mythteller | Tea Connaiseurs:HELP

Everyone knows I'm not a coffee drinker (except for those damnable Iced Cappacinos from Tims). I drink tea, all kinds of tea; I started with Orange Pekoe, but now I drink mostly King Cole and my fav is Lady Grey.

sarahcarotte has very strong ideas about tea. She gets these ideas from her time living with the British during her touring days (she toured Europe/States/Canada with a troupe of actors for eight years). I know how the Brits feel about their tea: if you want to horrify a Brit, pop a tea bag into a cup of warm water and microwave it. This action causes a chip in their brains to activate and they fall into a finger-wagging trance, ranting about the history of tea, how it's be made properly, and how the Queen could take back these colonies if she really wanted to (you Canadian savages).

So help me out on this. I just think it's traditional, psychological madness, but I could be wrong. When I make the tea, sometimes I'm not right next to the kettle when it boils, so it may stop boiling for a couple of minutes before I actually pour the water. To me, it's still hot water, so it's enough to steep the tea. So here's the disagreement:

Will the tea taste better if you pour the water as it is boilong onto the tea bag?

Tea drinkers! Correct me or agree with me! Of course, this changes nothing about how I will prepare the tea for

sarahcarotte in the future, but I was wondering if I'm the only colonist with these heathenistic ideas about tea.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

hmmm
I wonder.......the small temperature change may not be enough to matter.

Besides, tea's supposed to be made a different way. Ask any southerner about Iced tea.

:P

I'm told that some of the essential oils are only released from the leaves at the boiling point of water. Even a degree or so cooler and they stay in.

That said, some folks (like my Dad) insist that those bitter oils are essential to the taste of the tea, and some folks (like the Mother of a friend) say that they ruin the taste. Both of these folks are British, so I don't think you're gonna get a consensus.

Me, I'm in the second camp.

Well, I've noticed a definite difference in taste between microwaved water and pot-boiled water. The difference between water AT the boiling point and water a couple of seconds later with the water slightly cooler? Can't say I've noticed a difference. I suspect the difference is psychosomatic.

But definitely not microwaved water. Blech.

Sarah totally change my tea drinking habits.

I still hear her voice when someone puts a cup of water in the microwave, "the water takes on the taste of whatever you cooked in the microwave last". Mmm... burrito flavored water.

bloody LJ et my comment

try no.2

Mum (who likes doing things the British way) would have me rinse out the teapot with porcelain water. Then you add the teabag (we used to use the loose tea that you could get from Twinnings in the tins, then they started cutting costs to improve their profitability and now she's switched to Murchees based out of Vancouver). Then you pour the boiling water on the teabag. :)

Pour boiling water over the teabag. :) It might be only in my head but it seems to seize the tea more than a cooled down water. imho anyway. ;)

Some people, the majority, really don't care about what kind of hot water they use, or how that water is heated. To the majority of North Americans, they won't see the big deal.

I agree with

sarahcarotte about not using a microwave (she's right about it taking on previous flavors - I know from experience) but I'll use it in a rush anyhow if I have to. But boiling water versus hot water? I don't think it matters so much. What -does- matter is loose-leaf teas, versus pre-packaged dried-out-as-hell teas.

You and I will go to La Gitana sometime, darling, and we'll drink real Turkish mint tea together. Its as though they pull the mint plant out of the ground, rinse it, and toss it in boiling water. There isn't anything more heavenly.

Never microwaved water! Ick ick ick!

But the answer re. the boiling/not boiling water really is: it depends on the tea. What specific kind of plant it comes from, when it was harvested, how it's presented, where it was grown, how long it's fermented, etc etc. Each leaf calls for a different method of preparation, and that includes the temperature of the water.

Tea bags are a convenience for when you don't care about the flavour. Loose tea's definitely where it's at. I can't really drink orange pekoe from teabags any more, because it's just disgusting.

Check out Un Amour des Thes (http://www.amourdesthes.com/) up on Monkland. You won't be disappointed.

Nasty mirocwave!!!! Never!!!! *from british background* Boiling water, not directly on tea bag, let it steep for 3-5 min depending on what tea it is.

*cheers Owldaughter*

In fact some Chinese teas should be prepared with water that has not yet boiled...otherwise they do not develop properly.

If you want to get really crazy:
Some people use different teapots for different teas...

And Camelia Sinensis is my teahouse of choice. The service is slow as all get out, but then, they want you to get cozy and to stay for hours. It's a delightful experience. :)

Never mind that microwaving does horrid things to the energetics of food or water anyway. But then I'm both British and pretty tea crazy.

Tea Connaiseurs:HELP

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Tea is tea, but some are better then others.

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Tea