oldwailer
982 posts
Dec 25, 2009
4:03 PM
|
I know--it's a stupid question--but my wife and I have gotten hooked on drinking tea in the evening (we're still drinking coffee in the morning and afternoon, like real Americans).
We like Lipton's tea bags--but Lipton's is a company that is based in New Jersey--I got wondering if that would be a proper way to make a really good cup--how do you guys in the UK do it? I'm not talking high tea with the Queen or anything--just an average day cup that you make when you head out for the woodshed. . .
|
harmonicanick
491 posts
Dec 25, 2009
4:19 PM
|
OW
the best mastproduced tea is PG tips and it comes in pyramid tea bags, one for a cup..however tea drinking is a huge subject! Tea came to the uk courtesy of the british empire (india) and china (courtesy of the tea clippers (ships) exchanging opium for tea and silk in the 18th century
My mum likes Earl Gey tea; the advice is brew your tea in a pot for at least 5 mins and and milk after if desired.
The advice will vary depending on which area or demographic of the uk you 'ask'
We have starbucks etc but i/we prefer a small shot of contintental coffee
Tea is the best, Happy Christmas
|
LeonStagg
62 posts
Dec 25, 2009
5:01 PM
|
I had a tool buddy from India at work several years ago. ( I am a pipefitter) He used to make tea for us each afternoon. Hot tea at 3:00 in the afternoon in the heat of the Houston summer. It didn't take long to begin to really enjoy it. He introduced us to milk in our tea, still enjoy it! He called it "English Style Tea", good stuff.
|
mickil
758 posts
Dec 25, 2009
5:45 PM
|
Whatever type of tea, whether it's brewed in a cup or a teapot, the water has to be at boiling point when you pour it. Otherwise, the tea won't infuse - I think that's the word - as well.
I think that's the reason why us Brits pour the milk in afterwards: that cools it down, which could mess up the infusion process.
Of course, this is the opposite of making coffee - yum yum - where 'boiling is spoiling'.
----------
YouTube SlimHarpMick a.k.a. HarmonicaMick
|
oldwailer
983 posts
Dec 25, 2009
8:01 PM
|
Thanks, everybody, for taking time to answer this question--I'll be heeding all you advices. I have gotten totally hooked on 1/2 and 1/2 instead of milk--and a large dollop of honey--I hope that doesn't offend anybody--hard to believe that it has taken me over half a century to discover the delight of tea. . .
|
Hobostubs Ashlock
227 posts
Dec 25, 2009
10:57 PM
|
not to get off the topic but LeonStagg hows the welding jobs in texas right now? Im a out of work code welder,the manufactoring jobs in Oklahoma are dead and was wondering about the Refinerys around Houston?
|
Ant138
239 posts
Dec 26, 2009
3:42 AM
|
PG tips or Yorkshire tea bags. you gotta let the tea stand for a few minutes,take the bag out then add milk. (When ever i go abroad i gotta take my own tea bags)
We call it a brew here in the U.K., and im drinking one now.
The british go to war on tea.
----------
Last Edited by on Dec 26, 2009 3:47 AM
|
blogward
53 posts
Dec 26, 2009
4:20 AM
|
Our relatives in Sweden get us to send over teabags in bulk every so often. One thing US restaurants seem to get wrong is heating the milk! Noooo!!!! Skimmed milk will prevent you getting any (eeewww) globs of fat floating on the top if the milk isn't cold or totally fresh. But be ready for the day you make tea with milk that's on the turn... and my Mum, who used to make tea in the WRAC(WWII) used to say you couldn't go wrong using a metal teapot.
|
Kingley
575 posts
Dec 26, 2009
4:43 AM
|
Hot strong tea with milk and two sugars is a hard drink to beat!
We British folk are addicted to it! :-)
PG Tips, Tetley and Yorkshire tea bags are the best ones. I also have some Fair Trade ones from the Co-Op that are great as well. Loose tea is wonderful but way more fiddly than bags.
Although I differ from most posting here in that I put the milk in first and then the boiling water. I find if you do it the other way round you can curdle the milk which makes your tea tastes awful. Putting the milk in first means it's heated more slowly as the hot water goes into it and dilutes it so it won't curdle.
But the most important part of making tea is the "steeping" this dictates how strong the tea will be.
|
nacoran
604 posts
Dec 26, 2009
5:07 PM
|
I've tried bags of tea, and those little hinged loose tea strainers. I'd like to get myself one of the little colander like ones that sits on top. I have a friend who runs a whole site devoted to tea, but I don't have the addy handy. And if none of those work you can always just dump it in the Boston Harbor. ;)
|
LeonStagg
65 posts
Dec 26, 2009
6:46 PM
|
O.T. in response to Hobostubs question, work is down here in Houston. Probably not a lot different from Oklahoma. I'm an HVAC fitter/welder and our work is largely in commercial not industrial work. Hospitals, schools, manufacturing, etc. (We are finishing up our only refinery job for Shell Oil, be done this week. As far as I can tell, we are the only contractors working in the plant, totally dead.) Sorry to be off topic, just wanted to get back to Hobo, good luck bro!
|
DevonTom
40 posts
Dec 26, 2009
7:15 PM
|
Two PG Tips tea bags in one cup add boiling water take spoon, mash bags against side of cup until dark brown, add milk, drink. Smile. Kingley, what the hell do you think you're doing? Milk first? Happy New Year everybody, Tom
|
Hobostubs Ashlock
228 posts
Dec 26, 2009
7:19 PM
|
Thanks LoenStagg good luck to you also
|
Aussiesucker
484 posts
Dec 26, 2009
9:55 PM
|
I like my tea straight ie no milk, no sugar and not too strong. I can and do get up to 3 cups of tea from the one bag.Water must be freshly boiled.
Used to buy Liptons bags but now prefer Nerada (Australian grown) Tea bags. Organic product that is pesticide free plus the flavour is by far the best ie when compared to Liptons, Tetleys & Bushels.
When camping we make up a brew on the campfire in a billycan to which as well as tea leaves we throw in a few gumleaves. Served in a metal pannikin along with some hot damper & honey (bush bread from a camp fire oven)- yum!
http://www.neradatea.com.au/vcentre.html
Exploring the above site gives some good info on tea making and some great recipes for scones etc.
Last Edited by on Dec 26, 2009 10:04 PM
|
nacoran
606 posts
Dec 27, 2009
10:20 AM
|
Actually, a straight tea is about as good as anything I can think of to have right before harpin' and singing. Warms up the throat, leaves the mouth clean for your harp, helps clean out your mouth, good all around.
|
oldwailer
991 posts
Dec 28, 2009
4:52 PM
|
I found Tetley in the local market today--I'm enjoying a cup of it right now--I'll keep on trying to collect some of those other brands--but Tetley is the best I've ever had so far. . .
|
geordiebluesman
246 posts
Dec 29, 2009
1:10 AM
|
Hey Oldwailer, You just made a tea addict get teary with emotion. To think that a yanky doodle dandy mountain man like yourself has discovered the delights of tea is almost too much for my poor old slightly dodgy battery driven heart to take!BUT i do have a couple of extra words of advice to empart with regard to the preparation of this wonderous drink. First off the water used for the brewing should in fact be sweat scraped from the inner thigh of a lustfull woman at the point of ecstacy, this should be boiled on a fire made from your enemies bones, then poured over a Tetly tea bag which has been dropped into a chiped and darkly stained mug which bears the legend WORLD GREATEST LOVER!, Allow to stand for 2mins then stir, Remove the bag and throw it at the wife, add a sweetening agent ( i like to use a virgins tears) pop in a bit of milk and enjoy! P.S. never drink more than 4 mugs a day coz you will get palpatations!
|
geordiebluesman
247 posts
Dec 29, 2009
1:16 AM
|
Hey Oldwailer, You just made a tea addict get teary with emotion. To think that a yanky doodle dandy mountain man like yourself has discovered the delights of tea is almost too much for my poor old slightly dodgy battery driven heart to take!BUT i do have a couple of extra words of advice to empart with regard to the preparation of this wonderous drink. First off the water used for the brewing should in fact be sweat scraped from the inner thigh of a lustfull woman at the point of ecstacy, this should be boiled on a fire made from your enemies bones, then poured over a Tetly tea bag which has been dropped into a chiped and darkly stained mug which bears the legend WORLD GREATEST LOVER!, Allow to stand for 2mins then stir, Remove the bag and throw it at the wife, add a sweetening agent ( i like to use a virgins tears) pop in a bit of milk and enjoy! P.S. never drink more than 4 mugs a day coz you will get palpatations!
|
Luke Juke
48 posts
Dec 29, 2009
2:55 AM
|
Tetley makes a good brew but I have to say that, ( and this hurts coming from a londoner,) Yorkshire tea is the best. I drank tea with 2-3 sugars in it for the 1st 33 years of my life. The missus used to moan about all the sugar I was taking so I went cold turkey for a week. No sugar in tea yuk. But after that week my tea now tastes better than ever. When drinking, Tea should start with slurp, then a swallow and finished with a haaaaaah
Last Edited by on Dec 29, 2009 2:56 AM
|
Jfllr1
65 posts
Dec 29, 2009
3:14 AM
|
Earl grey yum yum. 4 or 5 cups a day easy. Lovely. Agree with geordie all the way.
Also whats the eeal with giving people hot milk or cream with tea *shudder* in foreign parts?
----------
"Blow as thou pleaseth"
|
djm3801
309 posts
Jan 11, 2010
6:56 PM
|
An old thread but I have to say I went to a local Wegmans grocery store here in PA and found PG Tips tea mentioned here - $7.00 for 80 bags. It is really a nice cup of tea. i am a coffee drinker but I enjoy it and the wife loves it. This was a pretty interesting little chat. I recall going to tea at Harrods while I was there - tourist thing. About as far from blues as you can get but thanks for the info.
|
