Tea

[STEVE G]

A collection of thoughts on tea:


My experience...convinced me that tea was better than brandy, and during the last six months in Afica I took no brandy, even when sick taking tea instead.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) Letter, 1912

Drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary.
Chinese Proverb

"I always fear that creation will expire before tea-time."
Rev. Sydney Smith

Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence.
Samuel Johnson

"Better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one."
Ancient Chinese proverb

"There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea,”
Bernard-Paul Heroux.

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me,”
C S Lewis

“Come along inside... We'll see if tea and buns can make the world a better place.”
Kenneth Grahame

"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."
William Gladstone

“You have arrived at a propitious moment, coincident with your country’s one indisputable contribution to Western civilisation – afternoon tea”
Bond villian Hugo Drax in Moonraker.

Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world.
T'ien Yiheng

The effect of tea is cooling.
As a drink, it suits very well persons of self-restraint and good conduct.
When feeling hot, thirsty; depressed, suffering from headache,
eye-ache, fatigue of the four limbs, or paints in the joints,
One should drink tea only; four or five times.”
Lu Yu, 780

[bonnielass]

Very interesting Steve.
I like the one about large tea and long book.

Seems to be a bit of a pattern emerging amongst us Tea Jennys.
I can't bear the taste of coffee either.

It's supposed to be a great laxative tho'.
Not that I'm full of sh**!

[PeteC]

Pete, that English style tea has to be drunk with milk otherwise it's far too strong. Liptons Yellow label that you can buy just about anywhere in Thailand is a very fine tea as long as you drink it black, in fact I've got a cup of it right now!

Yes, that's the way I drink it but as mentioned further up, it's hard to find a good milk here that doesn't taste funny. My choices are the Chokchai and Nongpho UHT milk over fresh milk. When not available, powdered Coffee Mate is not a bad substitute. The Lipton I've found is very good as an ice tea, especially a "sun" made tea by putting the pitcher with water and tea bags out in the sun for an hour or two. Pete

[Arnold]

I just love my cup of Barry's tea with milk and some brown sugar.

[dtaai-maai]

Barry's? Is that a brand name?

[Arnold]

yep: http://www.barrystea.ie/
Great Irish tea!

[margaretcarnes]

Mr.VS drinks a pot of jasmine green tea every morning. It's loose tea (Raming brand in a green box at 35 baht), and he uses one of those funky little tea pots with a sieve in the middle. Obviously, no milk or sugar added, and it tastes really nice. Apparently it's good for you too.

Other brands of green tea are horrendously expensive (especially if they're sealed in a teabag), and are not so tasty.

VS

I just this minute or so eventually found a loose green tea to take home. Yes there's plenty of the Raming brand jasmine around, but I wanted a non jasmine, and it's surprisingly difficult to track down.
Tried Foodland - Villa - HH Mall - zilch. But Tops came out Tops so if Mr VS wants to try a non jasmine VS I'll report back later!
It's 'Kanchana' brand, an OTOP product, 39 baht for a 100 gm packet.

BTW how much Tea does Mr VS use in the funky pot? (I know the ones you mean.)

[PeteC]

Spotted Tetley in Foodland over here but didn't buy any as still working on my PG and Yorkshire. I think a box of bags was around Baht 300. It's been a long time since I've had Tetley, and how does the taste compare to what you can easily get here, namely Lipton and Twinings breakfast? Pete

[sateeb]

Hi All...Not a big English style tea drinker myself but I usually have a stock of Tesco's own tea brand and all of my visitors have said it is a good brew.

[PeteC]

Hi All...Not a big English style tea drinker myself but I usually have a stock of Tesco's own tea brand and all of my visitors have said it is a good brew.

That's good to know. Never crossed my mind to even look for it. The key now is to try to find out if they actually make it themselves, or it's another English brand, licensed/re-branded? Pete

[sateeb]

Pete......It's the Tesco brand that is packaged in a yellow box NOT the Tesco value brand in the white box. I think it makes a strong tea 'cos the water turns dark pretty quickly without squeezing the bag. 3 or 4 dunks and it's ready.

[Dannie Boy]

A number of people have made reference to the milk affecting the taste, which I totally agree with. After experimenting, I have decided that for me, the 0% fat milk leaves the best taste.

[margaretcarnes]

After a few months of testing, my personal verdict is in concerning three British teas. I find that PG is the most pleasing and smooth tasting, Twinings English Breakfast second, and Yorkshire third. The problem with the Yorkshire is that the bags are so big you have to watch carefully how long you leave it in the mug or it will become way too strong for my taste. I can get three, good, dark mugs out of one Yorkshire bag, two with PG and only one with Twinings. Anyway, there is the colonial opinion. Pete

Sorry I got a bit behind with this T thing but in the UK I always buy the Co-operative brand T bags. Visitors almost always comment how good it is and ask what brand. Unfortunately not available in Villa etc!
At the moment I'm using a Thai loose leaf (or maybe that should be loose twig) green tea. Kanchana brand - about 38 baht for 50 gm, but it goes a long way and IMO has a good taste.

[MrPlum]

Can't beat 'Yogi' Tea. Here's how I make it, if interested...

1/4 teaspoon Cardamon powder
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon powder
1/4 teaspoon Licorice powder
2 Cloves
6 thin slices of fresh ginger.

Add 1 pint of water. Bring to boil, simmer gently for approx 15 minutes. When ready add 1/2 pt fresh milk, bring back to the boil. Sweeten with fresh sugar cane juice or a sweetener of your choice.

There are other recipes which add tea and you can play with the servings to suit your tastes.

Guests enjoy it.

[lomuamart]

Or masala chai.
1inch stick cinnamon
8 cardamon pods
8 cloves
175ml milk
6 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons of any black, unperfumed, loose black tea.
I cut down on the sugar with only 3 teaspoons.

Might try yours Mr P. I've got everything to make it except the licorice.