A short treatise on the preparation of a refreshing beverage that may be enjoyed hot or cold, sweetened or not, and many

more.

Tea(making) Time: What do we really know about it?

Tea time!
(according to Alexis :)

Question: I'm starting to get into different kinds of teas. Which kind is your favorite, or which do you recommend? :)

Answer: Oooooo I love this question! Okay, right now Im drinking some Rooibos tea- its known as a red tea (I dont understand why because it doesnt come from the tea bush, its an herb) with a really amazing smooth, sweet, subtle aftertaste. Its really nice with milk added, but if youre drinking this tea for its antioxidants (which rooibos has a lot) then dont add dairy milk because according to a German study the protein in dairy milk destroys the antioxidants in tea. If youve never had Oolong tea I would recommend having some immediately. There are many different kinds. Oolong tea originates from China. They have this incredible preparation process they go through to make this type of tea. The people that know the trade are considered artisans and craftsmen. Its that delicate of a process. There are so many subvarieties that its hard to tell you what it tastes and smells like. My favorite kind of Oolong tastes like roasted wood, which probably doesnt sound very good but it is. But there are types of Oolong teas that would taste flowery, or fruity, and what not because there is such a wide variety. And also Japanese Sencha. Its really just green tea, but its a really strong full leaf tea. As for teas you can get in tea bags at any grocery storeWild Sweet Orange tea by Tazo Calming tea by Yogi Gypsy Cold Care by Traditional Medicinals Tahitian Vanilla Hazelnut by Yogi Try this: http://www.yogiproducts.com/products/perfect-tea/

Taken from George Orwells A Nice Cup of Tea:

If you look up 'tea' in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points. This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes. When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden: First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays it is economical, and one can drink it without milk but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase 'a nice cup of tea' invariably means Indian tea. Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad. Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water. Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners. Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly. Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference. Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle. Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one's tea is always half cold before one has well started on it. Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste. Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk

whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round. Lastly, tea unless one is drinking it in the Russian style should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tealover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.

Some people would answer that they don't like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again. These are not the only controversial points to arise in connection with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how trivialized the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one's ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.

BONUS SECTION! Shakespeare Insult Kit Combine one word from each of the three columns below, prefaced with "Thou": Column 1 artless bawdy beslubbering bootless churlish cockered clouted craven currish dankish dissembling droning errant fawning fobbing froward frothy gleeking goatish gorbellied impertinent infectious jarring loggerheaded lumpish mammering mangled mewling paunchy pribbling puking puny qualling rank reeky roguish ruttish saucy spleeny spongy surly tottering unmuzzled vain venomed villainous warped wayward weedy yeasty Column 2 base-court bat-fowling beef-witted beetle-headed boil-brained clapper-clawed clay-brained common-kissing crook-pated dismal-dreaming dizzy-eyed doghearted dread-bolted earth-vexing elf-skinned fat-kidneyed fen-sucked flap-mouthed fly-bitten folly-fallen fool-born full-gorged guts-griping half-faced hasty-witted hedge-born hell-hated idle-headed ill-breeding ill-nurtured knotty-pated milk-livered motley-minded onion-eyed plume-plucked pottle-deep pox-marked reeling-ripe rough-hewn rude-growing rump-fed shard-borne sheep-biting spur-galled swag-bellied tardy-gaited tickle-brained toad-spotted unchin-snouted weather-bitten Column 3 apple-john baggage barnacle bladder boar-pig bugbear bum-bailey canker-blossom clack-dish clotpole coxcomb codpiece death-token dewberry flap-dragon flax-wench flirt-gill foot-licker fustilarian giglet gudgeon haggard harpy hedge-pig horn-beast hugger-mugger joithead lewdster lout maggot-pie malt-worm mammet measle minnow miscreant moldwarp mumble-news nut-hook pigeon-egg pignut puttock pumpion ratsbane scut skainsmate strumpet varlot vassal whey-face wagtail

cullionly fusty caluminous wimpled burly-boned misbegotten odiferous poisonous fishified Wart-necked

whoreson malmsey-nosed rampallian lily-livered scurvy-valiant brazen-faced unwash'd bunch-back'd leaden-footed muddy-mettled pigeon-liver'd scale-sided

knave blind-worm popinjay scullian jolt-head malcontent devil-monk toad rascal Basket-Cockle

2011 Alexis (mimmblemimmble.tumblr.com) George Orwell Compressed for easier online reading by ADB