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Coffee House => Coffee House Boards => CH / General => Topic started by: mikeymike on February 27, 2004, 02:10:38 PM
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Anyone have a strategy for making the perfect cup of tea?
The way I do it generally makes a damn good cup of tea:
1) Put teabag and sugar in cup
2) Switch kettle on
3) After kettle has boiled, leave it for a minute
4) Pour water in, try to cover the whole teabag while pouring, so an air bubble forms in the top, making it float to the surface
5) Give it a gentle stir, when the water has turned as dark as it will go, discard teabag and give it a good stir.
6) Stick a bit of milk in and stir a bit more
7) Leave for about five minutes
Just wondered if anyone has a better way. I like Earl Grey tea, though I had to switch to decaf due to dietary issues. Decaf isn't bad, though it doesn't quite have the 'zing' taste of tea.
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ok, this is what we used to do at uni:
1. place Tea bag, as manny as possible, in to a large beaker.
2. Cover with boiling water.
3. Stir... Stir... keep stirring.
4. decant "tea" into a separating funnel.
5. Add 200ml of Chloroform.
6. shake.
7. remove aqueous layer, and then wash that layer again.
8, put the organic layer into an evapourating bulb.
(collect the organic layers of several washings into a single bulb).
attach bulb to the Rotary Evap, and remove Chloroform.
Scrape out the white crystaline residue, crush up with a pestle and mortar... using a rolled up peice of paper, inhale white powered through nose.
Shreek in pain... experience the Caffine rush... feel very sick and go for a lie down.
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1) Heat the water until it about to boil.
2) Pour the water into the cup.
3) Pour some milk into the water.
4) Add the tea bag. Let it sink down to the bottom.
5) Stir every 30 seconds for three minutes.
6) Take up the tea bag, squeeze out any remaining water, and then throw the tea bag away.
7) Stir the tea for a couple of seconds.
8) Enjoy!
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Very odd how 'chloroform' was the first word I read of your post :-)
You've been thinking too much about the various Monkey Island drink spiking references :-)
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mikeymike wrote:
Very odd how 'chloroform' was the first word I read of your post :-)
You've been thinking too much about the various Monkey Island drink spiking references :-)
Hheheehe, Well I think you can use any organic (non polar) solvent to extract the caffine, but Chloroform was the one we used.
It worked rather well, there are a couple of hundread mg of caffine in a single tea bag (only a tiny proportion of this actually comes out in the "brew" though :-( ).
And it's always more fun to make your own druqs, especially when they are perfectly legal.
Disclaimers, I to not recomend that any of you use my Caffine extraction method... or you may have similar symptoms to Guybrush on Blood island... only more permanent! :-o
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whabang wrote:
1) Heat the water until it about to boil.
2) Pour the water into the cup.
3) Pour some milk into the water.
4) Add the tea bag. Let it sink down to the bottom.
5) Stir every 30 seconds for three minutes.
6) Take up the tea bag, squeeze out any remaining water, and then throw the tea bag away.
7) Stir the tea for a couple of seconds.
8) Enjoy!
I disagree about adding the milk before the tea has brewed, as this tends to stop the tea brewing as much - when I drink black tea I tend to drink it strong, and so only add the milk after the tea has brewed.
Of course, the best cuppa is made by using leaves in a teapot, and it goes further too...
The other advantage of using a teapot is that is someone turns up / wakes up just after you've made a brew, you'll often have a cup to offer them straight away...
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Ah, a good cup of tea? Asda's or Lidl's Earl Grey are the best imo.
1) boil kettle
2) put tea bag + 1 sugar into cup
3) once kettle has boiled, pour water directly onto teabag (like mikey does) almost immediately
4) stir for approx 2 mins giving the teabag the occasionnal squeeze against the side of the cup
5) dispose of the teabag
6)add a spot of milk
7) leave for 1 minute then drink
Before anyone asks, yes I like my cuppas piping hot :-)
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I read somewhere that snorting caffine extracted from tea bags may cause holes to appear in the brain. Hmmm...
JaX
PS: Omit the preliminary aqueous extraction (known as 'the brew'). Caffine is not very water soluble, so you'll get more out by running a Soxholet extraction with chloroform (or whatever) directly on the tea bags.
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JaXanim wrote:
I read somewhere that snorting caffine extracted from tea bags may cause holes to appear in the brain. Hmmm...
JaX
PS: Omit the preliminary aqueous extraction (known as 'the brew'). Caffine is not very water soluble, so you'll get more out by running a Soxholet extraction with chloroform (or whatever) directly on the tea bags.
Holes in the brain ;-)
Well, there was no other way of getting the caffine out og the tea leaves, other than brewing it first.
Washing the tea leaves with chloroform (even when heated) is ineffective.
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I disagree about adding the milk before the tea has brewed, as this tends to stop the tea brewing as much - when I drink black tea I tend to drink it strong, and so only add the milk after the tea has brewed.
Also you can't see how much it has brewed either.
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ADDING MILK TO TEA???????????????????????
Yeurck, that is sick!
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speelgoedmannetje is so right :-).
Anyhoo, my usual procedure for making tea:
1) Fill kettle, place on stove and light gas
2) Go back upstairs, forget you put the kettle on
3) Wait till roommate screams that the kettle is whistling (can't hear it upstairs when the wireless is on)
4) Run downstairs fill tealeaf-container-holder-thingy with tealeaves, insert conttraption into teapot
5) Pour hot water in the teapot
6) Go back upstairs, forget about the teapot
7) Go downstairs to take a leak/dump
8) Take leak/dump
9) Go to kitchen to wash hands
10) Wash hands and notice teakettle standing on the table
11) Notice that the tea is way too strong
12) Take teakettle and a cup upstairs (mug will also suffice)
13) Empty teakettle into stomach with usage of the cup
14) Take another leak
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@bloodline
Ah, so the caffine is probably released from a more complex molecule by hydrolysis during the brew stage. This suggests you may prefer to let the brew become a 'stew'. In our neck of the woods, 'stewed' tea is revoltingly over-brewed tea and is more or less black when observed in the cup.
The taste of stewed tea is also revolting and may be related to a very high caffine content. Good for use in the next stage before the final snort process.
JaX
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JaXanim wrote:
@bloodline
Ah, so the caffine is probably released from a more complex molecule by hydrolysis during the brew stage. This suggests you may prefer to let the brew become a 'stew'. In our neck of the woods, 'stewed' tea is revoltingly over-brewed tea and is more or less black when observed in the cup.
The taste of stewed tea is also revolting and may be related to a very high caffine content. Good for use in the next stage before the final snort process.
JaX
That's what I though. When I said brew, I meant stew... you just leave it until you're pretty sure nothing more can come out.
The taste of caffine is very distinctive. it's extremely bitter... that probably contributes to the "revolting" taste :-)
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Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
ADDING MILK TO TEA???????????????????????
Yeurck, that is sick!
Well it depends on the type of tea.
I usually don't have milk in my tea, because I drink green tea
1. Pour warm water into and over the outside of my lovely purple clay chinese teapot
2. Put a teaspoon of Lo Chu Cha (gunpowder tea) into the pot
3. Put on kettle, with fresh water
4. Stop kettle just when it starts to bubble, a good few seconds before it would click (for green tea one should use 'fish eye water', rather than 'old man water' - this is when the kettle clicks)
5. Pour water into pot, leave for no more than about four minutes
6. Pour tea into one (or two if I have company)of my lovely chinese tea bowls, making sure that no water is left in the pot to stew.
7. Enjoy!
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At home I usually have fruit teas, because there isn't really a milk substitute that tastes right in tea, and I'm not all that keen on normal black tea. Fruit tea always tastes better if it's left for four or five minutes. If I don't leave it long enough, the taste makes me feel green about the gills for some reason.
My grandma makes the best cups of tea any mortal has had the privilege of beholding. And next month I'm going to see her for the first time in two years, I'm going to have to reject her tea and she's going to give me so much crap about my diet.
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I've been making some crap cups of tea recently. I managed to sort out the one I just made now by pouring the water directly after boil and stirring it a lot more, but I'm afraid I might have lost my touch :-(
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I HATE those restaurant cups o' tea, where you get a glass and have a choice of zillions of artificial tea. The glass is hot and the tea cold. And if you choose coffee as an alternative, the coffee is almost water, and it's far too less. No, I always choose beer when I'm at a restaurant, or water, or wine (only if it's good wine)
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mikeymike wrote:
I've been making some crap cups of tea recently. I managed to sort out the one I just made now by pouring the water directly after boil and stirring it a lot more, but I'm afraid I might have lost my touch :-(
You just need to let the force guide you. Don't concentrate too hard on getting it right - that's the wrong approach. The force is in you. Use it, Luke. Er, Mikeymike.
:-)
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The best way to make tea:
* Use an aluminium teapot. Never steel, never brass. The longer it has been making tea, the better the tea will taste.
* The water must be hot when it touches the tea. Boil it beforehand in a kettle. Never put the tea in first with cold water and boil it - that makes horrible watery aftertasty tea fit for nothing.
* Brew on medium gas/power for at least three minutes. Over five is good.
* Use plenty of tea. The liquid should be a deep brown and have a strong smell. If you can see an oily layer on the top, then you've made good tea. Europeans make awful tea - hot water with brown colouring, it must be one teabag to 20 litres of water or something. If there ever was a justification for the British Empire taking over the world, that's it!
* Don't use sweetener or sugar. I may be forced to find you and murder you for ruining this fine beverage.
* Use Scottish water. It has no lime, limescale, or hardness. And it tastes great in tea. English water always makes tea taste horrible, no matter how expensive it is.
* Put the milk in the cup first, if you use milk. Otherwise you curdle the milk and give the tea a bitter aftertaste.
@bloodline
:roflmao:
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Aluminium? No! It loses too much heat! Ceramic is the word! For a good cup of tea, always use a ceramic teapot.
For the rest, tea mustn't be watery, but in between strong and watery <- and that's the tric! And of course, you do not use teabags. Tea in a special tea thingy (a metal celestial sieve, how is it called?)
And a REAL tea connaisseur NEVER uses milk in his tea, only freaky English do such. What do you want to drink: tea or hot watery milk?
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Speel wrote:
Aluminium? No! It loses too much heat! Ceramic is the word! For a good cup of tea, always use a ceramic teapot.
Of course it loses heat - but you're applying more from the bottom, so it doesn't really matter, does it? How do you brew tea in a ceramic pot? It would be like drinking out of a toilet. Yuk! ;-)
For the rest, tea mustn't be watery, but in between strong and watery <- and that's the tric!
No, it should be viscous. Only when tea doesn't actually look like water any more when its poured, is it ready. That's real tea. How can you get any taste out of it otherwise?
And a REAL tea connaisseur NEVER uses milk in his tea, only freaky English do such. What do you want to drink: tea or hot watery milk?
9/10ths tea in a cup to 1/10th tea isn't going to give you hot milk. It'll dissolve the flavoured oils in the fat of the milk and increase the flavour. Of course, without milk is good too. But anyone who puts sugar in their tea deserves slapped knees. Very harshly slapped knees!
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9/10ths tea in a cup to 1/10th tea isn't going to give you hot milk. It'll dissolve the flavoured oils in the fat of the milk and increase the flavour. Of course, without milk is good too. But anyone who puts sugar in their tea deserves slapped knees. Very harshly slapped knees!
Tea needs milk and sugar! A tiny bit of milk and I tend to go with two sugars. Yum. (Normally)
@ tpg
I will try ancient meditation techniques before making my next cuppa.
don't try to brew the tea, that's impossible. Instead, only try to realise the truth: there is no tea. Then you'll see it is not the tea that brews, it is only yourself.
Ok, so it's early and I can't think of any other "relevant" quotes yet :-)
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mikeymike wrote:
Tea needs milk and sugar! A tiny bit of milk and I tend to go with two sugars. Yum. (Normally)
:furious: :whack:
(that's for my today's convincing arguments)
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A61345 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A61345)
Only Douglas Adams knows best.
BTW, you're doing everything wrong: making it in a cup (TEAPOT!), and putting the milk in last (don't curdle the milk by pouring it into scolding hot water), and letting it go lukewarm (DISHWATER TEA!!).
UGH. You are a dishwater teamaker, my man. You also overlabour it.. waiting for bubbles? floating? :D
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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.
:lol:
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You all know where tea comes from? No?
Well, it comes from China, where it is drinked by zillions of people over thousands of years. They know how to make tea.
Not the crappy putrid Englisssh! ((http://www.sideshowtoy.com/mas_assets/thumb/3710R.gif))
The Chinese NEVER use milk in their tea.
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KennyR wrote:
The best way to make tea:
* Use an aluminium teapot. Never steel, never brass. The longer it has been making tea, the better the tea will taste.
yeah, and get alzeichmers (sp)
[/quote]
* The water must be hot when it touches the tea. Boil it beforehand in a kettle. Never put the tea in first with cold water and boil it - that makes horrible watery aftertasty tea fit for nothing.
* Brew on medium gas/power for at least three minutes. Over five is good.
* Use plenty of tea. The liquid should be a deep brown and have a strong smell. If you can see an oily layer on the top, then you've made good tea. Europeans make awful tea - hot water with brown colouring, it must be one teabag to 20 litres of water or something. If there ever was a justification for the British Empire taking over the world, that's it!
* Don't use sweetener or sugar. I may be forced to find you and murder you for ruining this fine beverage.
[/quote]
SUGAR MUST BE ADDED! :-)
* Use Scottish water. It has no lime, limescale, or hardness. And it tastes great in tea. English water always makes tea taste horrible, no matter how expensive it is.
Evian please
* Put the milk in the cup first, if you use milk. Otherwise you curdle the milk and give the tea a bitter aftertaste.
@bloodline
:roflmao:
true :-)
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It's all about equipment. For example, at work - there is no tea-pot and the teaspoons are usually left lying in the sink and look a bit mouldy.
This requires some thought - if you have only water boiler, cup and tea bag then the best way to do it is:
1. Pour water in cup.
2. Swill water about just in case the resident office insects were playing in your cup (this also warms the cup up which is important too).
3. Dip tea bag in water and dunk it around for 30 seconds. If you just drop it in you'll burn your fingers trying to fish it out. The dunking action is particularly important because the water turns brown about 20 times quicker, than if you just left it there.
4. Add milk and appreciate the nice swirling effect it makes - you don't get this swirling effect otherwise.
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Really!
As I said before, I don't usually drink milk in my tea because I usually drink Chinese green teas.
Tea pots should not be made from metal, as the 'metallic chi' affects the flavour of the tea.
The best teapots are made from China (that makes a 'ching!' sound when you flick it or sand pottery, particularly Jixing (purple sand pots) from the Jixing region of China. These pots are actually porous and so good care must be taken with cleaning and storing them - they improve markedly with age as they absorb the tea, but can also absorb strong odours and chemical cleaners if care is not taken!
Forgive me forgetting that the Dutch invented everything, ruled the world and removed needlessly rude comment, but English people drink milk in their tea, because it is so-called 'English tea', black tea usually from Sri Lanka and India.
If an English person drinks green, white, or red Chinese tea, they don't add milk, because that would be terrible! I don't have milk in my tea, unless I drink English tea. The reason I add milk to English tea is that it is very strong and would make me go 'yeurgh!' on its own. I'd like to see *anyone* drink a five-minute-brewed Assam without milk or a big dose of sugar (sugar, yeurgh!).
I would never suggest that you drink milk with Oolong, Lo Chu Cha, Jasmine tea, etc., however
The nations with greatest tea-making traditions are England, Morocco, Russia, China, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Tibet, Mongolia, India and Japan :-D England being the most recent addition to the club. The Portuguese were believed to be the ones who introduced tea to Europe, although the Dutch also began importing it soon after.
And by the way, tea is an interest of mine and I've done much reading on the subject.
Did you know that monkey tea is called monkey tea because its a certain variety that grows in such remote places that it has to be picked by trained monkeys?
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Tea pots should not be made from metal, as the 'metallic chi' affects the flavour of the tea.
The best teapots are made from China (that makes a 'ching!' sound when you flick it or sand pottery, particularly Jixing (purple sand pots) from the Jixing region of China. These pots are actually porous and so good care must be taken with cleaning and storing them - they improve markedly with age as they absorb the tea, but can also absorb strong odours and chemical cleaners if care is not taken!
Could not agree more
Forgive me forgetting that the Dutch invented everything
Such things only despicable Englisssh say about themselves, and about never existing of Leonardo Da Vinci, Christiaan Huygens (who actually designed the first car, fueled by gunpowder, back in 1680), aand all those countless other inventors.
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I know the ideal cuppa tea!
You know, from a tea/coffee dispenser, in such a crappy plastic mug. And for the touch of it, it begins with such a 'tiny' drop of fake coffee in it!
Aah, the flavour, so distinct, so unique!
..
...... :pissed: .......... :-x
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Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
The Chinese NEVER use milk in their tea.
That reminds me. The best cup of tea I ever had was...
At a proper Chinese restaurant in Thornton, near Bradford. I forget what the place was called now. Did it have milk in it?
No! :-D
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I find that generally the best cups of cappucino can be found in Italian restaurants.
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Another way to make the perfect cuppa:
Don't have one all day, then you'll appreciate it more when you do have it :-)
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Vincent wrote:
Another way to make the perfect cuppa:
Don't have one all day, then you'll appreciate it more when you do have it :-)
Nope, doesn't work for me :-) I tend to have one cup of tea per day or less, but if I haven't had one in a while, chances are the first one will be bloody awful :-)
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You don't get alzheimers from aluminium pots anyway, there's a layer of aluminium oxide between the metal and the tea. :-P
I could boil hot sulphuric acid in an aluminium teapot, test the acid, and guess how much aluminium would be in it? About six or seven picogrammes.
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mikeymike wrote:
I tend to have one cup of tea per day or less, but if I haven't had one in a while, chances are the first one will be bloody awful :-)
:-o One per day!? No wonder you're asking for tips :-P
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Oi! :-)
I tried someone's suggestion to put the milk, teabag and sugar in first, then putting the boiling water on the top, which generally seems to work better. Though I must have lost my touch making it the way I used to make it. Odd.
But then, I thought I had lost my touch at playing Counter-Strike, but I turned out to be wrong there :-) Like a CS ninja once again :-)
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NoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOO!
Never let the teabag touch the milk!!
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Never let the teabag touch the milk!!
Well, it works for me...
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once i forgot how to make tea when i was younger and my mum asked me to make some for people that were visiting and i couldnt figure out why the tea wasn't coming out of the bag so i ripped it and all the tea came out.he he at that point my mum came over and was like what are you doing!!!
the person who started this thread had my perfect cup to a t(what a pun) he can make a cup for me any day :-D
a tea pot is a waste of time and extra washing up!
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Man, this threads huge. Well here's my tea making process.
DISCLAIMER: It produces tea the way I like it, so there!
1) Boil kettle, preferably when it’s at least a quarter full.
2) Whilst waiting for it to boil, chuck a tea bag into the drinking receptacle of choice. In this case my huge @$$ mug.
3) Pour boiled, or almost boiled water over tea bag in cup, depends if you can be bothered to wait or not.
4) Stir tea bag in boiling water and occasionally squeeze (like VincentAC described) against the side of the mug for as long as it takes to go a murky brown colour.
5) Remove tea bag and squeeze the remaining liquid between a spoon and your thumb into your receptacle. Then bin the tea bag.
6) Add milk until it fills the inch deep void you left for it. I do this to cool the drink down a bit.
7) Stir again and drink provided it’s not mouth burningly hot.
(For green tea, which I only occasionally drink - don’t add milk)
I agree with KennyR that sugar or sweeteners are not an acceptable ingredients in this beverage.
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i think this preocess is getting way more complicated then it has to be you are all like creative people trapped in a room with a kettle, tea bag, and a mug and those more fortunate milk. you cant be arsed opening the fridge or possibly finding anything new to drink so you experiment with the different way of making tea to see which is the most bizarre yet creative way and name that way the (your name)way or tea a la (name)hmmm just something to think about
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*cough*
Becky, the tea-troll ;-)
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I've just popped back to this thread, so forgive me if the subject has already been discussed.
I'm referring to tannins in tea. Tea is very rich in tannins, like tannic acid. As some of you may be aware, tannins cross-link proteins to create a rigid structure.
The relevance of this lies in the leather industry. They make leather from animal skins by 'tanning' them with cross-linking agents. What was a nice flexible, supple proteinaceous substance becomes stiff, tough, and leathery suitable for making into shoes, horse saddles and footballs.
So, should any of you avid tea takers become aware of a slight stiffening of the tongue, a barely perceptible change in the tone of your voice, think about leather and what could possibly be happening within you very own mouth.
I don't wish to scare anyone, but I feel you should be aware of these facts.
Cheers,
JaX
PS: Coffee anyone?
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KennyR wrote:
NoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOO!
Never let the teabag touch the milk!!
I have to agree with that.
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Milky_Mike
That very nice how to make a cuppa tea. Anyone know the instructions to making Wheatabix?
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@that_punks_sister
You may have a point there... :lol: