Tea talk

[Julie]

I'm not allowed into tea stores or tea websites without appropriate supervision and someone else holding the purse strings. While I will drink bagged teas (because they are often cheaper and easier to find), I much prefer the loose-leaf variety. The primary source of loose-leaf teas around here is Teavana...though I imagine I might find some small shops that offer excellent selections were I to take chaperoned excursions to find other options. I discovered an absolutely delightful tea shop when I was visiting friends in the Seattle area last October. It's called Savrika...and you can not only buy your loose-leaf teas, but you can also order them by the cup to enjoy while you're there! Suck it Starbucks! I'll take the tea shop over a coffee shop any day! I would like to note that there is a table in this image with little white, red, green, silver, and black tins (though I don't think you can see the black ones). The colors are an organizational method of sorting the teas by type, and they're all labeled so that you can smell each tea to decide what you'd like to try or buy or both. Teavana lets you smell things (but the smelling is controlled by a staff person), but you can only try what they've got pre-brewed for you...and they add sweetener to their brews whether or not you want it (though I will freely admit that I'm a fan of the rock sugar they use and sell...they just use too much).

Savrika!

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I also got to have my first ever high tea while I was up there. *giddy bounces* That was super awesome because you got to pick your loose-leaf tea and you got an entire pot to yourself...and with endless refills...and everyone chose a different brew, and we all go to try each other's teas! Not to mention the abundance of tasty nibbles that went with the high tea service! AND there were always a few taster "shots" going around of various brews that they were recommending! I would also like to give mega props to the guys in this photo because they not only willingly went to a place with a very feminine atmosphere, but they enjoyed themselves and didn't even seem phased by or aware of the absurd amount of floral paraphernalia that surrounded them. They not only love their wives, but are super secure...and love their tea!

Tea time!

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[DinkyInky]

Teavana has changed since Starschmucks bought them out. It's...well, less potent. Like when they assimilated Seattle's Best.

Yeah, I hated that about Teavana. I never take sweet with my tea unless it's a bad brew and I'm not wasting my money.
They're also super stingy with the leaf, and I'd get sugared dishrag tea. I swear they were double steeping and adding just enough leaf to colour it.
Pet peeve of mine. I ended up walking out after telling them just that. I had previously enjoyed a blend of theirs and wanted a hot cuppa before buying a large tin of it.
After getting dishrag tea, and being told that was how it was supposed to taste, my friends that brought me there asked if that wasn't the tea I had at their house, then dropped their unpurchased items on the counter and walked out after I said yes.

I found Adagio, and haven't gone back. Still, I miss my gingersnap tea of theirs...

[Catawampus]

I would also like to give mega props to the guys in this photo because they not only willingly went to a place with a very feminine atmosphere, but they enjoyed themselves and didn't even seem phased by or aware of the absurd amount of floral paraphernalia that surrounded them.

Bah, a proper man can sip his tea out of a tiny porcelain cup whilst seated upon a floral-patterned seat, surrounded by chiffon and hyacinths and Haydn concertos, and still be thoroughly manly about it.

What notes in the Lapsang Souchong grab you? There is a difference. I had one that tasted like boiled pine sap, some have a hint of the tea leaves behind the smoke...then again which types of tea the companies can get away with calling Lapsang.

Eh, I like the pinewood smokiness of it, as much in the smell as in the taste. But not quite to the level of it being like chugging a bottle of liquid smoke.

If interested PM me an email, and I can shoot you one of their try it gc's. Ditto to anyone wanting to try them.

I'll have to think about that.

[Dave]

I would also like to give mega props to the guys in this photo because they not only willingly went to a place with a very feminine atmosphere, but they enjoyed themselves and didn't even seem phased by or aware of the absurd amount of floral paraphernalia that surrounded them.

Bah, a proper man can sip his tea out of a tiny porcelain cup whilst seated upon a floral-patterned seat, surrounded by chiffon and hyacinths and Haydn concertos, and still be thoroughly manly about it.

From "Lone Star Planet", by H. Beam Piper:

At Dumbarton Oaks Diplomatic Academy, they haze the freshmen by making them sit on a one-legged stool and balance a teacup and saucer on one knee while the upper classmen pelt them with ping-pong balls. Whoever invented that and the other similar forms of hazing was one of the great geniuses of the Service.

[Catawampus]

Since I've got nothing much else to do at the moment, here are a few tea recipes. Bear in mind that most of the measurements given are general approximations, since most of the time I was just shown something along the lines of, “and take a handful about this big of this stuff and dump it in”.

Hot tea fruit punch stuff

This is a fruit tea punch drink that I was shown how to make in Saint Petersburg in Russia. I don't know just how common or traditional it is for the area, but it's tasty and it gets you a good dose of vitamins and minerals during the cold Winter days. To make one gallon:

Slice up two whole lemons and gently boil them for fifteen minutes in one-third of a pint of water.

In a second (and much larger) pot, bring two and one-third quarts of water to a boil. Add one and one-third cups of sugar (they used beet sugar, but since that's rather hard to find around here I generally just use unrefined cane sugar) and a couple sticks of cinnamon, then boil it for ten minutes. Add about a sixth of an ounce of strong black tea (Irish breakfast is what I usually use, since it's easy to find) and boil for another five minutes.

Remove the tea and cinnamon, then sieve the lemon water from the first pot into the second. Add thirty ounces each of orange juice and pineapple juice.

I'll usually brew up a couple of quarts of this, drink a bit of it while it's still fresh and hot, and let the rest of it cool down before pouring it into a container and keeping it in the refrigerator. It keeps well for quite a few days, and reheating it doesn't spoil its flavour.

Horribly strong Russian tea

Here's an alternative Russian way of brewing tea, for those who prefer a more 'pure' cup.

Bring a pint of water to a boil. Add a dozen spoonfulls of black tea. Reduce heat, and let it steep for fifteen minutes, or an hour, or overnight if you're feeling brave and want a strong kick to wake you up in the morning. Strain it, then drink it plain.

Salted spiced green tea

This one I learned to make in the Himalayan foothills regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Bring a pint of water to a boil in a pot. Add a quarter ounce of fine-pearled gunpowder green tea and one-sixteenth of a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate. Reduce the heat, and let it steep for a quarter of an hour.

Add one-eighth of a teaspoon of salt, one cup heavy cream, and whatever amount you feel like adding of black peppercorns, cinnamon bark bits, cardamom seeds, and/or almond pieces. Bring it to a boil, then let it steep another quarter hour.

Strain out all of the chewy crunch bits, unless you enjoy that sort of thing in your drinks.

Buttered tea

This one comes from a bit further south along the Himalayas than the last one. To make it properly requires yak butter, which gives it a very particular colour and flavour. Since yak dairy products tend to be slightly scarce in 99% of the world, you can try experimenting with other similar substances.

Add a fifth of an ounce of strong black tea to two pints of boiling water. Steep it at moderate heat overnight, then strain out the liquid into another container. This makes a sort of tea stock that you can put away and use as needed, and that will keep for several days.

Take a pint of the stock and bring it to a boil. Add one cup of yak butter and a bit of salt. Pour the mixture into a churn and churn it all up (or be lazy and just pour it into an electric blender).

Drink it. Cough up yak hairballs.

[Dave]

Drink it. Cough up yak hairballs.

I don't thinking you'd been eating enough tsampa with your tea. Tsampa helps buffer, lubricate, dissolve, and/or conceal the yak hair.

[TazManiac]

I also like to brew teas in glass cups or pots with a good light behind them, and watch the tea oils come coiling out of the leaves and gradually spread their tendrils throughout the whole pot along the convection currents.

This is something I also love to watch.

Pops had one of those all glass coffee pots (I know, not Tea) and without a television in the house, as a young child I used to love watching the gas flame and the bubbling up the stem and the first few drops of percolate into the clear water.

I can get some of the same nostalgia from a great big mason jar and some loose leaf tea...

[Dave]

Pops had one of those all glass coffee pots (I know, not Tea) and without a television in the house, as a young child I used to love watching the gas flame and the bubbling up the stem and the first few drops of percolate into the clear water.

One of those wonderful old two-part "vacuum" coffee pots? Heat the water, it burbles up into the top and mixes with the coffee, turn off the gas, the steam down below condenses and forms a partial vacuum, and air pressure forces the coffee down through the filter?

My grandparents had one they used every day... and it was indeed a wonderful thing to watch. They seem to have gone very much out of style - all the ones I see for sale seem to be "vintage" from decades ago. I think that's a shame... such a marvelous combination of engineering, brewing-coffee smells, and physics in action.

I suppose they do have a tendency to go FOOM and spurt superheated water everywhere, if the stem should clog... that might account for the reduction in popularity.

[DinkyInky]

Pops had one of those all glass coffee pots (I know, not Tea) and without a television in the house, as a young child I used to love watching the gas flame and the bubbling up the stem and the first few drops of percolate into the clear water.

One of those wonderful old two-part "vacuum" coffee pots? Heat the water, it burbles up into the top and mixes with the coffee, turn off the gas, the steam down below condenses and forms a partial vacuum, and air pressure forces the coffee down through the filter?

My grandparents had one they used every day... and it was indeed a wonderful thing to watch. They seem to have gone very much out of style - all the ones I see for sale seem to be "vintage" from decades ago. I think that's a shame... such a marvelous combination of engineering, brewing-coffee smells, and physics in action.

I suppose they do have a tendency to go FOOM and spurt superheated water everywhere, if the stem should clog... that might account for the reduction in popularity.

The glass ones these days are too thin, plus is half junk plastic. Pyrex takes some punishment. You still can buy electric percolators and metal stovetop models though.

[TazManiac]

Dave, it was, in terms of operation (and I suppose, for the most part construction), a Conventional Coffee Pot. Where it differed was that the pot itself, the lid, the main stem, and the sides of the basket where all made out of glass. The tops and bottoms of the baskets are perforated circular disk made out of Al-You-Minium.

Lets see how good my google-foo is right now...



That's allllmost it, close enough to illustrate...

Oh and DInky? Dis be fer yee:

21Jan2016 - Google Doodle
https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en#q=Wi ... en&oi=ddle

(His hair certainly looks like he’s been eating peppers....)

[DinkyInky]

Dave, it was, in terms of operation (and I suppose, for the most part construction), a Conventional Coffee Pot. Where it differed was that the pot itself, the lid, the main stem, and the sides of the basket where all made out of glass. The tops and bottoms of the baskets are perforated circular disk made out of Al-You-Minium.

Lets see how good my google-foo is right now...



That's allllmost it, close enough to illustrate...

Oh and DInky? Dis be fer yee:

21Jan2016 - Google Doodle
https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en#q=Wi ... en&oi=ddle

(His hair certainly looks like he’s been eating peppers....)

Toooo cuuuute! And damn that ghost pepper cheats!

[TazManiac]

Not to stray off topic or anything (I'll loop back on, just a min...) I was thinking of the old parable where the Frog, wary and reluctant, gives the scorpion a ride across the river.

Mid-way the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, just as the frog feared, and as they both sank the frog cries out "Why did you sting me?!, Now we both shall drown!...".

To which the scorpion reply;"It's my nature..."

Ghost Peppers are like that. It's not about choosing to be that way, or right & wrong. It's just how they are...

But as this was a thread re: Tea, I got a thought to steep something flavourful but not too overwhelming and dropping a really hot slice of a pepper in it for a little bit.

Perhaps even something fruit-themed...

[DinkyInky]

Not to stray off topic or anything (I'll loop back on, just a min...) I was thinking of the old parable where the Frog, wary and reluctant, gives the scorpion a ride across the river.

Mid-way the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, just as the frog feared, and as they both sank the frog cries out "Why did you sting me?!, Now we both shall drown!...".

To which the scorpion reply;"It's my nature..."

Ghost Peppers are like that. It's not about choosing to be that way, or right & wrong. It's just how they are...

But as this was a thread re: Tea, I got a thought to steep something flavourful but not too overwhelming and dropping a really hot slice of a pepper in it for a little bit.

Perhaps even something fruit-themed...

I have a Lapsang White tea blend that uses blueberries and red peppercorns...it's a lovely pop of flavour.

[Julie]

Oh and DInky? Dis be fer yee:

21Jan2016 - Google Doodle
https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en#q=Wi ... en&oi=ddle

(His hair certainly looks like he’s been eating peppers....)

Toooo cuuuute! And damn that ghost pepper cheats!

I beat the ghost pepper...but the scorpion pepper was a bastard.

[DinkyInky]

Oh and DInky? Dis be fer yee:

21Jan2016 - Google Doodle
https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en#q=Wi ... en&oi=ddle

(His hair certainly looks like he’s been eating peppers....)

Toooo cuuuute! And damn that ghost pepper cheats!

I beat the ghost pepper...but the scorpion pepper was a bastard.

Tablet ghost pepper cheats!

[GlytchMeister]

I finished the game on my iPad...

Oh, I'm sorry, is my "Gamer" showing?

[Sgt. Howard]

My second wife, Sally, educated me in tea... but I lost interest after the divorce. We typically had a fine selection of loose leaf teas to work with, and I remember having a second source of boiling water to heat the cups before pouring the tea.
I enjoyed it- but after I got back into coffee I lost all that education. Might mess with it again at some point, when time is more readily available

[GlytchMeister]

I am extremely uneducated in the ways of tea. One could even say I am absolutely barbaric... I like raspberry iced sweet tea. Generally with enough raspberry and sweet that I don't actually taste the bitterness of the tea.

And yes, I have had properly-brewed tea... I can always taste the bitterness so much I can't enjoy any of the subtle tastes underneath. My stupid super-taste-buds are annoying like that.

Anyway... I can't really enjoy tea, but I like to think it's good for me, so I will occasionally create a mixture of juice and tea. One of my favorite combinations is cranberry, raspberry, and red grape juice concentrates, diluted with tea instead of water, with a splash of pomegranate juice.

[DinkyInky]

I finished the game on my iPad...

Oh, I'm sorry, is my "Gamer" showing?

iPads...applesauce.

I am extremely uneducated in the ways of tea. One could even say I am absolutely barbaric... I like raspberry iced sweet tea. Generally with enough raspberry and sweet that I don't actually taste the bitterness of the tea.

And yes, I have had properly-brewed tea... I can always taste the bitterness so much I can't enjoy any of the subtle tastes underneath. My stupid super-taste-buds are annoying like that.

Anyway... I can't really enjoy tea, but I like to think it's good for me, so I will occasionally create a mixture of juice and tea. One of my favorite combinations is cranberry, raspberry, and red grape juice concentrates, diluted with tea instead of water, with a splash of pomegranate juice.

They actually make expensive blends like that.

Another thing you might consider is first off, get something not bitter like Tetley's or Bigelows and either warm the juice and steep a single tea bag for not longer than two minutes.
If you are using it to dilute:

Boil water.
Decant into teapot or mug, wait 40 seconds.
Add one teabag per 10 ounce water, since you are diluting.
Steep, not dunk teabag not longer than two minutes.
Remove teabag without squeezing water out.

Unless it is a tisane, squeezing it releases a lot of the residuals, which may be causing the bitterness.

I've steeped my Adagio looseleafs overnight on accident most of the time, and had no bitterness unless I either dunk or squeeze the leaves.
Another thing, I've added a spoon of Marmalade to Bigelows English Breakfast instead of sweetener...interesting fruitiness to it...which is basically yuja cha with tea leaves. I'm about to go buy a ton of said fruits and make a jar of yuja cha because this cold has to go.

[DinkyInky]

So, completely forgot to get my citron, so instead I'm drinking Sherlock tea.

Just in case it wasn't obvious from my buying the largest size they carry(and since it's been barely a month and I'm nearly out, I either have a problem, or they need a bigger box...I'm thinking it's the latter).
It's powerfully smoky, and considering the higher percentage of the Lapsang Souchong in the blend, it's unsurprising.
The Assam and black teas blended in soften it just a touch, while the spices round it out into a blend as complex as the man it's named after.
As I've stated elsewhere, I adore Jeremy Brett's portrayal of Sherlock, and this blend perfectly fits him as well. So amazing!

I've actually caught myself doctoring up some of the other blends with this to increase the roaring fire essence. I may have a problem....nah, probably not.
I actually cannot drink this sweet, it changes the profile so much that I actually do not like it. I did like it the first time I tried it, but since, it's too different.
My son loves it both ways, and says it chases the chill away just by making one think of a roaring fire.
Ultimate favourite of Cara's Sherlock blends I've tried thus far.
Brewed in my trusty Rose Parade ceramic teapot.