"A Nice Cup of Tea", by George Orwell (1946) [ http://pastebin.com/g3FSzqPv ] If you look up ‘tea’ in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several ofthe most important points. This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as…
....Thanks for the content, but could you put this in a pastebin, or link to a source?
Tea (1999)
11–20 of 41 posts
Re: Tea (1999)
#12We need better sieves. Tea-balls are awful, and the vast majority of tea sieves are these tiny little mesh buckets that affix to the top of the kettle, meaning they only even touch the water if the kettle is completely filled. Then, to boot, they are so woefully undersized (probably for the sake of making them easy to fit into the pot) that the tea leaves barely have any place to bloom. The result is a very weak tast…
I just don't worry about straining the leaves. A lot of teas will helpfully sink to the bottom of your cup where they are trivially easy to avoid. This probably requires using whole leaf tea for a good experience.
Re: Tea (1999)
#13We need better sieves. Tea-balls are awful, and the vast majority of tea sieves are these tiny little mesh buckets that affix to the top of the kettle, meaning they only even touch the water if the kettle is completely filled. Then, to boot, they are so woefully undersized (probably for the sake of making them easy to fit into the pot) that the tea leaves barely have any place to bloom. The result is a very weak tast…
http://www.bodum.com/gb/en-us/shop/detail/1970-01/
Huge plastic ( or metal ) basket that fills almost the whole teapot. Perfect for European style brewing of green tea, flowering teas, black tea, and all sort of brewing habit ( leave the leaves in, remove them, multiple steeps ... )
Not good for pu erh or asian style brewing in general. But if you are into that, you already know what to use.
Re: Tea (1999)
#14This is absolutely incorrect. The best thing you can do to enhance your tea-drinking experience is to buy good tea, and good tea is invariably brewed off the boil, usually somewhere between 170-200F, depending on the tea.[0] Higher temperatures will extract too much tannin at the expense of aromatics. The British generally drink shit tea and then add milk to it, which is why they can get away with brewing it at 212F.
Remember that the British experience with tea dates back only to the 17th century, whereas the Chinese and Japanese have had much longer to refine the growing, processing, and drinking of tea.
Re: Tea (1999)
#15We need better sieves. Tea-balls are awful, and the vast majority of tea sieves are these tiny little mesh buckets that affix to the top of the kettle, meaning they only even touch the water if the kettle is completely filled. Then, to boot, they are so woefully undersized (probably for the sake of making them easy to fit into the pot) that the tea leaves barely have any place to bloom. The result is a very weak tast…
I just don't worry about straining the leaves. A lot of teas will helpfully sink to the bottom of your cup where they are trivially easy to avoid. This probably requires using whole leaf tea for a good experience.
If you make it in a pot, wait for it to draw fully and then pour it slowly you will get very few leaves in the cup anyway. Also tea is relatively cheap so don't be afraid to spend a little on quality.
Re: Tea (1999)
#16We need better sieves. Tea-balls are awful, and the vast majority of tea sieves are these tiny little mesh buckets that affix to the top of the kettle, meaning they only even touch the water if the kettle is completely filled. Then, to boot, they are so woefully undersized (probably for the sake of making them easy to fit into the pot) that the tea leaves barely have any place to bloom. The result is a very weak tast…
These laser cut stainless steel strainers are great:
http://www.forlifedesign.com/shop/index.php?main_page=produc...
I've had one of the single cup strainers for a few years. They're durable, easy to clean, and sit perfectly in most mugs.
Re: Tea (1999)
#17In fact the truth of the matter is that most English people don't know how to make tea any more either, and most people drink cheap instant coffee instead, which is a pity, and gives Americans the impression that the English are just generally clueless about hot stimulants. When you're using water that's 212 degrees, and measuring by teaspoon rather than weight, and suggesting porcelain will hold the heat the longest…
My grandmother drank earl grey and other commodity black tea with milk and two cube of sugar for 80 years. I acquired the taste from enjoying my time with her.
Why get upset about it? There's no ignorance to liking what you like.
Re: Tea (1999)
#18This is absolutely incorrect. The best thing you can do to enhance your tea-drinking experience is to buy good tea, and good tea is invariably brewed off the boil, usually somewhere between 170-200F, depending on the tea.[0] Higher temperatures will extract too much tannin at the expense of aromatics. The British generally drink shit tea and then add milk to it, which is why they can get away with brewing it at 212F.…
This is correct. Boiling water scalds the tea giving it a burnt-out taste. Of course this depends on the tea. I find it less true for black tea such as Darjeeling (my personal favorite), but for green tea it is absolutely imperative or lest the liquid produced be undrinkable.
All this talk about boiling water must have to do with the pathetic quality of the tea being used, like hotness masks the flavor of inferior saki.
Re: Tea (1999)
#19This is absolutely incorrect. The best thing you can do to enhance your tea-drinking experience is to buy good tea, and good tea is invariably brewed off the boil, usually somewhere between 170-200F, depending on the tea.[0] Higher temperatures will extract too much tannin at the expense of aromatics. The British generally drink shit tea and then add milk to it, which is why they can get away with brewing it at 212F.…
Converting the mentioned temperatures to Celsius:
170–200°F = 76.6–93.3°C
212°F = 100°C
Re: Tea (1999)
#20[deleted]