Tea (Not to be Thrown Overboard)

If you are cold, tea will warm you; if you are too heated, it will cool you; if you are depressed it will cheer you; if you are excited, it will calm you.  Thank God for tea!  What would the world do without tea!  I am glad I was not born before tea."--William Gladstone, British Prime Minister

I have an English friend named Gwenda.  We used to work together.  At that time, there was a small group of us who got together and had dinner at each others' homes.  One night, Gwenda invited us for "tea."  The truth is that this night had much more to do with "wine," but all of the other components were quite British--the trifle, the little finger sandwiches, etc.  (We did have an obligatory cup of tea though.)

The idea of "afternoon tea" or "high tea" is really brilliant!  The story of its creation says that when Anna Maria, the seventh duchess of Bedford, was feeling a bit hungry late one afternoon while on a summer holiday at Woburn Abbey, she asked her maid to bring tea and a tray of bread-and-butter sandwiches to her room.  Anna Maria enjoyed her "taking of tea" so much that she started inviting her friends to join her for this new social event--one that gradually expanded to include assorted fruits, breads, and small pastries.  Thus, afternoon tea was born.  You see, it was a long stretch between lunch and dinner, which wasn't served until eight or nine o'clock in the evening.  This little meal tided people over until dinner.  At first thee practice was limited to the upper classes, but it eventually became so popular that tea shops and tearooms began opening for the enjoyment of the general public.

Kate, are you bored?  Here is a picture of what an "English tea" looks like.

Now that I've got your attention.

How Not to Make a Cup of Tea

There are a lot of different tea bags available in any grocery store.  You pick an intriguing sounding flavor, toss it into a cup, add hot water, and wait until the water turns an acceptable color and then drink it.  Let's learn to do it properly.

How to Make  Cup of Tea

Tea leaves are processed into three main types--black, green, and oolong.  Black tea is most popular worldwide, accounting for 77% of the world's production.  If the leaves undergo the full fermentation process, they become black tea.  If the leaves are dried quickly without fermentation, they become green teas.  Oolong tea is semi-fermented, failing between black and green.

Did you know that England doesn't grow tea?  Neither does the United States.  There are many good tea stores and online sources for tea.  You want to buy it in small quantities so that it doesn't get stale.  Also, you want to buy it from a source that sells quality tea.  It is generally thought that loose leaf tea tastes better than tea from tea bags.  Sometimes, for convenience sake, tea bags are more practical.  Either way, you make tea the same way.

Golden Rules of Tea Brewing

• Start with cold, great-tasting water.  if your water doesn't take good, use filtered or bottled water.
• Bring the desired amount of water to a rolling boil, but do not boil it for a long period of time because it becomes depleted of oxygen.  For green and oolong tea, don't boil the water.  Heat the water to 160-190 degrees.
• Heat the teapot by adding hot water for a minute or two and then dumping it out.
• Add one teaspoon of tea leaves for each person and "one for the pot."
• Add the desired amount of heated water to the teapot.
• Close the lid and steep according to the package instructions.

Generally, steeping times are:

• 1-3 minutes for green tea
• 1-8 minutes for oolong tea
• 3-5 minutes for black tea
• 5-8 minutes for herbal tea

Strain the tea, or remove the tea bags and enjoy!

If you are invited to "afternoon tea," here is a little video explaining etiquette.



Reference:
Tea & Crumpets by Margaret M. Johnson, 2009.