eac@drux3.UUCP (CveticEA) (04/13/84)
The recent article by E. A. Flynn lists some very good pointers about
making tea. Here are a few additions:
1. Another important reason to preheat your porcelain or china tea
pot is so that it won't develop cracks.
2. Some people like to whisk the tea in the tea pot lightly with a
bamboo whisk right before serving.
3. Don't forget to use a strainer when pouring the tea! (This is mainly
for people who use loose tea leaves in the pot, which I prefer.
4. Don't put cream in your tea. It kills the taste. If you must have a
dairy product, use milk.
5. A little trivia--people used to put salt in their tea! Why I don't
know.
6. A little more trivia--Iced tea was invented at the St. Louis World's
Fair. It was blistering hot and the tea stand (I can't remember the
name of the man) was not doing too well. So the creative person
running the stand added ice and history was made.
7. Off on a tangent--Long Island iced tea has no tea in it what so ever.
I make this drink with rum, vodka, gin, galleano(sp?), a dash of whiskey
sour mix and a dash of cola for color. Legend has it this drink was
invented during prohibition to fool the police, but I don't think it
would fool anyone--most people are bombed after one tall glass of the
stuff!
Betsy Cvetic
ihnp4!drux3!eac
303-538-3406
P.S. All sorts of cute little devices can be found for serving tea. One
of my favorites is a strainer that tilts to let you strain the tea, and
then tilts back over its own little saucer so you don't mess up the
table. Once you get used to drinking tea like this, you won't go back
to tea bags. If you have never tried loose tea, you really must since
the taste is almost like two unrelated beverages, with the clear winner
being the loose tea.chip@t4test.UUCP (Chip Rosenthal) (04/16/84)
> From: eac@drux3.UUCP (CveticEA) > > 5. A little trivia--people used to put salt in their tea! Why I don't > know. I don't know if there is any similarity, but when brewing coffee a few grains of salt in the grounds makes it smoother. My guess is that a little salt doesn't give a salty taste, but rather offsets any bitterness. If you try this, use very little salt--less than a pinch. -- Chip Rosenthal, Intel/Santa Clara {pur-ee|hplabs|ucbvax!amd70|ogcvax!omsvax}!intelca!t4test!{chip|news}
dxp@pyuxhh.UUCP (D Peak) (04/18/84)
In respect to salt making beverages smoother I was having brunch with some friends last sunday and we all started off with a bloody mary. It seems that the bloody mary was too spicy for one of the party and she proceeded to shake some salt(2 shakes) into the bloody mary.Upon questioning her she reported that it reduced the spiciness(sp) of the drink. When I was in the midwest(Springfield Ill) I saw numerous people putting salt in their beer . I vowed to kill anyone trying this sacrilage with my beer . However I never did find out what the salt did to the taste of the beer , it foamed up all over the place and quickly dissappeared. Anyone know of other drinks that salt is used ,MAIL please,I'll post the summary in about a month. Dave Peak(pyuxhh!dxp) "I don't believe in dining on an empty stomach" - W.C. Fields
adm@cbneb.UUCP (04/23/84)
#R:t4test:-50800:cbneb:10500001:000:556 cbneb!jdd Apr 22 16:53:00 1984 The reason for salt to coffee is that the bitterness in coffee is caused by its acidity. A little salt added to each pot DURING brewing mellows the flavor. This is, of course, because salt is a base added to an acid which hopefully brings the final brew toward the pH of water. (Don't get too heavy with the salt however!) Navy ships use one pot a month made with sea-water to clean the pot out. The rest of the time it still tastes like bilge-water late at night... John Daleske Advanced Programming Resources @ AT&T Bell Laboratories Columbus, OHIO
llfe@hound.UUCP (L.FENG) (11/05/84)
I'd like to point out that Lipton and many other "generic" type teas use tea leaves from India. Also, according to many of the books I've read on the subject, and many of the people I've talked to in the West, the little tea leaves and the tea "dust" used in many of the tea bags is considered the best tea. This conflicts with what I've heard and learned in China, where the bigger, more complete tea leaves are considered to be better in flavor. Lastly, don't be fooled into thinking that green tea doesn't have any caffine. This seems to be a common mistake with people I have talked to. Green tea and red (black) tea both have equivalent amounts of caffine. -- From the lunch hour of hound!llfe.
marcus@pyuxt.UUCP (M. G. Hand) (11/06/84)
> The most common variety of tea is black tea from China. The standard > Lipton's or Salada falls in here, as well as many of the Twining's varieties > (Irish Breakfast Tea comes to my mind). The tea served in Chinese > restaurants is usually black China tea (except at dim sum meals, where a > variety of teas may ber served.) Actually, the most frequently drunk tea in the west are blended teas of predominantly Indian origin, although China teas are frequently added to give aroma and fragrances. At the cheper end of the market you get tea bags and fine leaf "quick-brewing" teas. These are usually dyed too, to give them a strong dark colour. The mash quickly and have a strong flavour which quickly turns bitter. These are highly popular teas although I have always regarded them as floor sweepings. At the upper end are the exotic single large leafed teas of which I know very little, but in the middle are a whole range of excellent blends and single leaf teas such as the Ceylon teas ("tips" are finer leafed and quicker brewing). I think the ceylon blends are my favorite blends. Then there is the very popular Earl Grey, somewhat eau-de-colognish for my taste, a blend of mostly china with some indian for body. Most of the Breakfast teas are largely indian blends Here are some of the teas that I know about: Indian Assam strong black, goes well with a single cardammom seed Darjeeling large leafed, fragrant, but with a hidden strength and flavour that makes the longish brewing time worth while Most other teas are hidden inside blends China Keemun Never found this to have much character - rather dry Lapsang Souchong Smoky, and heady aroma - don't make the stuff too strong - it will be overpowering Gun Powder never had the courage to try it! Then there's orange pekoe, but I'm not sure where this one comes from. It tastes fairly rich and slightly bitter - Indian? There are many onthers of course but I can't remember what they are at this time of night. Marcus Hand (pyuxt!marcus) PS. they also make some tea in Malaya and in Kenya.
mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) (11/09/84)
Orange pekoe refers to the very smallest and youngest leaves and has little
or nothing to do with where the tea is grown.
My favorites are:
the "Russian" blends (georgian, etc.)
Cinnamon + Ginger
Earl Grey, English Breakfast...
Lapsang (the soushong has to do with how the tea is cut)
and oddly enough, McCormick's generic teabags, which make a nice, perfectly
ordinary, perfectly satisfying cup of tea.
Charley Wingate umcp-cs!mangoebbanerje@sjuvax.UUCP (B. Banerjee) (11/10/84)
>> Also, according to many of the books I've read on the subject, and many >> of the people I've talked to in the West, the little tea leaves and the >> tea "dust" used in many of the tea bags is considered the best tea. >> This conflicts with what I've heard and learned in China, where the >> bigger, more complete tea leaves are considered to be better in >> flavor. >> Well, time for one of my periodic lectures. The following only applies to Indian Tea. I don't really know enough about Chinese Tea to comment on it. The traditional teas, have usually been handpicked. A tea plant (sort of bushy shrub) takes about 30 years to get to a state of maturity. The tea leaves used to be picked by hand. This gave rise to the following tea types. a) Fines. - These are the flowers. Typically used to add flavour to tea. Unfortunately, as they contribute nothing to the body, they are blended with other leaves which add the body. b) Pekoe - This consists of the buds. Adds lots of flavour, but not much in the way of body. c) Broken Pekoe: The buds which are broken in the above process fall under this category. d) Leaves - The younger the leaf, the better the flavour. e) Dust - accumulated debris which has accumulated from the above sorting process. Cheapest and worst variety. If you drink Darjeeling Tea, this is the process it goes through. However, Assam Tea goes through a different process. Machines are used to cut all the Leaves, buds and stuff together. This is called CTC tea (Cutting, tearing and ? ). Anyhow, This tea has a great deal of body, but not a lot of flavour. Typically a good mix is 50/50 Assam, Darjeeling. Assam Tea is a good substitute for coffee in the morning. Enough rambling for now. Regards, -- Binayak Banerjee {allegra | astrovax | bpa | burdvax}!sjuvax!bbanerje P.S. Send Flames, I love mail.