mystery solved!

[deird1]

I'm currently on a campaign to improve the tea at church.

The boyfriend and I have been complaining for awhile that the tea at the 10:30 service is dreadful - which puzzled us, because the tea at 8:00 is fine. (Not that nice - cheap teabags and all - but fine.)

And, after much detective work, I think I've figured it out.


It happens like this:
- 8am service happens, with much tea being brewed in big kettles.
- 8am tea finishes, and the kettles are duly rinsed out.
- 10:30am tea people arrive, prior to the service, and take these kettles - still damp from being rinsed - and get them ready for the next lot of tea.
- As part of this, they get out the teabags, drop them into the damp kettles, and then go into the church service. Leaving the teabags to gradually dampen for the next hour.
- After the service, they fill the kettles with boiling water, and wonder vaguely why the tea tastes so bad...


I was aghast when I realised this was happening. (Seriously - DAMP TEABAGS. What on earth!) But, interestingly, when I try explaining it to people, I keep getting this reaction:

"...so the teabags are staying damp for an hour before the tea gets made."
*blank stare* "That... makes a difference?"

YES. YES IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE.

I realise that my extensive experience in plungers, teapots, infusers, and so forth have given me a unique perspective on this - but I find it RATHER SAD that intelligent people have grown to adulthood without ever finding out that the way you make the tea affects the way the tea tastes.

There should be compulsory classes.



(Americans: just TRY defending the whole cold-water-and-teabag-in-the-microwave thing. Just try it.)

Comments

[ruuger]

That is one of my pet peeves in The Mentalist fandom. There's a popular fanon about Jane having OCD simply because of a scene in S1 where he is very particular about how his tea is made. Every time I come across that fanon, I just want to shake the writer and shout "But that is how you're supposed to make tea!" :D

[deird1]

Indeed! Picky fanoners should watch me discussing tea for a few hours - then they'd never complain about Jane being OCD again...

[bruttimabuoni]

I'm a little boggled at the whole teabags-in-kettles thing, tbh, though your description is reassuring that they're just a handy thing to brew up in and pour from. When I first read I thought you boiled the kettles with the teabags in which... no.

Damp teabags infusing for *an hour*? In possibly slightly warm kettles, too? That'll get all the tannin-y bitterness coming right out for your un-delectation. Definitely.

[deird1]

Yep. It's like they've sat down and thought out the best way to utterly destroy all the tea...

I refer to them as kettles because they are - but I don't think they've actually been used in their natural kettling capacity for years. Not since we got urns for heating the water. Now, they're pretty much working as teapots. Even though they're really kettles.

[angelikitten]

Americans: just TRY defending the whole cold-water-and-teabag-in-the-microwave thing. Just try it.

People do that? O.O

[deird1]

YES. It's disturbing and wrong.

I think it's just the legacy of Americans growing up without a tea-drinking culture, and thus having no-one to show them how to do it properly. Which, of course, means that they think tea tastes dreadful, and never develop a tea-drinking culture...

[bobthemole]

Yes we do, and I for one am unapologetic :)

[angelikitten]

Sorry, it's just something I never would have thought of doing.

(That said, I've been meaning to get a microwave for the last 4 years, so.)

[deird1]

SHUNNED FOREVER.

*shuns*




:)

[curiouswombat]

That was my immediate thought too... followed by 'Good Grief!'

[padawanspider.livejournal.com]

... I'm an American and I can clearly see the horrible wrongness of that.

That said... there is a method of tea brewing where one puts cold water and teabags in a clear glass jar and sets the whole thing in bright sunshine. When the tea is ready it's served over ice. I'm told it's the best, but not being a fan of iced tea, I'm not really qualified to judge.

[slaymesoftly]

I have a very hard time convincing non-tea drinkers that water and a tea bag in the microwave for a minute does not make tea! Thank God for electric kettles which can be hidden in a cupboard at work to be pulled out when necessary, or even carried along to my son's house if I'm babysitting and might want a cup of tea. :)

[deird1]

I have a very hard time convincing non-tea drinkers that water and a tea bag in the microwave for a minute does not make tea!

*shudders* So very glad I've never actually witnessed this happen. (And given that I'd probably shriek with alarm and wrench the mug from their hands, all the non-tea drinkers are probably pretty glad too...)

[velvetwhip]

My mother makes tea, but not in the microwave.

I'm an American and I don't actually drink tea. *hides*


Gabrielle

[deird1]

Your mother is hereby declared awesome.

You... can be awesome by proxy, since you're not destroying the tea supplies with neglectful dampening. :)

[a2zmom]

assuming it posted, that was me. And if not, I'll just repeat myself:

I don't drink tea that often (although I do like it) and I certainly have no clue about tea no-nos. So this was most enlightening!

[deird1]

Boiling water - straight onto loose tealeaves (or a teabag if you must), and let it swirl excitedly for a minute. *nods* That will give you a worthwhile cup of tea.

[aerintine]

I am American and I've never heard of preparing tea in the microwave. Perhaps it's a regional thing? I boil water in the kettle and then either pour over a tea bag in a cup or pour over loose tea in a bistro pot (with a plunger), depending on what kind of tea I have on hand.

[deird1]

Your tea habits are perfect, and I approve. :)

[klme.livejournal.com]

If all I had was a microwave, a mug and a teabag I'd be boiling the water in the microwave in the mug, then dunking the teabag into the hot water. How is sticking the teabag through the microwave ever a good idea, or necessary?

[(Anonymous)]

Whereas my response would be: "(That... makes a difference?) Great, something else to try and forget." :)

I find even a whiff of coffee or tea extremely offputting, almost to the point of nausea, so it's not like I care how they're made.

DIT_grue