How to make a proper tea

2

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  • Tea and water chemistry.

    Recently up on llyn peninsula, where the water tastes horrid (to me). Found it impossible to make a good cuppa.

    Went on from there to Yorkshire, and all was redeemed.

    I wonder what minerals contribute to this.

    Home in Norfolk: residual carbonate 220ppm, calcium 80ppm, sulphate 40ppm, chloride 40ppm

    Asher
  • Queen of England?

    I thought she was Queen of a few other places on these islands and beyond too. Including Canada.
  • Hugal, you can make me a pot of tea. I'll pay you £4 (assuming it's tea for two and two for tea). I may even leave a tip.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Hugal wrote: »
    OK not a Tea drinker but a fully trained waiter here.
    Good quality tea. So long as you have quality it doesn’t matter if it is in a bag. Muslin bags are best. Many quality tea bags contain leaves and stalk. Stalk has a lot of flavour. The tips are the best though. Put tea in pot. Boil water. Water must be boiling to move the tea around which both creates the flavour and allows air into the tea. Steep for 3-5 mins depending on type. For a blend 3 mins should suffice. If using proper tea china put milk in first. Pour tea. Use a strainer if necessary. Charge customer £4:00.

    How much?!?
  • I would hope to be drinking something rare and be somewhere seriously posh if I was being charged £4 for a single pot.
  • HugalHugal Shipmate
    edited August 2020
    Yes you would not get that level of service at a caff. The title of the thread is How to make a proper tea. That is the proper way to make tea. How you make tea at home is up to you. I did emphasise the quality of the tea and the quality of the service. If you pay over two quid for a paper cup of tea at say Starbucks or Costa then is it unreasonable to pay £4 for a tea at that level of service
  • HugalHugal Shipmate
    Hugal, you can make me a pot of tea. I'll pay you £4 (assuming it's tea for two and two for tea). I may even leave a tip.

    Thank you
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    This is when I remember that I live in a very expensive city. €4 for tea here would be standard, for something far inferior to what @Hugal would make me.
  • I've grown fond of using Japanese iron tea pots to make my tea (using loose tea).
  • edited August 2020
    Tea shall always be served hot.
  • Your southern neighbours drink it cold or even iced, I am given to understand.
  • asher wrote: »
    Tea and water chemistry.

    Recently up on llyn peninsula, where the water tastes horrid (to me). Found it impossible to make a good cuppa.

    North coast of the Llyn is granite - that's not very reactive, I would guess. The string of derelict quarries from Trefor on down are great for exploring, especially around what has become the Welsh language residential centre near Llithfaen. A lot of the cobbles in Manchester and Liverpool came from round there.
  • ECraigRECraigR Castaway
    I’m a big tea drinker and have experimented with various approaches. The one I’ve settled on lately is to use a small pot with a removable basket to steep the loose leaf tea in. Steep 3-5 minutes in the appropriate temperature water, and then decant into a proper teacup with saucer. I do think it tastes better when the basket device isn’t used, only slightly, but I’ve often found myself dealing with oversteeped tea if I just toss it into a pot.

    Do others who use loose leaf tea in a pot without a basket or container to hold the tea leaves have a good solution for avoiding the oversteep problem? Short of just getting a bigger cup, I suppose.
  • PuzzlerPuzzler Shipmate
    I used to enjoy builders’ tea but when I stopped going shopping and had milk delivered I started getting stomach cramps. I stopped having milk in tea or cereal and the cramps stopped. I now simply pour boiling water on to a Tetley’s or Yorkshire tea bag ( can’t get Clipper any more ), and take it out as quickly as possible. Tea bag can be reused once if still moist.
    It may not be proper tea but it is pleasant and no ill effects.
  • ECraigR wrote: »
    I’m a big tea drinker and have experimented with various approaches. The one I’ve settled on lately is to use a small pot with a removable basket to steep the loose leaf tea in. Steep 3-5 minutes in the appropriate temperature water, and then decant into a proper teacup with saucer. I do think it tastes better when the basket device isn’t used, only slightly, but I’ve often found myself dealing with oversteeped tea if I just toss it into a pot.

    Do others who use loose leaf tea in a pot without a basket or container to hold the tea leaves have a good solution for avoiding the oversteep problem? Short of just getting a bigger cup, I suppose.

    These are a significant issues. I've long wanted to think that tea leave should swim free of confinement without the basket. Much as I think that humans are better when not bossed around and are free to ramble in the countryside.

    I have had any number of strainers and baskets. There is no good appliance for this. Is it psychological that I also believe tea leaves which are not confined are more apt to release their flavour?One solution is to decant all of the tea into a second pot away from the leaves. I think this is the best one.

    I've wondered if the quest for the perfect cup / pot of tea is a mirror to the human condition. We get tastes of perfection periodically and it restores faith in the world, God, humanity when we do.

    I do make what we call "dirty tea" here periodically. Half milk (goat is my best choice), half water, set to boil with some of cardamon, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, hot red pepper flakes, bit of honey, and yes, the tea gets boiled too. Good thing to have on a -40°C/°F day. People call this "chai" but chai to my understanding means "tea" so chai tea is "tea tea".

  • @Hugal You left out warming the pot as the water nears boiling point. And the tea should be put in the warmed pot just before the boiling water. Let it stand for 2-3 minutes and then stir once or twice to settle the tea leaves before pouring out.

    Coffee can be made in a jug in a similar manner. In that case, the stirring - preferably with a wooden spoon - is essential to make the coffee grounds settle.
  • HugalHugal Shipmate
    edited August 2020
    cgichard wrote: »
    @Hugal You left out warming the pot as the water nears boiling point. And the tea should be put in the warmed pot just before the boiling water. Let it stand for 2-3 minutes and then stir once or twice to settle the tea leaves before pouring out.

    Coffee can be made in a jug in a similar manner. In that case, the stirring - preferably with a wooden spoon - is essential to make the coffee grounds settle.
    cgichard wrote: »
    @Hugal You left out warming the pot as the water nears boiling point. And the tea should be put in the warmed pot just before the boiling water. Let it stand for 2-3 minutes and then stir once or twice to settle the tea leaves before pouring out.

    Coffee can be made in a jug in a similar manner. In that case, the stirring - preferably with a wooden spoon - is essential to make the coffee grounds settle.

    If you use boiling not just hot water heating the pot is not necessary. The idea of warming the pot is so that it doesn’t crack when you add hot water. Modern tea pots shouldn’t do that but it is a cold great tradition.
    I would say no to stirring tea as that knocks out some of the air. Again rapidly boiling water moves the leaves around.
    Tea making can be a very personal ritual though so variations are acceptable.
  • It's all down to context. I'd rather pay Hugal £4 for a pot of tea made that way than pay Costa or Starbucks £2 for a paper cup full of hot water and a tea bag dangling in it.
  • Equally, I'm happy to pay £2 or less for a pot of builders tea in a transport cafe or greasy spoon.

    It's the big chains that are the problem.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Queen of England?

    I thought she was Queen of a few other places on these islands and beyond too. Including Canada.

    Yes, we're still stuck with her and the rest of the gang. Roll on the republic!
  • OhherOhher Shipmate
    Pray explain to Merkan cousins the concept of "builders' tea."
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    The bog-standard brew favoured by builders, plumbers, electricians and other assorted tradespersons about the house.

    At its most basic it is teabag (everyday blend) in mug, pour on boiling water. Allow to steep until teabag can no longer be seen. Add milk and one or two teaspoons of sugar. Remove teabag - possibly squeezing excess moisture out with teaspoon against inside of mug.

    Stir to (mostly) dissolve sugar and serve with a side order of a couple of biscuits (aka cookies - not the kind that Brits call scones) on a plate.
  • The last builder I served tea to required 6 teaspoons of sugar in his tea. He was about 60 and missing most of his teeth.

    My husband served tea to some builders here a few years ago. He doesn’t often drink ‘normal’ tea and didn’t look at the box of tea I was currently using to see what was in it. Consequently, when the builders requested more tea from me later in the day they added ‘and not that flowery stuff your husband made earlier’. He had served them Earl Grey.
  • Consequently, when the builders requested more tea from me later in the day they added ‘and not that flowery stuff your husband made earlier’. He had served them Earl Grey.

    Oh dear - poor builders. I bet he made it with milk and sugar, too, didn't he?
  • Yes, though I suspect serving it black with lemon would not have improved it’s reception.
  • Builders tea is also notoriously strong, as in the teabag has stewed for a good five minutes.
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    Jokes can be made about the spoon standing up in it.
  • john holdingjohn holding Ecclesiantics Host, Mystery Worshipper Host
    And then there was British Rail Tea. A giant tea bag, filled, I'm sure, with best quality floor sweepings, fixed more or less permanently ( that is, not removed after every -- or even every ten or twenty cups) to a sort of industrial-sized outlet through which, when a lever was pushed, steam was forced. The milk added to the deep deep brown -- almost black, heavily tannic liquid, made it more or less drinkable. But not actually tea, IMO.
  • That's going back a bit. You'll be reminding us of other national horrors of yesteryear such as Double Diamond and Watneys Red Barrel ...
  • Prison tea is a particular delight....one could imagine that no tea leaves were used in its production.
  • On canoe trips we would occasionally come a fish camp- First Nations people catching and smoking fish beside a lake in the vast boreal forest wilderness. Tea would be taking a teabag that's resting in the crook of a tree, pot of water from the lake, sometimes some other plant added- labrador tea not uncommon. It was generally all boiled up. It tasted fine, but the environment and situation sure has lots to do with that. Pick out any little twigs or spruce needles. My vision in my memory always has it about +5°C just after sunrise with close to frost overnight, and the cool is just beginning to burn off with sun on completely still lake with loons or ducks quietly talking to each other at distance. It's timeless, same as it ever was, We're hearing how the rapids ahead are and how the fish are.
  • john holdingjohn holding Ecclesiantics Host, Mystery Worshipper Host
    That's going back a bit. You'll be reminding us of other national horrors of yesteryear such as Double Diamond and Watneys Red Barrel ...

    As you say. I believe my first pint was DD, though I moved on swiftly to beer. But I drew the line at Red Barrel.
  • Very wise.
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    Tea shall always be served hot.
    Your southern neighbours drink it cold or even iced, I am given to understand.

    I occasionally make tea in the summer the way my mother did:

    In the morning, take a very large glass jar - I have hers, which originally held mayonaisse in some industrial-sized amount. Fill with tap water, then put in six bags of whatever black tea you have on hand, with the tags hanging over the rim. Screw on the top, and put the jar in a sunny spot outside for most of the day. Chill in the fridge, and serve over ice. Sweeten as/if you like.
  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    Ruth wrote: »
    ...
    I occasionally make tea in the summer the way my mother did:

    In the morning, take a very large glass jar - I have hers, which originally held mayonaisse in some industrial-sized amount. Fill with tap water, then put in six bags of whatever black tea you have on hand, with the tags hanging over the rim. Screw on the top, and put the jar in a sunny spot outside for most of the day. Chill in the fridge, and serve over ice. Sweeten as/if you like
    .

    Interesting. That starts with the ingredients of tea, but in UK terms, however pleasant the end result may be to drink, it would be 'if that is tea, it is not tea as we know it'.

    What does it taste like, and at what point do you take the bags out? I can't help speculating that making it with leaves and of a more expensive blend would be worth the extra trouble.

  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host, 8th Day Host
    Sun tea! We made that for many years, Ruth!
    I recall making simple syrup to sweeten it, and people could just add what they liked. Iced tea was the favorite beverage in our home, and my parents' home, too, for decades!
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    The taste is more mellow, less acidic, than tea brewed the regular way and then chilled, which is the more common way to make iced tea. I take the bags out when it looks right: tawny, not really dark -- if you leave them in till the tea is very dark, it will be bitter. I don't time it; I just go out and look at it.

    Funnily enough, after posting that yesterday, I went ahead and made sun tea. Having no black tea in teabags on hand, I used Darjeeling leaves in several tea balls and a smaller glass jar, left it in full SoCal summer sun for about 6 hours, and it was wonderful. So yes, your hunch that quality leaves are worth the trouble is correct.

    This stuff does not keep, I should emphasize! Sun tea gets warm enough to grow bacteria but not hot enough to kill it. If this does not appeal, you can do a cold brew - tea in water in the fridge overnight - and get the same result.


  • I drank Sun Tea as it was called all through my childhood and continued to make it until a few years ago, as an adult without the sugar, then I read it was not good and could make you ill so I stopped. Not that I know of anyone who did become ill. This thread makes me want some again. I will have to do some research on safety.
  • SparrowSparrow Shipmate
    BroJames wrote: »
    The bog-standard brew favoured by builders, plumbers, electricians and other assorted tradespersons about the house.

    Stir to (mostly) dissolve sugar and serve with a side order of a couple of biscuits

    For best results (from the builders!) the biscuits should be Hobnobs. Don't bother about a plate, just give them the whole packet.



  • George SpiggottGeorge Spiggott Shipmate Posts: 9
    I tend to agree with the late great Douglass Adams.
    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. 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 tea.1 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.
  • He's wrong about the water needing to be actually boiling when it hits tea leaves. Some teas need water that is cooler than that to bring to prominence the flavour of the leaves and not to over represent the tannins. I've a laser thermometer such ate found at hardware stores which I used to conduct such experiments. Greens, whites, oolongs, some reds benefit from water as cool as about 95°C.

    The hardness of water is also noted. I sometimes bring my own water when travelling by vehicle to ensure things.

    I have on my fantasy list of things to do before dying, a tea tour in India and China. Notwithstanding that I've had some wonderful teas from Africa and other Asian countries.
  • Good point by Noprophet about not boiling water. You can buy kettles which heat to 80 or 90 degrees. Mainly for non-black teas, and coffee I think.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    edited August 2020
    I have one of those kettles, that husband en rouge got for me for Christmas a few years back. 80° for green tea, 90° for Oolong and the like, and 100° for black tea. It's a nice gadget to have, although you can do without - for green tea you can just cover the leaves with coks water before filling with boiling.

    The first present husband en rouge ever gave me was a teapot, which I feel rather proves what a superb sort of chap he is.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    Whoops. That was supposed to say "cold" water.
  • GalilitGalilit Shipmate
    for green tea you can just cover the leaves with cold water before filling with boiling.

    Super idea - though I do have a thermometer (from my cheesemaking days) I can never be b*****ed to use it for tea water temperature. Thanks

    A friend In Town searched high and low and finally found me some Twinings Lady Grey. (In Nazareth I think).
    So I am set for The Duration

  • I have acquired some Golden Monkey. https://www.murchies.com/store/golden-monkey-loose-tea.html

    So lovely. The monkeys are dancing waltzes with angels on my tongue while singing elegant hymns of harmony which soothe my troubled, tired spirit (my father died 2 wks ago). Tea is one of those things which can make me believe in God: there's such beauty and truth within. (Always wondered why Jesus chose wine and not tea for his Big Demo.)
  • OhherOhher Shipmate
    So sorry for your loss, NP.
  • GwaiGwai Epiphanies Host
    Dafyd wrote: »
    I admire your collective restraint from pointing out that the only way to get proper tea is to steal it (as proper tea is theft).
    Thank you. This is going to be my excuse for baldly stealing my husband's tea next time I get the chance. It would be an even better joke to pull on the tween but she puts disgusting amounts of sugar in her tea, so whatever property is, that is not it.
  • MarsupialMarsupial Shipmate
    edited August 2020
    NP very sorry for your loss.

    Munchies has a long history for me - for a long time it was one of the few serious tea retailers in Canada, and my wife and I initially connected a long time ago over our mutual enthusiasm for classical music and my instantaneous recognition of both the variety and the supplier of her jar of Murchies Earl Grey. We've moved on to other suppliers of good tea as it became more easily available locally, but we made a point of visiting the original Murchies shop in Victoria when we were there last year.
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