OT: George Orwell on how to prepare a "proper" cup of tea

[T]

Hi All,

Yes, that George Orwell.

This is a "weird" piece, but very interesting to those of us who adore tea.

It is 13 minutes long and fascinating:

Today I found out: How to Make a Proper Cup of Tea (According to famed Englishman George Orwell...)

I do have to agree with him about sugar covering up the taste of the tea. I would add that milk and cream also do the same.

Tea is really not all that hard to make:

1) purchase the good stuff directly from the Brits

2) boil water in a glass in the microwave

3) insert tea bag, remove at proper darkness to taste

4) enjoy

:-)

-T

[Ed Pawlowski]

Bags? Proper tea is made with loose tea, not chopped up floor sweeping stuff in bags. Get a proper infuser.

Yes, purchase the good stuff, but you don't have to get it from the Brits. I get mine from

and it comes from Ceylon and Kenya.

Agree, no milk to hide the delicate taste.

[T]

So I have heard. I can't tell the difference. Bags are a hell of a lot easier to use. The Brit organic ones I get don't pollute the flavor.

I think Orwell made his so strong that you could use it to stain furniture!

A good tea has so many wonderful nuances that you never want to cover them up with other things or by making it too strong.

I use to think I did not like tea until I discovered that it was Lipton Tea I did not like. Hmmm Tea that tastes like Coffee ........

Chuckle, this is like asking what the proper topping for a pizza is!

[Wade Garrett]

If you're using a tea bag instead of loose tea in your cup or tea strainer, you're already preparing an inferior product.

At the tea company, when loose tea is processed and dried, one of the steps involves moving it on a screen conveyor belt, The dust that falls through the screen is swept up and used in tea bags. They produce a taste bud-impaired lazy man's drink- akin to instant coffee.

Also, don't remove the tea from the cup based on color. Steep it three to five minutes. Buy a reversible egg timer if you don't have a clock in the kitchen ;-)

[rbowman]

They don't grow tea in Britain so why would you buy it from them? I get loose tea for variety, usually green gunpowder or Irish Breakfast but my goto teabag type is Red Rose.

I don't do it anymore but my grandmother's version was very strong tea, sugar, and evaporated milk.

[rbowman]

1. Put infuser in mug
2. Spoon in desired amount of loose tea.
3. Pour in boiling water
4. After reaching desired strength, remove infused and dump the leaves
5. Drink tea.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Exactly but I use a touch or sugar. Brew 4 to 5 minutes as too long gets astringent tasting. Add more tea, not time if you want stronger.

This is the one I've been using for about 6 or 7 years.

[T]

 product.

That is why I buy it directly from the Brits. They'd never put up with it!

[T]

I buy from the Brits because they do not put up with any inferior product. Tea is a national obsession to them. And I really can taste the difference.

[Fruitiest of Fruitcakes]

On 13 Oct 2018, Ed Pawlowski wrote (in article ):

Tea snobbery, eh?

That?s a new one to try.

(After car snobbery, wine snobbery, coffee snobbery, cheese snobbery, artisan bread snobbery, holiday destination snobbery... the list seems to be expanding on a daily basis).

Life?s too short for all this bollox.

[angelicapaganelli]

Channeling your inner Sheldon?

Mind you, I agree that loose tea is far superior.

Really? The tea plantations of Britain are famous! ;)

Cindy Hamilton

[Vic Smith]

Same here. Boiling water poured through a strainer full of Lipton's Orange Pekoe & Pekoe, one cup at a time. Later, I used Milnot, now I use milk and Liptons tea bags, but seldom drink hot tea at all. Iced tea. BTW, the few times I've been to Cracker Barrel, they have excellent iced tea.

[trader_4]

I guess in all these years they never thought to get a solid belt? I find it hard to believe with current standards and health concerns that major tea companies are sweeping the floor to produce tea that goes into bags. Also, I'd suspect that it's kind of backwards, that while you could certainly put some fines that fall out into tea bags, there would not be anywhere near enough to meet the demand for tea bags. I'd suspect that in the USA a lot more tea is sold in bags than loose.

[rbowman]

Wait until they start talking about a hint of diesel oil, a delicate nose of burning rubber bands, and a hint of DEET in the aftertaste.

Somehow I never noticed all that stuff. I will admit I don't care for Ethiopian coffee because it tastes fruity or something.

Then there is lapsang souchong. Everytime I brewed a pot at work the guy in the next cube, who is a volunteer fireman, would start searching for the fire. Good stuff though.

[rbowman]

I saw that when I was a kid and re-watched it a couple of years ago. When I was a kid I was fascinated with the elephants and the drunk Brits playing polo on bicycles. As an adult I was fascinated by Elizabeth Taylor. I've seen a woman or two in my life but I've never seen one built quite like that. It must have taken wardrobe an hour every day to get her cinched down to a 12" waist.

You miss a lot when you're a kid. I thought 'Home From the Hill' was mostly about hunting and swamps and stuff.

[T]

Yum! Tea that tastes like has some tobacco leaves mixed in!