Home Forums The Town Center Café Guerbois Tea the English Way

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  • #1479298
    Ohmo
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        After re-watching an episode of Downton Abbey in which Lady Grantham and The Dowager are sharing tea.  The tea strainer (presumably with one teaspoon of leaves) was placed over a cup then hot water poured over the leaves, and the leaves/strainer were removed just as quickly as the water stopped. To me, that not even weak tea, but light brown water.

        Is that procedure really how most, or at least a large portion of, the English prepare their tea? Or was the speed and lack of brew time just a device to move the scene forward more quickly?

         

        Skill is nothing more than talent practiced relentlessly.

        #1479376
        John humber
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            No it’s not. Your use of the word ‘presumably’ prompts me to think that the strainer was just that—a strainer. Are you sure that it was water they were pouring and not tea from the pot? I don’t watch DA but given the period, use of a tea pot would be almost compulsory I’d have thought.

            I prefer leaf-tea (rather than teabags) and when making just one cup, use the strainer method. One generous teaspoon in the strainer. Swell the leaves by wetting them with boiling water. Leave for a minute or two, re-boil the kettle and top up until the water floods the leaves.

            One of the difficulties I experienced in America is getting a good cup of tea (there were others such as driving on the wrong side of the road). The big difficulty is that coffee is made with hot water but tea must be made with boiling water. As, in most places, I was given a cup of hot water and a teabag, I asked for the cup of water to be nuked in the microwave first. I got some strange looks, but just smiling and saying “I’m English you see”, seemed to do the job.

            PLEASE how do I make these dreadful yellow things go away? OMG there's even more of the awful things now.

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            #1479398

            I’m English too, and a tea drinker and hate weak tea!

            I don’t watch DA either, but in that period, it would be tea being poured from the teapot, over a strainer to prevent leaves being in the cup ….. I imagine the tea would have been  ‘rested/brewed/drawn’ to the recipient’s satisfaction in that home!

            I like my tea made in a teapot … can’t abide making it in a cup/mug! …. but then, I like more than one cup from the pot!?

             

            Cheers, Maureen


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            #1479417
            Ohmo
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                I drink tea as well as coffee, so the scene described caught my fancy. It did not show any preparation earlier than the “pour”, which piqued my inquisitiveness. That the strainer was/is used to catch the odd leaf before getting into the cup makes sense, and now I know. ?

                My preference is black tea, usually a loose leaf English Breakfast blend (not English breakfast),  and green tea, no herbal-flowery-fruity-etc. flavors, just good solid tea. As with coffee, I like it “black” – no sugar or milk.?  I can’t taste a difference between tea that has been brewed with boiling water or water at around 200°, F (93°, C), but I probably don’t like it as strong as I imagine ya’ll do. I like to see the bottom of the inside of the cup through a clear, deep-tawny liquid.

                My favorite tea strainer is a floating duckie over the basket:

                I also have a cast iron Japanese tea pot for when I want to brew more than a cup. My next trip across the Missouri River into St Charles I plan to buy a Polish Pottery tea pot.  For pot brewing, I boil water on the stove.

                 

                Skill is nothing more than talent practiced relentlessly.

                #1479505
                John humber
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                    I once went to a Chinese Tea House in Singapore. The menu was nearly four pages of different teas. After making our selection the ‘makings’ were brought to the table: a pot of boiled water over a small oil-burner to maintain the temperature, a small bowl, a bamboo whisk, the tea pot and of course the small Chinese cups.

                    The waiter instructed us that the tea is spooned into the pot, a little water is poured over the leaves to swell them. This, the ‘first infusion’ is then emptied away into the bowl; it gets rid of most of the tannin in the leaves. The pot is then topped up and left to brew a short while before pouring.

                    My Grandmother’s generation would speak of tea being left to ‘mash’, as in “I’ve made a pot of tea; it’s mashing now”. An expression that has passed out of usage.

                    Although I do enjoy some herbal ‘teas’ (ginger in particular) it has always struck me as a misnomer to call them tea. They are not made from the tea bush leaves so are not tea. In their defence, they do tend to be called infusions these days.

                    I like my tea made in a teapot

                    And do you warm the pot Maureen? And put in ‘one for the pot’?

                    PLEASE how do I make these dreadful yellow things go away? OMG there's even more of the awful things now.

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                    #1479686
                    Gary B
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                        No disrespect to the Zen like social aspects of afternoon  tea;

                        Iced sun tea is cool also.

                        "First you get you a pen and a ink."
                        #1479792
                        Ohmo
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                            I once went to a Chinese Tea House in Singapore … a little water is poured over the leaves to swell them. This, the ‘first infusion’ is then emptied away into the bowl; it gets rid of most of the tannin in the leaves….

                            I seem to recall hearing/reading that tidbit somewhere in the foggy past, but never gave it much credence until yesterday.  My first cup of tea, made with black loose leaf, was much more bitter than usual, maybe because it was a freshly opened package. Your story pinged my mind, so a dumped the leaves and tried again. Four ounces of hot water over the leaves, dump the water and brew the full 10 ounce cup. What an amazingly pleasing difference!  All these years and I’d never questioned the unwelcome bite.

                            I’m looking around for a gallon pickle jar in which to make some sun tea.

                             

                            Skill is nothing more than talent practiced relentlessly.

                            #1498485
                            Ted B.
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                                IIRC one scoop for each cup, and one for the pot. ….And boiling water! Traditionally water on the side was provided to cool your cup after pouring and to dilute the strong brew to-taste. Or cream or milk.

                                Hot water would be swirled in the pot prior to table service to warm the silver pot. Then the tea would be scooped in and dampened to bloom, then the boiling water poured in and the tea steeped. The large jug in a proper teaservice isn’t for coffee, it’s for the hot water …and enough for a 2nd brew.

                                Most Brits I’ve met like their cuppa bracing. Though more delicate afternoon blends were respected.

                                Radical Fundemunsellist

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