Tea Drinking
dae
Hi All,
Kind of a rip off of Richard's Flea but I do have a question.
At my favorite Greek diner where I take lunch about twice a week a man from
London who lives in the U.S. comes in for lunch and always has a "Pot" of
tea.
When Cindy the server brings it to him he pulls out the teabag from its
package and mumbles "Barbarians" or "Darn Colonists" and his lunch mate
laughs like crazy.
Then he takes out a little Swiss Army knife and slits the teabag with the
scissors. Then he dumps the tea into the pot, loose, without the bag.
Cindy says he always does this and finds it "Barbaric" that we serve tea in
bags rather than loose.
What is the story here? How do the Brits and Aussies drink their tea?
Isn't this exciting:-))
Don and his Devil
Michael Fanner
The 'civilised' way to make tea is indeed to do what this man does, except...
Proper teapot tea is significantly better quality than the stuff that's in
teabags. Teabags contain the dust that's left after the chopped leaves
have been sorted and sent. Cutting open a teabag and making tea that way
is no better than dangling in a cup of hot water. In fact, I'd go so far
as to say that putting an individual teabag in a cup will give a stronger,
better cup of tea than ever your man gets.
Take it from me Don, he's just being snobbish for it's own sake.
--
Mick. <Magister mundi sum!>
<to email remove 'thekeyboard' and insert 'onetel'>
dae
"Michael Fanner" <mickf...@thekeyboard.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2005.10.11....@thekeyboard.com...
Mick,
Thanks for the straight scoop. I think he was just being funny rather than
snobbish. He knows that everyone that watches him or hears him gets a kick
out of how he prepares and drinks tea. I know I do:-))
Don and his Devil
faith
from loose tea. The easiest way for me to make this at home is in a French
Press. Now tea pots are fine, but have found that the strainers etc you
find in the US doesn't supply the option of making a full pot of tea as I
long strong tea. (adhore colored water) in which drink it usually with
nothing at all but occassionaly add a squeeze of lemon.
Many times whe the only option was to cut a bag opened for a robust cup of
tea that is exactly what I do.....except in discerning company which might
think I was wearing mismatched shoes or socks. :-)
--
faith
"dae" <d.e...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:tLqdnR0Sj5x...@comcast.com...
Arch (TX)
Gosh, I don't really know, but I would guess probably out of a cup or
maybe lap it from a saucer?
--
Arch (San Antonio, Texas)
My Photo Galleries:
http://www.pbase.com/aanzjr
Numac
says...
pot to the kettle never the kettel to the pot.
Numac
NHun...@aol.com
When I was a kid (yes, Sue, I do remember) the pot was always
pre-warmed with hot water, emptied and the loose tea put in. Boiling
water was added and steeped til the color was right and then poured
through a strainer into the cup.
I use loose tea sometimes and tea bags most of the time.
Norma
Goromoff
news:1129062817.2...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
Tea bags were invented to serve the American Market, where our cousins were
losing patience with the ritual and (some felt) inconvenience of mashing or
making tea. It was all down to the speed of the matter, a little bag of tea
on a string had got to be faster than fiddling with tea in a pot, strainers
and all that stuff. Much the same was said with coffee and the instant
varieties thereof.
For a start, the flavour of tea is best released by boiling water (not when
it has gone off the boil, but actually still roiling and bubbling).
The man you describe is not to be derided, rather is he to be praised and
to be held out as an example to others.
A properly mashed cup of tea cannot, under any circumstance, be bettered,
but the question lies in how that mashing takes place. If you will allow me
a little ramble, I will tell you a tale. Sitting comfortably? Tea brewing?
A man I visited in the Peak District, had been widowed some years and still
managed to run his smallholding, a few sheep, a cow, some vegetables. He
fed and cared for himself. After we had conducted business, he asked would
I like a cuppa? It being late autumn, coming on winter, the winds were
bitter, and the prospect of a nice hot cuppa was most appealing.
Inside the kitchen, he still had a coal fire, upon which a large black
kettle was simmering, steam issuing from the spout. He reached for the tea
pot, a huge ceramic thing, needing two hands, and placed it close to the
fire. Reaching into a cupboard, he took down a tin which contained his tea.
He put two generous teaspoons of leaf into the tea pot, which I could see
was almost full already.
After a few minutes, he poured boiling water into the teapot, which had
room for only a little. "Needs emptying", he muttered.
He set up two pint mugs (stained brown with tannin), added generous sugars
(without asking) and half filled them. The tea was black, black as night,
not the golden colour you would expect, but black. This was topped up in
the mug from the kettle, which, of course, made the tea scalding hot and
virtually undrinkable.
"Get this darn thee" he said "an' nowt'll ail thee!"
I did my best, honest!
Yoj
news:dii4il$doa$1...@nwrdmz03.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com...
<G> Maybe he meant that if you could drink that, nothing could bother you.
Joy
Diane
Ya build a fire made with little twigs < they burn hotter!>
Ya boil the billy, toss in a handful of Billy Tea leaves, stir with a gum
stick
Twirl the billy three times around your head and pour!
Ya gotta have a few tealeaves in your mug after you finish so's you can read
the leaves and know whether or not the day will be bonza!
Dinky di, Di!
"dae" <d.e...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:tLqdnR0Sj5x...@comcast.com...
>
Diane
I am guessing it is similar to what we call a coffee plunger?
di...:)
"faith" <whis...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:11knrna...@corp.supernews.com...
Diane
"Numac" <mac0...@mac.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1db5d01f4...@aioe.cjb.net...
A definite connoisseur, Numac! G'day, by the way!
Di Down Under.....:)
Diane
"Goromoff" <goro...@godknows.com> wrote in message
news:dii4il$doa$1...@nwrdmz03.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com...
> news:1129062817.2...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
>
>> Numac wrote:
>>> In article <tLqdnR0Sj5x...@comcast.com>, d.e...@comcast.net
> He set up two pint mugs (stained brown with tannin), added generous sugars
> (without asking) and half filled them. The tea was black, black as night,
> not the golden colour you would expect, but black. This was topped up in
> the mug from the kettle, which, of course, made the tea scalding hot and
> virtually undrinkable.
> "Get this darn thee" he said "an' nowt'll ail thee!"
> I did my best, honest!
LOL! Oh YUK!
Do you chaps use the term ' bull the tea', meaning to add more hot water to
eke out another cup?
Di....:)
Jim Everman
> I'm not familiar with a French Press?
> I am guessing it is similar to what we call a coffee plunger?
> di...:)
Yes. See:
<http://www.ineedcoffee.com/99/05/frenchpress/>
Jim
Diane
drink instant, sassenach that I am.
Although, I have now found decaffeinated 'proper-coffee' which might go well
in the plunger...hmmm!
Di<~~~~cogs whirring!
"Jim Everman" <eve...@anet-stl.com> wrote in message
news:tbydnYA-N9UVptPe...@accessus.net...