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A quick guide to tea

FollowingHim

FollowingHim

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Tea can be a confusing subject when you haven't grown up with it and are trying to understand it from advertising. As all of us from the Commonwealth would like to have a decent cup of tea when visiting the USA, and no doubt there are many Americans who could also benefit from a good cuppa, here is a brief guide to tea: What it is and how to make it.

The word "Tea" is used in three different ways. Tea is a plant - a bush native to Asia. The leaves of this plant are steeped in water to make the drink called "tea". And, just to be confusing, English-speaking people have then taken to calling anything made from some plant material steeped in water "tea", even if it has no actual tea in it. Even if you wouldn't drink it (compost tea...).

This final point is what makes tea appear confusing. If someone who is unfamiliar with tea goes shopping for tea, they are overwhelmed by the immense variety of things they could buy that are labelled "tea". Should I get rosehip-infused-lemon-balm tea, or maybe strawberry-and-guava tea? And the shop shelves, and websites, are full of this stuff. Some of it is good and well recognised tea that people actually drink regularly (e.g. Earl Grey, a venerable blend of tea and bergamot, I frequently drink it myself). Other stuff is just random herbs mixed together to see what people are crazy enough to pay money for, and might be nice but are not really tea. If you don't know tea you won't know the difference, and the best way to extract money from people is to sell them a "tea selection" containing a small amount of good tea and a load of different varieties of rubbish, so they only drink a small amount of what they bought and are back sooner to buy more of the one thing that was actually decent. Steer clear of these, someone's after your money.

Forget all this complexity. Tea is simple.

There are fundamentally only two types of tea: Black tea, and Green tea.

If you pluck leaves off the tea bush, and dry them in a very simple manner, you have "green tea" (or "white tea" which is essentially the same thing).

If these leaves are then cured following a more complex process to preserve them and alter the flavour, you have "black tea".

Traditionally, black tea was exported to England from Asia, because it stored better than green tea. So that's what English-speaking people got used to drinking. So, in English, if someone says "tea" they mean black tea. If they want "green tea", they'll say "green tea", as it's considered a speciality product. If they'd prefer "some weird herbal concoction" they'll say that too. If they just say "tea", they ALWAYS mean simply "black tea".

Buying black tea

To keep it really simple, here's some examples of what you should actually be able to find on the shelves at Walmart:
Good quality tea: Twinings English Breakfast
Average quality tea:Lipton Black Tea
Probably rubbish tea, but cheap (I've never drunk these but I'm assuming it's the same stuff that is in the store-label boxes here): Great Value, National Cup
The good tea will be made from younger leaves, while the cheap stuff will be old leaves and floor sweepings of dust that were rejected from all the named brands. Cheap tea will have a bitter taste, and if you broke open the teabags you'll find they'll be filled with more powder and fewer recognisable pieces of leaf.

If you're expecting guests, or trying tea for yourself, buy something that is decent quality. Twinings and Lipton are internationally recognised brands so should be readily available. Dilmah is even better, I just couldn't see it online at Walmart so didn't post a link. You can experiment with cheap tea later if you're going to be drinking a lot, to find what doesn't taste terrible.

Making black tea for a guest

This is very simple. Just stick to this order of steps, the order is important.
  1. Put tea bag in a cup or mug.
  2. Pour boiling water onto the tea bag until the cup is about 3/4 full.
  3. From this stage, each person has some slight variations in how they prefer their tea. So hand it over to your guest now to let them finish for themselves.
    If at home: Show your guest where to find the milk, sugar and spoons, and let them finish it as they like it. They will probably leave the cup brewing for a few minutes before doing anything with it.
    If in a restaurant setting: Serve the guest the cup of tea, a small jug of milk (2oz is more than enough), some sugar, and a small spoon they can use to mix it.
If preparing it for yourself: Leave the tea to brew until the water is all nicely golden (everyone has a different preference as to how long to brew it for, feel free to experiment). Remove the teabag. Optionally, add a small amount of milk (until it is a caramel colour) and/or 1-2 teaspoons of sugar to taste, and stir. The most common way for an English-speaking person to have tea is with some milk, but no sugar.

Making green tea for a guest

In the unlikely event that your guest wants to drink green tea rather than black tea, this is even simpler. Use a "green tea" teabag. Follow steps 1 and 2 above, forget step 3 as nobody has milk in green tea. Just give it to them with the teabag in the cup, and a spoon. They'll remove the teabag when it's brewed to their satisfaction.

I hope this is useful to somebody.
 
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As someone who absolutely LOVES tea, I much appreciate this post!

Twinings Earl Grey is one of my favorites, and I typically drink it with milk and sugar. I also just recently tried Yorkshire Gold after hearing good things about it.

I’m one of those crazies who absolutely prefers tea to coffee. I love reading how to properly make it since that’s not something anyone, that I know, has really ever concerned themselves with. :)
 
I am more inclined to coffee. I have 3 different types of coffee makers and 6 different coffee makers total. I have been called a coffee snob because I Prefer fresh ground coffee to preground and, have been known to bring my own coffee along on trips. I usually drink my coffee black but have been known to go completely opposite and have a double shot espresso with heavy cream carmel and chocolate with extra whip cream and chocolate.
 
FollowingHim said:
Tea can be a confusing subject when you haven't grown up with it and are trying to understand it from advertising. As all of us from the Commonwealth would like to have a decent cup of tea when visiting the USA, and no doubt there are many Americans who could also benefit from a good cuppa, here is a brief guide to tea: What it is and how to make it.

The word "Tea" is used in three different ways. Tea is a plant - a bush native to Asia. The leaves of this plant are steeped in water to make the drink called "tea". And, just to be confusing, English-speaking people have then taken to calling anything made from some plant material steeped in water "tea", even if it has no actual tea in it. Even if you wouldn't drink it (compost tea...).

This final point is what makes tea appear confusing. If someone who is unfamiliar with tea goes shopping for tea, they are overwhelmed by the immense variety of things they could buy that are labelled "tea". Should I get rosehip-infused-lemon-balm tea, or maybe strawberry-and-guava tea? And the shop shelves, and websites, are full of this stuff. Some of it is good and well recognised tea that people actually drink regularly (e.g. Earl Grey, a venerable blend of tea and bergamot, I frequently drink it myself). Other stuff is just random herbs mixed together to see what people are crazy enough to pay money for, and might be nice but are not really tea. If you don't know tea you won't know the difference, and the best way to extract money from people is to sell them a "tea selection" containing a small amount of good tea and a load of different varieties of rubbish, so they only drink a small amount of what they bought and are back sooner to buy more of the one thing that was actually decent. Steer clear of these, someone's after your money.

Forget all this complexity. Tea is simple.

There are fundamentally only two types of tea: Black tea, and Green tea.

If you pluck leaves off the tea bush, and dry them in a very simple manner, you have "green tea" (or "white tea" which is essentially the same thing).

If these leaves are then cured following a more complex process to preserve them and alter the flavour, you have "black tea".

Traditionally, black tea was exported to England from Asia, because it stored better than green tea. So that's what English-speaking people got used to drinking. So, in English, if someone says "tea" they mean black tea. If they want "green tea", they'll say "green tea", as it's considered a speciality product. If they'd prefer "some weird herbal concoction" they'll say that too. If they just say "tea", they ALWAYS mean simply "black tea".

Buying black tea

To keep it really simple, here's some examples of what you should actually be able to find on the shelves at Walmart:
Good quality tea: Twinings English Breakfast
Average quality tea:Lipton Black Tea
Probably rubbish tea, but cheap (I've never drunk these but I'm assuming it's the same stuff that is in the store-label boxes here): Great Value, National Cup
The good tea will be made from younger leaves, while the cheap stuff will be old leaves and floor sweepings of dust that were rejected from all the named brands. Cheap tea will have a bitter taste, and if you broke open the teabags you'll find they'll be filled with more powder and fewer recognisable pieces of leaf.

If you're expecting guests, or trying tea for yourself, buy something that is decent quality. Twinings and Lipton are internationally recognised brands so should be readily available. Dilmah is even better, I just couldn't see it online at Walmart so didn't post a link. You can experiment with cheap tea later if you're going to be drinking a lot, to find what doesn't taste terrible.

Making black tea for a guest

This is very simple. Just stick to this order of steps, the order is important.
  1. Put tea bag in a cup or mug.
  2. Pour boiling water onto the tea bag until the cup is about 3/4 full.
  3. From this stage, each person has some slight variations in how they prefer their tea. So hand it over to your guest now to let them finish for themselves.
    If at home: Show your guest where to find the milk, sugar and spoons, and let them finish it as they like it. They will probably leave the cup brewing for a few minutes before doing anything with it.
    If in a restaurant setting: Serve the guest the cup of tea, a small jug of milk (2oz is more than enough), some sugar, and a small spoon they can use to mix it.
If preparing it for yourself: Leave the tea to brew until the water is all nicely golden (everyone has a different preference as to how long to brew it for, feel free to experiment). Remove the teabag. Optionally, add a small amount of milk (until it is a caramel colour) and/or 1-2 teaspoons of sugar to taste, and stir. The most common way for an English-speaking person to have tea is with some milk, but no sugar.

Making green tea for a guest

In the unlikely event that your guest wants to drink green tea rather than black tea, this is even simpler. Use a "green tea" teabag. Follow steps 1 and 2 above, forget step 3 as nobody has milk in green tea. Just give it to them with the teabag in the cup, and a spoon. They'll remove the teabag when it's brewed to their satisfaction.

I hope this is useful to somebody.
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LOL Samuel that was very enlightening. So, I have a question for you...

As for black Tea I prefer P&G Tips myself but it is a little harder to get here.

I am the producer of some of those herbal teas you detest so much. LOL however I do use them as medicinal teas or better an herbal decoction... (a strong tea)
So what is the English term for this? And if used for medicine is it acceptable?
 
@Sonshine, Earl Grey is a unique tea blend, you either love it or hate it. I personally enjoy it too, as it brings back fond memories - it is my grandfather's favourite tea, and I have had many cups of it with him on various expeditions over the years. While my mother particularly likes Lady Grey, which is similar. But remember that these are not just tea, they are tea blended with other things. Many people don't like Earl Grey. If someone asks for tea, the safer option is something just called "Black tea", or "English breakfast" which is the fancy term for the same thing. And over here, even someone whose favourite tea is something like Earl Grey or Lady Grey would tend to drink normal black tea most of the time, and then have Earl Grey as a treat occasionally at home. They'd have a big jar of plain black teabags by the kettle, and a little box of Earl Grey on the shelf.

Sugar takes away the flavour, tea's better without sugar. A purist would say it's also better without milk, but I prefer it with milk when available. Having said that, milk helps to mask the bitterness of poor quality tea. The nicer the tea, the less it needs anything added to it.

We tend to drink tea very very dark, because we start it brewing, then get distracted by a child, forget it's there, remember half an hour later, fish out the teabag from a very black cup, add milk and drink it before it goes stone-cold. Or put it in the microwave if needed to reheat it. I'm not recommending that as a tea-making technique though.

@Littles, I deliberately never drink coffee, because then when I am travelling late and need something to wake me up, I can have a coffee and know it will have a good strong effect because my body isn't used to it. And because tea tastes better. :-)
 
Patricia C said:
LOL Samuel that was very enlightening. So, I have a question for you...

As for black Tea I prefer P&G Tips myself but it is a little harder to get here.

I am the producer of some of those herbal teas you detest so much. LOL however I do use them as medicinal teas or better an herbal decoction... (a strong tea)
So what is the English term for this? And if used for medicine is it acceptable?
Click to expand...
P&G Tips is an excellent tea.

I don't detest herbal teas at all! I'm just talking in blunt terms to simplify the topic for someone who's just wanting to make a cup of tea for a visitor. Just showing that if someone asks for a cup of tea, it's not confusing, they mean something simple, and you can ignore most of what's on the supermarket shelves. On the other hand, if you actually want a herbal tea, go for it.

Infusions / teas are a great way to get medicinal herbs into the body. We have a big jar of Rooibus tea in the cupboard which we use occasionally, including medicinally. We'll also use ginger as a tea sometimes when ill. I had a hippie flatmate once who made tea out of anything that didn't run away, that was interesting. But the most interesting "tea" I've ever drunk is Kava...
 
FollowingHim said:
@Sonshine, Earl Grey is a unique tea blend, you either love it or hate it. I personally enjoy it too, as it brings back fond memories - it is my grandfather's favourite tea, and I have had many cups of it with him on various expeditions over the years. While my mother particularly likes Lady Grey, which is similar. But remember that these are not just tea, they are tea blended with other things. Many people don't like Earl Grey. If someone asks for tea, the safer option is something just called "Black tea", or "English breakfast" which is the fancy term for the same thing. And over here, even someone whose favourite tea is something like Earl Grey or Lady Grey would tend to drink normal black tea most of the time, and then have Earl Grey as a treat occasionally at home. They'd have a big jar of plain black teabags by the kettle, and a little box of Earl Grey on the shelf.

Sugar takes away the flavour, tea's better without sugar. A purist would say it's also better without milk, but I prefer it with milk when available. Having said that, milk helps to mask the bitterness of poor quality tea. The nicer the tea, the less it needs anything added to it.

We tend to drink tea very very dark, because we start it brewing, then get distracted by a child, forget it's there, remember half an hour later, fish out the teabag from a very black cup, add milk and drink it before it goes stone-cold. Or put it in the microwave if needed to reheat it. I'm not recommending that as a tea-making technique though.

@Littles, I deliberately never drink coffee, because then when I am travelling late and need something to wake me up, I can have a coffee and know it will have a good strong effect because my body isn't used to it. And because tea tastes better. :)
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I think MOST of my favorites are blends, then. Because even Yorkshire Gold is a blend.
I do also love Lady Grey...

We do drink English Breakfast, but I 9/10 times will add sugar. Now I feel like such an impurest with my sugar!! Which is funny because @Isaac will mostly drink tea black and makes fun of me for sweetening it. ;)
 
Sonshine said:
I think MOST of my favorites are blends, then. Because even Yorkshire Gold is a blend.
Click to expand...
Yorkshire Gold is pure tea. It is a "blend" of different teas from different producers in different countries, but it's still just tea.

When you read "blend" on tea, it simply means that the retailer buys wholesale tea from more than one location and mix it together to try and maintain a consistent product. Yorkshire Gold makes a big deal of blending teas from three different countries - in reality, they probably just have supplier arrangements in 3 countries to ensure sufficient volume or consistency of supply even if the harvest is poor in one area, and then turn this into a marketing story. A "blend" can be high or low quality depending on the motivations of the manufacturer. All cheap teas are labelled "blend" because they are sourced wherever the lowest price is found, while some expensive teas are also "blends" because they source high quality leaves from multiple locations. So most tea is labelled "blend" simply for practical reasons.

The opposite is "single origin" tea, which comes from one place. For instance, some of the finest tea has traditionally come from Sri Lanka, and is labelled "Pure Ceylon". Dilmah is a "Pure Ceylon" tea, all coming from Sri Lanka.

Earl Grey on the other hand is tea flavoured with bergamot, so it is not purely tea.
 
Thanks for the post. Our family spent seven years in West Africa near a tea estate, so our children grew up drinking tea rather than milk, or more properly said, drinking tea so they got some milk. Powdered milk on its own is not the best. We now literally buy loose leaf tea in boxes by the pound, and our third son brews a minimum of 3 pots a day.
 
FollowingHim said:
P&G Tips is an excellent tea.

I don't detest herbal teas at all! I'm just talking in blunt terms to simplify the topic for someone who's just wanting to make a cup of tea for a visitor. Just showing that if someone asks for a cup of tea, it's not confusing, they mean something simple, and you can ignore most of what's on the supermarket shelves. On the other hand, if you actually want a herbal tea, go for it.

Infusions / teas are a great way to get medicinal herbs into the body. We have a big jar of Rooibus tea in the cupboard which we use occasionally, including medicinally. We'll also use ginger as a tea sometimes when ill. I had a hippie flatmate once who made tea out of anything that didn't run away, that was interesting. But the most interesting "tea" I've ever drunk is Kava...
Click to expand...
Oh ok good to know :p
 
I'm waiting for a Southerner to share their sweet tea recipe. *hint hint*

Calling Lipton average may be generous.

Usually the best teas to be found stateside are sold looseleaf in organic/bulk stores. For which you'll want a tea-ball. You can get a good proper Oolong that way.
 
FollowingHim said:
Ask Google for "tea milkshake" and enjoy. I'm learning things myself now, need to try this one @FollowingHim2.
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Looks good for summer. I'm not going to call it tea though, it's miles from being anything related to tea.

That is true. The only one on my short list that would make it into our kitchen is the Twinings.
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We having Lipton in our cupboard, that's the chai latte sachets that I sometimes do. Not a proper cup of tea, but a lovely treat occasionally.
 
rockfox said:
I'm waiting for a Southerner to share their sweet tea recipe. *hint hint*
Click to expand...
Easy... take a substandard tea like orange pekoe add copious amounts of sugar and a dash of water....:D

.......

Actually, my grandmother's sweet tea was the best... ten tea bags and two cups of sugar per gallon... it was like syrup. We made ours with half the sugar for years. When I finally cut the gallon of tea per day out of my diet, I dropped 20 pounds.

But, I still love me some sweet tea at the ocassional restaurant visit.
 
I had never had sweet tea before attending a BF retreat. @julieb had a giant urn of the stuff, and I tried it and at first didn't like it. But I deliberately drank it for the weekend in order to acquire the taste of it, and now agree it's delicious. Just very unexpected on the non-American palate at first. :)
 
Tea has become hugely symbolic for me.

I never used to drink hot tea at all. But five years ago the woman we hoped would become our second found the magic formula for me: Earl Gray brewed dark, Xylitol (sugar substitute), and heavy cream.

We were devastated when things didn't work out and she left us. But my wife, rather than recriminating me for bringing the pain of polygamy to my family, instead just started making me tea the way my girlfriend had, and we grieved together.

So rather than symbolizing a great loss, it now symbolizes how much my wife loves and stands by me, in this and everything else.
 
I grew up with herbal teas....I know that is like almost in the compost tea category to those with discriminating tastes. I have had sweet tea, even with a "sweet tooth" I had to cut it about half with unsweetened to drink it. I don't like anything as sweet as soda but root beer, or as sweet as syrup but syrup. Lol

Best pancake syrup ever is 1 cube of butter, 1/2 cup of buttermilk (usually cultured non fat) and 1 cup of sugar. Bring it to a boil then add 1/2 tsp of baking soda and 1 tsp of vanilla.

Pour over good whole wheat buttermilk pancakes. Delightful!!!
 
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