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

Why would anyone want dried leaves, in water, boiled even if stirred with said spoon !!!

After reading all the other posting to this most complex question I felt compelled to repy. Having an older style kitchen I find myself blessed with an twin tub washing machine, which once comitted to a fast spin cycle macks an handy drinks mixer.

Method
1 Place a freshly made cup of tea on the closed lid of the washing machine, (ensuring that a large number of heaver items such as jeans and baggy T shirts are already in the drum.)

2 Set the machine to FAST SPIN

3 Allow the machine to reach max speed and vibration befor removing the now mixed bevarage from the lid and sitting down in your best armchair to drink.

This method is a real ice breaker at dull partys.......

Phord,
It's all the rage.

And I hear that there are some other leaves which, when dried, you can either: shred and roll up in paper then set fire to it and breathe in the smoke, or grind up into dust and sniff it up your nose.

Truly the world is full of wonders.

Hermes,

Logically, the way to do it is to pour tea into empty cup and, if you insist on spoiling it by, adding sugar next while the liquid is hottest, then adding milk.

If you think about it, it is silly to put the milk in the cup first because you can't tell how strong the tea is until you've poured it into the cup. I can categorically state that it is not easy to remove milk from a cup of tea which is too milky. There is a theory which suggests that the habit of "milk first" orinated amongst the lower classes whose coarse earthenware vessels would crack if subjected to rapid expansion by hot liquid. The nobility's fine bone chinaware, was resistant to this stress and therefore they had the luxury of gauging exactly how much milk to add for the perfect cuppa.

I am "milk first" so "Up the Workers"!

Darkspell,

Great idea to use the excess energy of the washing machine to do useful work, and, in case you want a cuppa before there are any wet clothes you can sit on the washer AFTER drinking your tea.

You can often gauge the strength of your tea by looking at its colour as you pour it. This gives you the option of leaving a little space at the top of your cup for adding more milk. This theory falls apart if your tea was made with water from a filter jug, as the removal of limescale and other 'contaminants' means that the tea doesn't get quite as dark for the same strength. We have this problem and I generally gauge how strong the tea will be by the length of time I've left it to brew, rather than by its colour. Plus there's the fact that some tea blends have more tannin than others (tea bought in Yorkshire seems high in tannin, no matter what the blend, but Northeners seem to like their tea strong). So a paler colour may not mean weaker tea. When I go out I always work on the 'leave a little space' principle, just in case.

If you want to use the 'colour' method to gauge the strength of your tea BEFORE you pour it, buy a glass teapot. There are some about.

Eh, Lass,

If God had intended us to have glass teapots, (s)he would never have invented Brown Pot - which doesn't show the thick tannin deposits and reduces the need to put in so much tea!

Sniffing a leaf in any form is frowned upon in most parts of the Galaxy!

I have seen Darkspell's Twin Tub and I know of it's multifunctional abilities. Not only does it stir tea, but it has been known to have a good go at coffee, hot chocolate, and the occasional stab at milk shake.

However, his attempts to reconfigure his twin tub to compensate for the excess energy produced in a cold 'tea' fusion/advanced Earl Grey tea blend stirring experiment resulted in unforeseen loss of life, sanity and the incarceration of the aforementioned twin tub. It is expected to come up for parole in two years pending good behaviour and an extended overhaul.

WeirdHope

Maybe it would be worth adding, that as water going down a drain is clockwise in the Northen Hemaphere, does that mean we are compelled to stir Clockwise. So if you are South of the Equator, does this mean that it would be stired more commonly anti-clockwise. To further this would any stiring be needed at all if you were standing on the Equator? Side to side perhaps?

I tend to stir in both clockwise and counter-clockwise. I always start stirring in clockwise first, and then I go the other direction.

Stirring one way then abruptly changing and going in the other agetates the tea bag more there fore quicker tea.

If you read my post that mentions the word "Widdershins" (about a week ago), you may find your answer

on further examination i found that i stir my tea in a sort of 8. that keeps the liquid from spilling and accomplishes a little more than the linear method, I believe.

you don't stir tea in the pot you mash it.
thats what i've been told.

I always thought 'widdershins' meant 'against the direction of rotation'. This means (getting pedantic - no surprise there ) that it's possible to stir tea anti-clockwise without stirring widdershins. Furthermore, you can be stirring widdershins _and_ stirring clockwise. God, I need to get out more.

Myself, I stir clockwise, then one turn widdershins to break up the flow and ensure that the milk and tea are thoroughly mixed.

Two recent visits to the Tea Museum in Hong Kong (I finally got some visitors) have provided me with the following information:
Chinese tea used to be whisked. They had competitions to see who could get the most froth. Certain parts of China still put Yak milk in their tea (last - otherwise it curdles) When you mash China tea, you throw away the first lot of water, which should be just off the boil, to spread the leaves so that you get flavour from the inside as well as the outside. Black tea is already fermented so you use boiling water. Most people in the far East don't drink milk (wrong enzymes?) Those that do have it in black tea tend to throw everything into the pot while it's still on the stove -awful - nearly as bad as Dutch coffee!

Uh-oh...I guess I'll be the token "Yank" that posts to this forum, and in the process, drives all the civilized people of this discussion board away.
I'd like to make it clear that I love to drink tea. As a heathen American, however, I prefer it iced (I know, you're all cringing in horror.). One of the biggest things I craved when I was in Europe last year was a big glass of ICED tea. (Not 2 cubes of ice, in a lukewarm drink), but a freeze-your-mouth, more-ice-than-tea, glass of iced tea.

Anyway, if you think it's difficult to fully dissolve a spoonful of sugar in a full glass of boiling hot tea, try it in a glass of tea that's full to the top, and has about 10 ice cubes in it too. (Hint: It isn't possible--it violates the laws of 'tea physics'). I stir vigorously clockwise, and rapidly reverse directions to counterclockwise (anti-clockwise, to those of you over the big pond, I guess). After slopping the top inch (2.54 cm--damn metrics...)of liquid onto the table surface, I then shove the spoon back and forth (horizontally and vertically, across the diameter of the glass) trying to dissolve ONE OR TWO LOUSY LITTLE SUGAR CRYSTALS, all the time becoming more and more parched, and craving ONE LITTLE SIP OF THE LIQUID...

It is not for those that prefer sugar in their iced tea to leave about an inch of undissolved sugar in the bottom of their glass, after giving up in a fit of thirst-induced frustration.

Nobody ever said we Americans made much sense, but we're persistent buggers...

Contrary to what it might sound like, at least in the parts of pennine Yorkshire I've frequented, 'mashing' doesn't refer to actively stirring the tea in the teapot, but to leaving it alone, and is the equivalent of 'brewing'.

that's what the tea cosy is for to keep the tea warm while the tea is "mashed" then not a head dress when you come home from six pints of tanglefoot (living in dorset at the moment local brew). i'm hip on that one then.