Wednesday 7 November 2012

A somewhat pointless and slightly hungover ramble about tea



Yes, tea.

I am so English it hurts. 

This affliction is so severe that I refuse to make tea for others at work because I know then that they will offer to make me tea back and I will have to refuse or face drinking some sub par slop.

For me, a proper mug of tea is made thusly.  I won't go into the use of a teapot here - sadly my place of employment is just not civilised enough to provide such essentials.

Select a mug in a pale tone.  Nothing like a dark mug to make your beverage look insipid even when it isn't.  People who use black mugs for tea are mad at worst, misguided at best.

Boiling water should be poured onto the teabag.  Tea in first then the hot water - not the other way around - it ruins the delicious effect of the swirling water shifting the leaves about.  If using sugar add it here so it can evenly disperse.

Tea should be left to left to steep or "mash" for at least a minute, preferably two.

Bag firmly squeezed and then removed.

Then, and only then, when the bag is removed, can milk be added.  Add milk before the hot water and the liquid is not hot enough to steep the tea. People who do this get firmly tutted in the works kitchen.  I mean - it defies logic.

Sit down and then drink tea.  With reverence, and biscuits.  Ideally three custard creams.



Anyway.  Tea.







14 comments:

  1. I now want custard creams and tea. I have a banana and water. HUFF.

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  2. I put in milk after the steeping time but before removing the bag JUST IN CASE it needs an extra squeeze to get more brown. If the bag is out but upon adding milk, the tea is too pale, all is lost and I'd have to start from scratch.

    Another consideration is mug size. Jumbo mugs are a tea fail, they have to be small narrow ones or short squat ones. My husband has appropriated my perfectly sized Brownie Guides 1988 Jamboree mug, apparently this was agreed to under one of the marriage vows... :/

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  3. This is the benefit of the 5:2 diet. Today I can nom lots and lots of biscuits.

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  4. I make a horrendous cup of tea- I try my hardest, but it always tastes horrid! So I always refuse to make anyone a cup… I’m so ashamed!!! :(

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  5. Oooh yes, I definitely agree about drinking tea from a mug that is a light colour! It's funny how much the choice of drinking utensil can alter the taste/enjoyment of your drink. Personally, I don't like drinking out of jumbo-sized mugs, and I most definitely prefer a mug or cup that is not too thick!

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  6. I prefer mine with chocolate HobNobs! :)

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  7. Hahaha we have the same tea procedure!! :)

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  8. I perfectly understand the whole 'perfect' cup of tea procedure. Thankfully, I have trained the Husband to make a half-decent cup of green tea. Most of my teas {yes, teaS} are green tea based which makes the brewing a bit different from black tea.

    I do have say though, that while I adore my tea in a pretty cup, or slender mug, I also sometimes have a craving for a GIANT cup of tea and drag out my 1/2 pint ceramic beer mug to do the honors. Yum... So much tea goodness.

    And now of course, I must be off to make myself a cup of delight, also known as tea. ; )

    xox,
    bonita of Depict This!

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  9. The timing of milk originally signified class. Poor, working class people had to add their milk first because their lower quality ceramics couldn't handle the heat caused by hot tea. Therefore the milk was added first to cool the liquid down as it came into contact with the cup. Posh, upper class people on the other hand had better quality ceramics which wouldn't break when in contact with hot liquid and could therefore afford the luxury of adding milk later.

    ~Vixen~ x

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  10. I have a teapot at work. Very useful as the kettle is so far away! But you've got to have tea at work.

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  11. agreed. Tea is awesome and must be treated with the utmost respect. Also I belive that one should put in their own milk as the amount of milk is such a personal thing.

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  12. Make tea not water, would be more apt in my case (I'm one of those weak-ass-just-wave-the-tea-bag-at-the-mug people).

    Ruby xx

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  13. Hello!

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    Man and Van Woking

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