Dear British people: (tea discussion)

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How do you make and serve [hot] tea? Seriously, I'm sick of hearing my British friends/colleagues/officemates/tv stars complain about tea bags. Do you make it in a pot with a built in strainer? Tea balls? What? I'm assuming it involves hot water applied to dry or semi-dry tea leaves and the steeping of the resulting mixture, right? I mean, it's not rocket science. What's so bad when there's a layer of really thin, porous paper between the water and the tea?
 
Baerdog

Baerdog

Dear British people:

The issue with tea bags is not with the paper, but with the tea leaves themselves. The leaves in a tea bag are often not the freshest and during packaging and transportation they get crushed and broken, resulting in a lot of dust. This damage to the leaves actually had a negative impact on the flavor. The leaves in a tea bag are also (usually) densely packed together which prohibits the water from flowing around each leaf, again negatively impacting the flavor. Loose tea leaves, on the other hand, tend to remain much more intact during packaging and transportation. They are also, as the name implies, loose and allow the water to flow around them much easier in the teapot.

In the end though, it's mostly a matter of tea-snobbery. While fresh, loose tea will give you a better flavor most people find tea bags more convenient to use. If you don't feel like spending the extra effort to brew loose tea, you can still find some decent brands of tea bags that will give you a fine cup. Just stay away from Lipton. That stuff is shit.
 
Baerdog

Baerdog

Dear British people:

PG Tips is supposed to be another good one, but I cannot verify that with personal experience.
 
Rob King

Rob King

Dear British people:

Truthfully, I have no strong opinions on tea. I've tried to expose myself to a variety, but the only kind I drink on a semi-regular basis is Tetley. It's what I grew up around. It's what my entire family drinks, and what everyone I know drinks (with the exception of those who are into green teas).

When you simply ask for tea around here, you get Tetley Orange Pekoe, without exception.
 
Cajungal

Cajungal

Staff member
Dear British people:

My brother bought 4 oz. of loose rooibos for Christmas from the cafe where he works. It came with a little metal spoon-like strainer that's very handy. I don't know if that's the "proper" way, but it's good enough for this savage, smelly American.
 
doomdragon6

doomdragon6

Staff member
Dear British people:

Well, we in the south drink sweet tea.

I don't understand you unsweet hot-tea drinkin' muh-fuggers.

Shit nasty.
 
North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Staff member
Dear British people:

Never keep dunking the tea bag like a yo-yo. Let it sit, then use a spoon to wring out the water from the bag proper.

Also, lemon green tea.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Dear British people:

Never been a fan of green tea. I'm with Grue when it comes to tea. Earl Grey all the way.

What's weird is I never really liked tea until I went to Germany. For those of you who have never left the US, most places besides us put a large emphasis on breakfast. They will spend at least an hour eating, sipping tea, etc. It was wonderful.
 
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Staff member
Dear British people:

I like most teas and infusions. I don't know enough to be snobbish about it. I drink a fair amount of hot and iced (only sweet for me doomdragon--I'm a SC boy). That's what confused me. I drink loose and bagged, and I've never noticed much of a difference.

I very much like green tea, too. One of the best teas I ever had was a slightly pan fried green tea that I wish I could remember the name of. Also, changing the thread title to represent general tea discussion, because that's fun.
 
C

Chazwozel

Dear British people:

Baerdog7 said:
The issue with tea bags is not with the paper, but with the tea leaves themselves. The leaves in a tea bag are often not the freshest and during packaging and transportation they get crushed and broken, resulting in a lot of dust. This damage to the leaves actually had a negative impact on the flavor. The leaves in a tea bag are also (usually) densely packed together which prohibits the water from flowing around each leaf, again negatively impacting the flavor. Loose tea leaves, on the other hand, tend to remain much more intact during packaging and transportation. They are also, as the name implies, loose and allow the water to flow around them much easier in the teapot.

In the end though, it's mostly a matter of tea-snobbery. While fresh, loose tea will give you a better flavor most people find tea bags more convenient to use. If you don't feel like spending the extra effort to brew loose tea, you can still find some decent brands of tea bags that will give you a fine cup. Just stay away from Lipton. That stuff is shit.
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You could have just said what I bolded.

resulting in a lot of dust--

densely packed together which prohibits the water from flowing around each leaf--

Contradiction! By creating 'tea dust' you're increasing the available surface area for water to contact. And lets be clear here, water contacts all the tea leaves in a paper teabag. You're not working with some nanoscopic solubility system. It's a fucking teabag and a mugfull of water. The ONLY difference between tea is the original quality of what you're buying. Cheap, flash dried tea sold in bulk to grocery stores is going to have the same taste throughout and have bland flavor compared to higher quality dried, harvested, blended tea leaves. It's the same principle as comparing Budweiser to Local BrewPub Pilsner.

FYI for the forum: I want to punch tea snobs in the head.
 
Cajungal

Cajungal

Staff member
Now that I think of it, people in England used tea in bags usually. The families I stayed with drank it. It did taste different from tea I'd drunk in the U.S., but at the time I hated tea, so there's really no way for me to gauge.
 
Jake

Jake

My problem with the dusty stuff in tea bags is that it allows more oxidation of the leaves, which isn't good for taste. Tea isn't as sensitive to oxidation as coffee, but it does make some difference. I like my tea like I like my wimmins, loose and chunky.
 
K

Kitty Sinatra

Cajungal said:
. It did taste different from tea I'd drunk in the U.S.
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The most likely cause of that, though, is the tea you drank over there was just a different flavor. :p

And Dave, you're actually with Picard on that one. The tea in my cupboard right now is Orange Pekoe.
 
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