h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

When just making a mug of tea you have to dip the tea bag in exactly 50 times

sacrilege i know, but i make my single cups of tea in a microwave. 2 minutes on medium (dependign on you cup size) then let sit for another one or 2.

with good tea this is a perfectly acceptable method.

be warned however that with bad tea the result can be awful, particularly if the bagging material is of poor quality.

i know the purists will go mental at this idea, but i'm afraid the physics is on my side.

I've never tried making tea in a microwave. However, I do know that if you make tea 'normally' (i.e., with boiling water in a cup or pot) and then microwave it when it's gone cold, *that* tastes foul. And, yes, this applies to 'good' tea. We only drink Darjeeling, although I confess that we use teabags for convenience. Microwaved after it's gone cold, it's just yuk.

i'm not sure that this has anything to do with the microwaving as such, reheating tea in ANY way will result in an inferior drink.

in the absence of any science i'm just ging to call it a 'freshness' thing. *s*

I remember a discussion somewhere here where someone else confessed to microwaving tea. IIRC the conversation was that microwaving heats the water differently (more slowly? more quickly? I can't remember) resulting in it losing air dissolved in it more quickly, boiling in a kettle doesn't do this, and that accounts for the fact that tea made with microwaved water just doesn't taste right.

Wish I could remember the details of this, but I can't

The problem I see with microwaving tea is the metal staple holding the thing together; could make some nice explosions if you're not careful

the trick is not to actually boil the water. altho it is part of the traditional tea ritual to have the water as close to a rolling boil as possible for maximum flavour, the reality is that most of the pleasant flavours are released at a fraction below boiling temperature. and this will vary from tea to tea. green teas are never steeped at boiling temperature and to do so creates unwanted tannins and bitterness. (it is possible that this is what some tea drinkers are actually seeking.) the main reason with black tea making to have the water at a rolling boil is to keep the steeping temperature as close as possible to the ideal while in the teapot for the required time to brew a proper cup.

because a microwave works at 'one pace' (the high setting is simply longer periods of being on) it is possible, without being a rocket scientist, to get a tea in the microwave to be at the 'proper' temperature for an extended period without getting temperatures so high you release unwanted bitterness.

you only have to learn this once.

i accept that it is perfectly possible to ruin a cup of tea in the microwave. but possible does not reduce to inevitable.

i have never seen a teabag staple arc either, but i guess that might be possible if you tried hard enough. the dissolved oxygen thing i just don't believe.