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

Absolutely horrified that my American friend drinks iced tea in "this weather"

Now today in the UK in the nether regions of Yorkshire where we both live it's about 18c. That's not warm enough for iced anything, I've still got me big cardi on!

But Tea should be served 100c!! Not iced!! I've told her the queen will be round with her axe just now.

Well.........

I'm more of a coffee drinker than a tea drinker. But I drink hot coffee year-round, no matter how hot the weather is. And when I eat in Chinese restaurant, I drink the hot tea they serve, though I may put one ice cube in it so it's not ridiculously hot -- just hot.

They say that when people in India eat hot spicy foods, the purpose is to make the body sweat out its waste products. This is good for a person. There are some who say that drinking cold water when it's hot outside doesn't do much good. I do drink cold water anyway, but I drink it year-round. My body copes fine, so no harm is done.

My dad always says you should have hot drinks in warm weather because it helps you cool down better as it causes you to sweat.

Hot coffee any day, occasionally hot tea as well. Both black, of course. My bride rarely drinks either, but quite likes her iced tea any day of the year. She even likes the occasional iced cappuccino - winter or summer. (She goes for that when she needs a serious kick-start to a day)

If you find yourself sweating out waste products, then that curry’s too hot - believe me.

Post 4
Hot tea in a hot climate, thre Tea Wallah of the British Raj a very important man.

Post 4
Hot tea in a hot climate, the Tea Wallah of the British Raj a very important man.

The average internal temperature of the human body is 37 degrees C.

If you pour hot liquid into it, the internal temperature rises and the body, the marvelous thing that it is, tries to find a way to restore it's desired state, so it sweats giving the illusion of overall cooling.

Hot tea doesn't cool you down. It makes you hotter. Subsequent bodily efforts to dissipate the heat do cool you down. There's a difference between the basic physics and the perception. The process of sweating may cool the body below its natural state for a while, but it will soon restore itself to 37C.

But you will have had a nice sit down and a cup of tea (with, if you are lucky, a biccie or two).

PP.

She sent me a picture of aforementioned tea.

I really didn't want to have photographic evidence of her doing unspeakable things to my beloved tea.

Unspeakable Tea - a good name for a band?

Tea needs to be brewed at 100 C or it doesn't diffuse properly. Coffee, however, should be made at around 95 C – any hotter and the beans burn. Making tea at coffee temperature is one of the three main -making mistakes (the second being adding the milk too early, which prevents it from brewing*, and the third being using paper or polystyrene cups so that the drink ends up tasting of paper or polystyrene).

<BB<

* Milk should always be added to the cup first when using fine bone china, as otherwise boiling water can crack the cup, however the tea would still have brewed in a separate . However when using a mug, always let the tea brew before adding milk.

So to the perpetual feud of milk-then-tea versus tea-then-milk . . . both are correct? Depending on circumstances.

Good iced tea is typically brewed at or very near 100°C. It shouldn't be boiled. It's iced after brewing. I'm glad the "sun tea" fad has faded. Sun tea is not only inferior, it's also dangerous, especially if sweetened before "sun brewing". It's prime conditions for bacterial growth. I remember seeing thick "strings" floating in sun tea jars.

"Floating" is the wrong term. Suspended is better.

What on earth is sun brewing

*hands everyone a nice cup of Assam except the coffee drinkers who get fika instead*

I had to google that as well (Yeugh!!)

Bugs ago go...

Yep. Sun Brewing jugs (usually 3 quarts with a spigot) were sold in stores widely through the South (US) starting in the '80s (IIRC). The idea was to slow steep the tea in the sun all day. I don't know why this was considered a good thing to do. Maybe some folks thought it would somehow acquire the flavor of the outdoors, like clothes dried on the line? It was usually done with syrupy sweet Southern style iced tea. It would probably have been OK if the sugar was added after steeping, but I think most folks added the sugar before.

Oh, and no bugs. The jugs were sealed with a lid. Of course this also keeps out any aroma from the local flora, so I guess they thought it would somehow taste like sunlight?

“something almost, but not quite entirely unlike tea”