Proper Cup of Tea

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My apologies Ishbel, I didn't mean to suggest that!

Great Britain has been drinking tea like that for hundreds of years, and isn't apt to change anytime soon...

Its us goofy colonials that have the different tastes...no doubt stemming from pioneering days, when there wasn't necessarily a source of milk by winter (too cold for the cows!), or in the Great Depression of the '30's, when milk would be "reserved" for the youngest child or children...

Anyways, can I "accurately relate" that it was a long time ago that my grannies told "me" that?
:LOL: :oops:
 
AMAZING!

I am astounded that so many grown people cannot make a pot of tea.

Ishbel's procedure (apart from the milk) is the correct one.

You should add nothing to a green tea.
 
GB said:
I am just learning myself. For me it is taking a lot of trial and error. I just re-watched Alton Brown's show on tea and he had a lot of helpful info. I hope I am giving correct advice here so if anyone nows different then please feel free to correct me.

Alton said that for Black teas the water should be hotter than for green teas. He gave the temp ranges, but basically said that for black teas you should bring the teapot to the kettle and for green teas bring the kettle to the teapot (give the water time to cool).

He also said not to use the tea balls, but to just put the leaves right into the pot. They need room to expand. Then when you pour the tea just pour it into the cup through a strainer.

Another thing he said was about measuring tea. He said that the reason a teaspoon is called that is because it is a good measurement for one cup of tea. He was not talking about a measured teaspoon, but the actual spoon you will put in your cup to stir it if you are using milk or sugar or anything.

Again I am far from an expert on this. I am just regurgitating what I saw on TV. I have tried his methods and have had to tweak them to my liking, but at least it is a starting point.

Oh one other thing he said was to pout the water directly on the leaves. Don't put the leaves in after the water.
Click to expand...

I like to preheat my teapot, with hot water, while the other water is boiling in a pan or kettle. Especially if it is cold in the room, I don't want the teapot to crack.
 
I'm bumping this old thread because I was looking for instructions on how to make a decent pot of tea. This is thanks to a movie I just saw, "All This in Tea," which follows an American tea importer to China and documents his efforts to buy teas directly from the farmers rather than going through a middleman. Anyway, this morning I went to Kim Orient Mart and bought two tins of tea...a small tin of Pu-Erh tea, which I think is maybe a fermented tea, and another larger tin of Oolong Tea. The posts in this thread make brewing sound simple and foolproof, qualities I look for in instructions.

I noticed that BuckyTom was a 'consultant' early in the thread. Maybe we can use this as bait and flush him out with a subject he's weighed in on in the past.

Any hints, corrections, etc. for me?
 
As said above, Ishbel got it right. Loose leaf tea in the warmed teapot, 1 per cup & 1 for the pot, let stand for 4 minutes, stir, pour through a strainer.

If I'm just making 1 cup for myself then I'll use a single cup steeper which allows the tea leaves to expand. Again, 4 minutes, and add to the cup which ALREADY has the milk in.

My sister is visiting from the UK next week and already has my order of Lancashire Tea packed in her bags! Can't wait.
 
I have a Brown Betty teapot. It even has the little lip inside to catch those pesky leaves. But I also have a small nylon tea strainer for the pouring. I don't like the metal ones. It is not the prettiest teapot, but it sure make a great pot of tea. :angel:
 
I have this teapot from Ikea:

riklig-teapot__0097110_PE237299_S4.JPG
It works great for loose tea or tea bags.
 
Did somebody say teapot??? I have 1 or 200 of those hanging around and yes, I have and do use all of them.
 
Harney & Sons has an excellent time-and-temp chart for brewing different teas. You can find it here: Harney & Sons Fine Teas - Master Tea Blenders

They have excellent teas and offer a number of them in small sample packets. I think you can order no more than 4 samples in an order. If you either "friend" them on Facebook or sign up for emails you'll find out when they offer specials. Quite often the provide free shipping if your order is $25 or more.

I want to add that John Harney, the founder of the company (and father to Michael, who wrote the brewing instructions) is a perfect dear. I had a serendipitous moment while driving back to MA from OH, taking surface roads instead of interstate ones the second day of my drive. There was a little sign at the road that said "Tea Shoppe" and pointed down a driveway. John was explaining teas and brewing to a group of people in a seminar and invited me to join in. When they headed out to drive to the processing plant he asked if I had a car (um, yeah!) and told me to follow the group. I got to see everything! It was such a fun side trip, and a perfect example of how you just have to slow down and smell the...tea! :)
 
I've read your comments on brewing the tea - I totally agree with you: the brewing temperature is of the key importance! I like tea in general, but especially I'm a great green tea lover - I like to try new types of tea - both Chinese and Japanese ones.

I made a collection of different types of green tea (like Sencha, Genmaicha or Marcha) supported by some info about brewing and history of green tea.
 
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My goodness! What interesting posts - especially thank you, Janet H., for the video - it was lovely, and Cooking Goddess, you lucky duck getting practically a personal visit with a real tea man. Nice site for Harney.

I've tried my teas now -- the Oolong makes up a nice, light yellow with mild flavor, and the Pu-Erh surprised me by making a dark brew. I had one cup with orange blossom honey and one cup plain. Both so nice.

I found it handy to put the water on to boil, then, in the microwave, heat the "pot-warming" water. The timing works out well.
 
As much as I love my Brown Betty teapot, it makes eight regular size tea cups of tea. I prefer a mug for my coffee or tea. But I can only drink one mugful at a time. That leaves the rest sitting in the leaves to get just too strong. Now if I could find three others who will drink their tea out of a mug, then I would be all set. So unfortunately I have to settle for tea bags. I do have an oversized mug that holds a half pot of 12 cup coffee. I could pour the loose made tea into that and just reheat by zapping it cup by cup. The more I try to think this through, the more my mind gets comboblicated. I will just stick with the tea bags. :angel:
 
PrincessFiona60 said:
Extra tea is poured into a pitcher and iced for later.
Click to expand...

In spite of having lived in the southern part of Texas, I was never able to develop the taste for sweet iced tea. And that seemed to be the only way they knew to serve it. And when I would order only plain black tea, I got some really strange looks and questions. So I quit asking for it. I prefer my tea hot with just one scant spoon of sugar. I still get strange looks and comments. In these here parts most folks use milk and sugar. I used to drink it that way all the time with my mother. And I loved to dunk buttered stale Italian bread in it. Then when I was twelve, my aunt introduce me to drinking it black. Never went back. :angel:
 
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