Teach me about tea

[SonicWaffle]

So tell me, what do I need to do to make good tea?

Just to throw out the English view; you need a kettle, a mug, a teabag and a spoon. That's it. Some heretics add sugar, but ignore them. That's all you need for a good cuppa.

EDIT: and milk, obviously. You need milk.

 

[Noswad]

Boil water, warm mug, place tea bag in mug, leave for 2-5 minutes, remove tea bag, add milk.
Note some people add sugar this is wrong, if you sea anyone attempt this try and correct them, if they refuse your wisdom dispose of them.

On a more serious note i quite enjoy Indian and Chinese style tea, a while back i brought some Jasmine tea from a Chinese shop and i swear the stuff must have drugs or something in it, halfway down the mug you suddenly decide that despite being midday it is definitely bedtime.

 

[Teoes]

Allow me to refer you to A Nice Cup of Tea by George Orwell.

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 of the most important points.
This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays - it is economical, and one can drink it without milk - but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase 'a nice cup of tea' invariably means Indian tea.
Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities - that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.
Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.
Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes - a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.
Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.
Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.
Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.
Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup - that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one's tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.
Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.
Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.
Lastly, tea - unless one is drinking it in the Russian style - should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tealover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.

Some people would answer that they don't like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.
These are not the only controversial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one's ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.

I would only really disagree with this to say that various green, black, red, etc. teas from China and Japan can be fantastic.

 

[Psychobabble]

While I'm sure I'd get a right ding upside the ear if my Gran ever heard me confess this, I find the Russian zavarka method to be superior to all other forms of tea making.

 

[shootthebandit]

Step 1: boil kettle in anticipation
Step 2: get a mug, preferably big one
Step 3: pick up tea bag
Step 4: careful put tea bag in a bin
Step 5: put coffee in mug
Step 6: add boiling water

Bonus step 1: put cigarette in mouth
Bonus step 2: light cigarette

Coffee and a cigarette is a damn good combo

 

[Teoes]

Lots of people spend a significant amount of time thinking about every detail of the preparation. Do you put in the milk first, or last? Should you pull the bag up and down or just let it sit? What material should the vessel you brew in be made of? The reality is that all of this is in their head, and no one would be able to tell if a tea was brewed in a metal pitcher with the milk already in or in a china pitcher while pulling the bag up and down. These people also often drink only tea brewed on supermarket individual tea bags that taste bad no matter what you do with them.

As you have already said yourself, you need a tea strainer (boule à thé) since buying tea that way is a lot cheaper. If you find a store that sells asian food products you can ask them if they have tea. You can get a very nice loose leaf tea for the same price as super market individual tea bags.

Sorry but I can tell. When milk's gone in the mug first, when the water wasn't at the right temperature to infuse the tea properly, when the teabag's not been left in long enough, I can tell. Most times I can tell just by looking. There's a lot of people in my office I won't take a cup of tea from, as I know it'll just be rotten. Saves them some effort, so everyone's happy.

 

[RobotDinosaur]

Another idea for a tea that's good by itself (no milk or sugar), at least in my opinion, is earl grey. It's smoother and less bitter than other black teas.
You can get a lot of mileage out of decent quality tea bags and an electric water pot. I use this and can make tea without leaving my desk at work.
If you're making loose-leaf tea: I have something comparable to this: http://bodum.bodum.com/us/en-us/shop/detail/11100-01BUS/?navid=626 , and it's fantastic for making tea at your desk. (Don't be fooled by the description, it says it's a coffee press but it makes loose leaf tea just fine.) I'm also a fan of infusers in this style: http://www.tealuxe.com/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,tealuxe-hg-flypage.tpl/product_id,576/category_id,12/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,3/ . Basically a mesh cup that you nest in a tea mug. I prefer these to the boules, for me they don't seal well and a lot of leaves sneak out and you end up picking them out of your teeth while you drink.
Tealuxe (tealuxe.com) has a wide selection of loose-leaf teas. Huge fan of the Creme de la Earl Grey. They have a shop near me that I go get things from, but they also ship teas to you. Teavana is a much larger chain, they might have a location near you. I don't like their teas as much, but they're solid.

 

[Jedamethis]

I tend to follow directions that I got from Douglas Adams, I think.
Boil kettle.
Pour water in cup.
Put tea bag in.
Beat the everloving shit out of that teabag. Crush it with a spoon, whack it around a bit, squash it against the side, then take it out with the spoon, hold it above the tea, lick your thumb, and squeeze.
Put tea bag in bin.
Add milk or sugar if you want.
Ignore tea until it's cooled enough to not burn your tongue.
Drink.

 

[antidonkey]

My ex-wife was way more into tea than I ever was. Her thing was chai and even had one of those metal ball things with the holes in it. She loved it but all I ever saw was a device that was a pain to clean an left bits all over the bottom of the cup. I'm perfectly fine with sticking to the bagged variety you find in a box at the grocery store. I'm a sucker for lemon green tea and orange spice. I tend to only drink them during the winter months as a cup of hot tea when it's 100 degrees outside isn't overly appealing regardless of much I enjoy the flavor.

 

[loc978]

Ever since I bought one of these

[http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/96bb/]
I've never gone back to a pot or bags (though I do boil the water in an electric water heater... a teapot and range could fill that role). As for the tea leaves themselves, if there's an asian market in or near your town, I recommend searching it for loose-leaf tea. If not... err... damn.

My favorite teas are generally rooibos red teas in the evening, black teas in the morning (there's one from Thailand that I get locally that is awesome).

The brits around will tell you different, but I've always despised milk and sugar in tea... and coffee, for that matter. Water and leaves (or grounds) is my specialty.

What foul sorcery is this?

One never boils water in a teapot, one boils water in kettle.

Aromatic teas such as earl gray or green tea are not good with milk or sugar. lemon or perhaps a little honey can be pleasant.

More general purpose blended black teas like English breakfast tend to be very strong and need modifiers, what you use is up to you, but it's very common in England to use milk and sugar in strong tea, often brewed that way deliberately.

Having gotten delicate in my old age I tend to drink Lady grey with a little honey.

My apologies, haven't studied the traditional stuff, so when the pot calls the kettle black, I can't tell them apart.

As for English breakfast tea, I've had it, and prefer it black. I also prefer espresso shots black, and whiskey neat. Just a personal thing, the taste of tea (no matter how strong) with milk in it makes me retch a little. Honey is fine, though.

 

[wulfy42]

I am a tea fan, especially black tea (although I like some of the wood based teas as well).

Some of you might consider what I'm going to say next as sacrilege...but bare with me.

I've brewed tea for years both loose and from the bag. I ended up becoming a bit lazy and just going with bags mostly (mostly english breakfast teas)...because the taste was not THAT different (Also Darjiling teas).

But about a year or so ago....I tried the tea from Kurieg (it's a coffee maker/website). I had bought it for my wife because she loves coffee....and you got a free 6 pack with every 4 boxes you bought...so I decided to try their tea.

I use the most popular black tea they have..can't remember the name right now.

Anyway...it was better then the bags (it's a bit more expensive then quality bags but not much more). I believe it's about $1 a cup on average for me. It is made almost instantly (less then 60 seconds) and it's always yummy with no clean up etc.

It's far more expensive then if you go with bulk bags of tea (especially if you wait on sales). Safeway has generic tea bags for something like 100 for $2 when on sale. I didn't think the taste was nearly as good though, so I usually went with the high quality tea bags (somewhere around 50 cents a bag).

Still the Kurieg K-cup are delicious...and since I just get my tea in combo with my wifes coffee...I end up getting a free value pack (think it's like 7 cups) per month (the box comes with like 28...so it's enough for me to have 1 cup a day with a bit extra for days I want 2 cups.

Each K-cup makes a nice large amount of tea btw...equivalent to 2 bags. I bought a Kurieg machine that lets you choose the size so I go for 16 ounces and it's quite yummy.

I still use bags/loose tea on occasion (especially when not making black...but I generally have a cup of black every day). I'll make green, or a wood tea if we are having chineese for instance etc.

Anyway just thought I'd mention Kurieg since it really has made it easier for me to have tea every day

 

[Hawk of Battle]

Boil kettle.
Teabag in BIG mug.
Add boiling water as quickly as possible (any delay between the kettle clicking off and water hitting teabag is unnacceptable).
Add milk to adjust to preferable strength level.
Remove bag.

No suger. No herbal bullshit. No straining, infusers, or other strange devices. Anyone who adds milk first is a heretic and should be shot on sight.

I am british, and therefore more qualified than any non-british, and 90% actual british people on this subject.

 

[Kinitawowi]

The standard joke is that Americans don't get tea because they don't know how to boil water. It's pretty much true for Americans trying to understand the British love of tea - tea drunk in the UK is the black leaf type that needs boiling water. Someone mentioned burning the tea earlier? That's the whole point. Scalding the tea leaf is how you get the flavour out of it.

So. Reasonable sized mug, teabag, sugar if desired, blasting hot water. Don't microwave it or boil it in a pan on the hob, you'll fail miserably. A kettle is the proper way to do this shit. (British electric kettles are higher power than American ones, at least partly because they boil faster to make tea with. We have a power station that exists just to cover Britain making tea. This stuff is important.) Milk afterwards. The entire point is to scald the tea and you can't do that if it's swimming in cold milk.

And if anybody pokes their pinky out while drinking, break it.

 

[loc978]

I have one of those and they're impossible to keep clean. And once the bottom seal starts to go, it'll leak all over your counter after each use.

I then bought a Bodum tea pot/press:

http://aiyamatcha.com/consumers/index.php/tea-accessories/bodum-assam-tea-press-34-oz.html

It's brilliant for loose leaf teas and is easy to clean and maintain.

But then I discovered PG Tips and their tetrahedroid bags.

http://www.englishteastore.com/brands-pg-tips.html?gclid=CIq-m-TMt7kCFWNgMgodGk4A3Q

Two lumps and a splash. Mmmmm... PG Tips...

Jesus, how long did you have it? I've been using mine several times a week for about 3 years... and cleaning it is just a matter of taking out the bottom screen and running water through the whole thing. Granted, it leaks a few drops each time I use it, but that's why it came with a little plastic tray to sit on.

 

[Lucifiel]

I'm not that much of a tea expert, but I do enjoy a nice cup of tea. Can't say whether I can give you good advice, but I can tell you what I use and my basic rules when preparing tea.

Instruments:

Pot with strainer ( sort of like this [http://www.cookipedia.co.uk/recipes_wiki/File:Teapot_with_strainer.jpg]), mug, tea filter bags ( something like this [http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/537555/12631168/0/1272345932/Tea_filter_bag.jpg]).

Types of tea:

Herbal - depending on it, can be drank with honey, lemon or sugar or without
Fruit - can be drank with honey, lemon or sugar or without. You can add whiskey, rum or brandy to some of the more sour ones.
Black - can be drank with milk, honey or sugar, or without. Can have additional ingredients like bergamote fruits, etc. My favorites are English Breakfast and Earl Grey. During winter I love a mix of black tea and cinnamon. You can add whiskey, rum or brandy.
Green - can be drank with sugar, honey and lemon. My favorite is green tea with jasmine and honey (it has a wonderful flavor)
White - eh... somewhat like green tea, only a bit more pretentious for me.
Red (roibos) - can be drank with milk, honey or sugar, or without. My favorite is with almond or with vanilla or orange.

Additives (additional ingredients):

Sugar - best sugar to use is brown sugar. It gives it a more distinct flavor, but it is not as sweet as white sugar
Honey - best honey is acacia honey or linden honey... at least in my country
Milk - regular or condensed.. whatever rocks your boat
Cinnamon, nutmeg, etc - best suited for black and red tea
Alcohol - for chilly evenings, or when you just want a nice, steaming mug of something with a little alcohol in it. Usually used are brandy, whiskey or rum. Not more than 1cm or 0.3 inches per 300g mug, or it will completely overrun the flavor of the tea.

Basic rules:

1. Only add milk to black and red tea. Also, make sure the tea does not contain additional citric fruits, or your milk will turn to cheese.

2. When making green tea, leave the water to cool for about 5 minutes after boiling before adding it over the tea. Also, never leave the green tea in for more than 5 minutes. The tea will turn bitter.

3. White tea is more pretentious but similar to green tea (I cannot give you much info about it because I do not know muh about it myself)

4. When making ice tea, it is best to use either tea bags or tea filters.

5. Doesn't matter too much which you add first and in which quantities. Try to experiment a bit, see what you like.

===

Captcha = smoked salmon... Yumm... Now I want smoked salmon...

 

[GeneralChaos]

One or two Americans have asked me why it is that the English like tea so much, which never seems to them to be a very good drink. To understand, you have to know how to make it properly.

There is a very simple principle to the making of tea and it's this - to get the proper flavour of tea, the water has to be boiling (not boiled) when it hits the tea leaves. If it's merely hot then the tea will be insipid. That's why we English have these odd rituals, such as warming the teapot first (so as not to cause the boiling water to cool down too fast as it hits the pot). And that's why the American habit of bringing a teacup, a tea bag and a pot of hot water to the table is merely the perfect way of making a thin, pale, watery cup of tea that nobody in their right mind would want to drink. The Americans are all mystified about why the English make such a big thing out of tea because most Americans have never had a good cup of tea. That's why they don't understand. In 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.

So the best advice I can give to an American arriving in England is this. Go to Marks and Spencer and buy a packet of Earl Grey tea. Go back to where you're staying and boil a kettle of water. While it is coming to the boil, open the sealed packet and sniff. Careful - you may feel a bit dizzy, but this is in fact perfectly legal. When the kettle has boiled, pour a little of it into a tea pot, swirl it around and tip it out again. Put a couple (or three, depending on the size of the pot) of tea bags into the pot (If I was really trying to lead you into the paths of righteousness I would tell you to use free leaves rather than bags, but let's just take this in easy stages). Bring the kettle back up to the boil, and then pour the boiling water as quickly as you can into the pot. Let it stand for two or three minutes, and then pour it into a cup. Some people will tell you that you shouldn't have milk with Earl Grey, just a slice of lemon. Screw them. I like it with milk. If you think you will like it with milk then it's probably best to put some milk into the bottom of the cup before you pour in the tea1. If you pour milk into a cup of hot tea you will scald the milk. If you think you will prefer it with a slice of lemon then, well, add a slice of lemon.

Drink it. After a few moments you will begin to think that the place you've come to isn't maybe quite so strange and crazy after all.
1 This is socially incorrect. The socially correct way of pouring tea is to put the milk in after the tea. Social correctness has traditionally had nothing whatever to do with reason, logic or physics. In fact, in England it is generally considered socially incorrect to know stuff or think about things. It's worth bearing this in mind when visiting.