that Mum has stuck to throughout her life and the life of every nice damned non stick pan I've ever bought.
Oh, and our teapot is a dark brown traditional Sadler of a type no longer made.
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My Scottish cousin-in-law drinks tea almost constantly, and the same way the rest of the family does. It was one of the things that brought them together - they were two ex-pats in the States, and the Americans laughed at the way they made tea!
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I understand about the pot-after-pot method of warming. It speaks to your love of the leaf. :)
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