Making tea

[marcmax]

I know that quite a few of our members are from parts of the globe that favor tea over coffee as a daily drink. Any types on how to make it? My first wife was from England (Colchester) and insisted on brewing it from loose tea, in a kettle, and so dark I swear that you could stand up a spoon in it.

I live in a part of the US that considers tea a cold beverage with so much sugar added it becomes almost tea syrup.

Just curious how the tea drinking world views this topic, dark tea, white tea, green tea, milk or cream, with or without sugar.

[Lucky_Lou]

I remember my joy finding "Hot Tea" being sold in Denver, it must be like Crack I had really missed it. however you brew it , in a pot or a cup (Tea bag or loose) do not be tempted to put milk in your cup first........ that way lies the dark side Padawan. A drop of Earl Grey is very nice but if you want the real deal it has to be "Yorkshire Tea" grown in the foothills of the Pennies and picked by part time Milk Maids.......
Lou

[Motu]

Choysa. I prefer white with sugar, because that's what I drank as a kid, but at work there is usually no milk and often no sugar, so black and not sweet is ok too.

[BPT]

I'm not much of a tea drinker but know a little bit.  Temperature is important.  Water shouldn't be boiling.  I think that most is best just off boil, but if you get hardcore about it, certain teas supposedly have particular temps that they are best steeped at.
Also steeping time is important.  Longer isn't better.  It will get stronger, to a point, but if you go too long then you start to bring out bad qualities - overly tannic, bitter, etc.

[thrang]

I'll admit I'm a tea fiend and philistine! I tend to leave the teabag in a mug technique so your cuppa gets stronger as you drink it. I don't mind if it is black or white, lose or bagged, so long as its tea and if I don't get my two mugs in a morning I'm a right grumpy bugger for a couple of hours.

Perhaps the most freaky thing for me about the US was asking for a cup of tea and getting a beaker of cold tea. I then got looked at very weirdly when I asked if they would pop it in the mircowave because it was cold! I worked out that I had to ask for hot tea, and I now know to take a travel kettle and at least a 100 tea bags with me when ever I venture over the pond... The other thing was being asked if I wanted cream in tea... Cream in tea my friends is an abomination that will lead to the downfall of society and victory for the powers of darkness.  

[skippyc]

I like white tea and green tea which has to be made with water at 70 to 80 dogsC

[Tony Smith]

Every day at work i have a coffee when I first arrive and if things are going badly I may have another 1 or 2 during the day.


BUT. also every morning I make a litre of tea in a plunger coffee maker (and there is a permanent threat of disembowelment with a blunt letter opener if anyone EVER puts coffee grounds in it).

I drink progressively colder cups of black tea all day.  The reason is that I cannot stand cold coffee and as the work ramps up in the morning an un-drunk cup of anything is going to get cold and milk curdles when it gets cold and I hate the look of it.

Black tea I can drink hot or cold.

[Barry]

"Yorkshire Tea" grown in the foothills of the Pennies and picked by part time Milk Maids.......

....and if they believe that Lou they'll believe anything because the snow we had this morning will have seen off the tea plants.

We drink two cups of tea a day at breakfast and tea time brewed in a tea pot using PG tips in the pyramid shaped tea bags. Coffee rest of the time.

[marcmax]

I have always been fond of green tea. Use regular tea bags and put a kettle of water on. When it whistles I take it off, let it sit for a minute then pour it over the tea bag and leave the bag in while I am drinking it. The only thing I add is a little drizzle of honey.

[Bob_Roller]

When I lived in Iran in the '70's, found out that tea was greatly favored over coffee .
The tea was in wood barrels and you used a pair of heavy scissors or shears and cut off what you wanted, reminded me of chewing tobacco here in the US .
Had to be the best tea I ever had .
I prefer honey and nothing else in it .
I have yet to find anything comparable here in the US .

[k_enn]

I am a coffee drinker, but ocassionally I enjoy tea.  For me, I like either a nice Chinese green tea, or a white tea.  I always use loose tee, and pre-heat the pot before making the tea.  Temperature is important - do not use boiling water with green tea or white tea.  Let the water sit 3 - 5 minutes after boiling before pouring over your tea leaves.  Never with sweetener, lemon, or dairy.  

When I was in China, I saw a lot of the locals with bottles of tea.  The would start the day with some green tea leaves in glass or plastic bottle, that they would leave out in the sun for a little while to brew.  After they drank it, they would leave the leaves in the bottle, refill with water, and sun brew it again.  

k_enn

[Lucky_Lou]

When I lived in Iran in the '70's, found out that tea was greatly favored over coffee .

Small world .... I was a regular visitor to Kharg island with ocasional visits inland in the mid 70,s before the "revolution"  while working for BP. Iran then was one of more pleasant places in the Persian Gulf.
Lou

[Bob_Roller]

Lou, I lived in Esfahan, about 200 miles, 300 km south of Teheran .
It was my first encounter with a foreign culture, what I came away with from that experience, is that if you take out religion and politics out of the equation, I think people for the most part could get along a lot better .
I worked for a defense contractor, Bell Helicopter, teaching their military personnel, how to maintain the large fleet of helicopters they had .
I lived through the first 6 months of their cultural revolution in '78 through early '79 .
I found out quickly, that I did not like being shot at and not being able to return fire !!!!
Their military, saw the usefulness of motorcycles .

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=bell+helicopter+isfahan+iran&view=detailv2&qpvt=bell+helicopter+isfahan+iran&id=4B7C37719F9FA931E55F4C4B439F1CD86B171B36&selectedindex=143&ccid=E5sdOfzU&simid=607990954308013850&thid=OIP.M139b1d39fcd440769d9ae9898afc4c22o0&mode=overlay&first=1

[Semper Gumby]

Green tea.  I really like Celestial Seasonings green and white teas of various favors.  Usually seasoned with local honey every morning.  8-)

[nhmaf]

I like many kinds of tea, though I usually prefer coffee, I will have a few mugs of tea during the week.   We take the kettle off just before it whistles.   I drink my tea like I drink my whiskey - straight up and neat.. unless I am feeling sick with a sore throat, in which case some honey is OK.  MY wife drinks all sorts of bizarre flavored teas every day, and dumps in honey on top of it all.    I don't get it...