mystery solved!

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.)