This is adorable. But I guarantee that the first draft mentions the Boston Harbor.
Aye, they added a fair bit of salt to their tea that day!
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Now this is serious! if there’s one thing in this country that really bothers me Is the inability of yanks to make a good cup of tea Instructions are printed on the teabag But either they can’t read Or they think it’s a gag
Pour boiling water over the tea How simple and clear can the instructions be?
They bring you a cup with a lemon slice And an unopened tea bag beside it (how nice) And a pot of water and it may be hot But boiling it isn’t so tea you have not
Why can’t we Get our tea We need tea To set us free
It’s boiling water that brings out tea’s flavor With a dash of milk you’ve a real brew to savor They drink luke brown water that looks like gnat pee And it’s got nothing to do with a good cup of tea
Pour boiling water over the tea How simple and clear Can the instructions be?
Pour boiling water over the tea Pour boiling water over the tea
Masters of Realizy - T.U.S.A. Sang by a tea enthusiast of the highest order, Ginger Baker
Boiling water is boiling water, who cares.
No it’s not. Sorry but if you believe this you really don’t understand tea making. There’s 5 stages of water temperature that have different tastes and for different teas: https://www.goldenmoontea.com/blogs/tea/106687623-the-5-different-stages-of-boiling-water-and-how-the-chinese-use-them-for-tea
Tea has a delicate flavour. It’s easy to mask it with an otherwise small change. The amount of oxygen in the water (don’t use reboiled), the length of boil, the peak temperature, steeping time, water contents (flouride) and hardness (calcium) can all have a massive effect.
Tea isn’t coffee. It isn’t a strong enough flavour to hide fuck ups and poor technique (though popular black tea blends have tried!). My coffee cup has scum round the sides, I reuse spooons and water. It tastes the same every time.
But my TEA!? I use a clean cup every time, clean spoon, specifically boiled water, rinsed kettle, everything. If I allow the water to boil too long I have to lengthen the steeping time to compensate for the weaker taste. I have to use a dash more milk to make up for the increased bitterness and I have a quick taste to see if I need to add more sweetness. All that fucking around just because I let the water boil slightly longer!
Saying you can microwave water for tea is like telling a sommelier you can make Champaigne with Asda grapes in a gallon oil drum.
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People seem to think microwaves are some sort of spooky exotic magic technology,
I’m a software dev, engineer, scientist. I understand that ultimately controlling for all things kettle water and microwave water shouldn’t be different. But you can’t control for all those things. If I spent the next 5-6yrs perfecting microwave boiling (the same time it took me to perfect kettle boiling) then yes, I could get an equivalent tasting water for tea.
But heating to 100C (you didn’t read my link - cos that’s not a good temperature!!) isn’t the only thing affecting taste!
Tea in a stainless steel kettle tastes different to a plastic one. When I buy a new kettle I have to faff with timings to regain the perfect tea taste because it’s got less limescale and crap in the kettle.
Yeah I guess it’s all “tooling” but you’re being pedantic.
So yeah I guess you’re right to an extent. But it’s also right you can make whisky in a gallon drum with added wood flavour. You can make wine in a plastic jug and have it taste the same. But it’s not optimal and if there’s a way that’s been done by a group for a long time then maybe take their advice? I’m 100% certain that your microwaved tea will taste worse than my kettle-boiled tea.
I didn’t like tea until I hit 21yo and a friend made me a decent cup. It changed my view on tea completely and it took another 5-6 years of obsessively making different teas and techniques to realise how much tea is affected by everything.
I can’t tell if your pedantry is stubborness to accept you’re wrong or ignorance of the wider picture that tea isn’t a simple formula.
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Well you’re clearly a heretic and when I become PM I’ll round people like you up into camps and boil you in giant microwaves. Good day sir!
I want you to remember this diatribe the next time you claim autism isn’t real
What’s that meant to mean? That I’m behaving autistic? What about my comment is autistic?
Also have you been watching me since that post?
I have to use a dash more milk to make up for the increased bitterness
Have you tried adding a tiny pinch of salt instead?
You leave our Trader Joe’s Two Buck Chuck out of this, y’all hear now?
I’m surprised nobody is talking about accidentally flash-boiling in the microwave. Is that because they microwave the tea bag in the water in the cup? Because if you have clean water without the teabag, you could get a cup of exploding water in your face after you disturb the cup.
Maybe there is enough lead in the water to prevent this in America.
That only happens with distilled water, which you shouldn’t drink.
I’ve had it happen with tap water.
But I used to live in a place where the tap water had ridiculously low mineral content, so ymmv.
I use RO-filtered water and for fun we safely discovered it does flash boil in the microwave.
I use it in a proper glass tea kettle though. It stay clean for months now, it used to get messy in a few days using tap water. I also think tea steeps tea better in low TDS water. From an osmotic point of view, that makes sense.
Normally our tap water is nearly liquid tums 😅
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Our RO-filtered water also flash boils. And flash freezes!
Distilled water is okay now that diets are more complete with vitamins. Especially if you’re eating your veggies. But that would be expensive and unnecessary 😄
