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Hello and welcome to Ernst U. Boarking's blog about stuff & stuff-all.
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Friday, November 16, 2012

A decent cuppa

Being of a somewhat sensitive nature, I die a little inside each time I see someone destroying tea: the workmate adding milk to their cup before adding the not-quite-boiliing-for-OHS-reasons water and the ubiquitous yellow enveloped teabag that is defeated before it starts; the inner-city cafes that import Italian barristas to work vast espresso machines like demented church organs, they offer coffee beans excreted by mongooses, but serve their tea in a bag undunked next to a pot of unsuitably cooling water; and the fast-food “restaurants”, well don't get me started.

Therefore it gives me the utmost pleasure to advise on the correct preparation of tea:

Ingredients:

A good loose black tea*

(*you don't need to go overboard, but the cheap stuff is generally of dubious providence and it's taste will betray it, on the otherhand, some things at the top end from fancy stores seem designed to extract many dollars for middle class vanity. I find Dilmah a suitable compromise, though doubtless there are many others.
It must be black tea. Green tea, not to my taste, is still tea I grant you, but it is not the subject of this treatise. I shudder to hear of herbal concotions and fruit infusions described as tea, these serve only to pollute decent water, even if their dubious medical benefits were proven I'd rather suffer the malady they might cure)

You will need a kettle, a tea pot, cup(s), a strainer, potable water.

Preparation:

Add sufficient water to fill as many cups or mugs as required plus a little more to the kettle and apply a source of heat.
As the water approaches boiling take a little to the pot to rinse it out and provide some pre-warming. Empty the pot.
Add tea. The classic one teaspoon per person and one for the pot is about spot on. With a decent tea, the spoons can be low rounded rather than heaped and if you don't wish for hairs on your chest you may forgo the one for the pot.
Pour boiling water into the pot over the leaves. Yes, boiling. Pour it whilst bubbling, in the one movement whilst you turn off the heat. No delay, no dilly-dally, get it on right away. If the water is not boiling, you are not making tea, merely an unfortunate infusion.
Leave to stand, weaker—shorter, stronger—longer. About five minutes will surfice for most.
Serve into the cups.
Though purists will argue otherwise, I believe it acceptable to add sugar and even a little milk, to taste. Some might even add lemon.
Enjoy.