The reason for this post is to educate my American buddies on how to make a quick brew.
At Story Church band rehearsal last Thursday, Jon very kindly brought along some Irish Breakfast tea to celebrate my birthday. There were a lot of worrying questions regarding the making of a brew that frankly I’m concerned, so I decided to put together this tutorial. Please read and follow the instructions below for making a cup of HOT tea.
Fill the kettle with water and bring to the boil. If you don’t have a fancy electric kettle, you can use a saucepan. Please do not microwave water. It is seriously frowned upon.
Get your cup ready. It’s makes a difference what you drink tea out of. Use a proper cup. Fine china is perfect. Do not use travel mugs, paper or polystyrene cups. Please.
If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are too heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you. - Gladstone 1865
Take your tea bag from your air tight container. Our tea of choice is Typhoo. Lipton is not tea. I don’t care what it says on the box.
Place the tea bag in the bottom of your cup. Take a moment to smell the aroma of the tea. You may have a little tea leaf dust on your hands. This is perfectly harmless.
Fill your cup with boiling hot water (leave a little room). If you can heat the water hotter than boiling that is even better. If the tea does not skin your tongue when you drink it, it is not hot enough.
Make tea, not war. - Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Gently swirl around the tea bag in the cup with a tea spoon for a couple of minutes. Did you know tea spoons are bigger than coffee spoons? Anyway, the key word here is gently.
Now the tea bag is ready to be removed. Using your tea spoon, squeeze the tea bag against the side of your cup 2-3 times. It should have next to no water it in when removed.
Place the tea bag on the used tea bag stash. It’s important to keep a stash of used tea bags and only empty when no more will sit on the pile without falling off.
There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea. - Bernand-Paul Heroux
Some people drink their tea black. This is usually herbal or fruit tea drinkers. Proper tea needs milk. Don’t use coffee creamer or half and half. Please have respect. Use proper milk. Don’t add too much milk unless you haven’t turned 10 years old yet.
Once the milk is in again take your tea spoon and gently stir. If you like sugar, now is the time to add it. I take sugar if I drink coffee, but never with tea.
Finally, pick up your cup and enjoy.
There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. - Henry James, Portrait of a Lady.
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I will be saving this page and linking to it regularly, I think!
Now to really confuse “those people”, you should explain how to make a POT of tea – that doesn’t include steeping it on a hotplate for 30 minutes!!!
I thought about mentioning the teapot, but you’re right, it will only cause more confusion. Maybe I’ll put it up as an advanced tutorial at some stage.
Thanks for the advice! I’ll have to pass it along to my tea drinking friends from Asia. I think they have it all wrong.
I liked the Monty Python reference. Do you actually watch Monty Python or did you just google that quote?
I have watched too much Monty Python for my own good.
Then I think the next manly movie night should be Monty Python!!
I have a few DVD’s.
Glad you are informing the uncouth masses on how to make tea! Love the accurate reference to Lipton (not tea).
My only problem here is that I was brought up not to make tea in a cup but always in a properly heated teapot. I can always tell the difference.
I do think that this should be explained to the uninitiated. I have successfully taught my (American culturally inspired) children how to heat the pot and make decent tea and they now make an excellent brew.
Also, as I grew up in an era when tea in a bag was frowned upon – tea leaves were put in a pot (with boiling water poured on top!), which was heated correctly three times – I must remind your readers of the importance of putting the milk in the cup first. I agree, not correct if you must use a teabag in a cup, but essential if you make it properly with a pot and especially with tea leaves, in order to properly mix & heat the milk and, in the case of leaves, to keep them from floating to the surface of the tea (cup). Yes! It really dies work!
My mother can tell when the milk is put in first by the way! And when it isn’t! As a non sugar taker I prefer the added practical side (when the milk is in first) of not having to dirty a spoon to stir the milk in!
If you would like me to pictorially describe a proper pot made cup of tea, step by step, I would be delighted to send it to you for posting!
. (Do give me until Wednesday when I get home from the family holiday!).
Ha ha! We do make a pot now and again, especially to accompany a Saturday morning breakfast. We heat the pot by swirling some boiling water in it first.
I have bad memories from my granny’s house of getting to the bottom of a nice cup of tea but being unable to finish it because of a mound of tea leaves!
I’d love to hear your process. I’ll put it up as a guest post!
Where’s the pitcher, the sugar, and the ice? I’m thoroughly confused.
Oh, and be careful how you talk to these Carolina women about tea. They can really raise a ruckus. http://bit.ly/dh843A
Yeah, you’re thinking about the wrong sort of tea altogether. Mind you, I have acquired a taste for sweet iced tea, but it’s just sooooooo bad for you I’ve decided to stop drinking it.
Milk in FIRST?! That’s Protestant tea!!! I love tea Alastair and you haven’t lived until you’ve tried Barrys Gold Blend…or whichever is in the red box. Dd you forget to mention tapping the teaspoon thrice against your cup after mixing the milk?
You’re hilarious! Protestant tea?! You know it wouldn’t surprise if there was an actual trend there.
Barry’s Gold Blend! Ha! We picked up a box of that last week in Belmullet, when we ran out of tea! Nice stuff.
Teaspoon thrice against side of cup … Are we getting into something religious here or some superstitious West Coast of Ireland practices?!?