Tea (Journaling January)
Jan. 2nd, 2019 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kraitI'm a tea drinker.
That encompasses the basics, but there's so much involved with that simple statement that it can't possibly all fit in a DW entry, so I'll pick a few subcategories to discuss. You're welcome to ask about others in comments.
Types and flavours.
As my tea-and-cards posts always mention, there are certain types and flavours of tea that I prefer! 95% of what I drink is black tea, but occasionally I'll drink white tea, or one of the two green teas that I find enjoyable. (Genmaicha, and Tazo "Zen" Green, which involves lemongrass and some other herbs.) As far as flavoured teas go, I prefer non-sweet flavours; Earl Grey is a favourite, and I also enjoy a lot of florals: rose and lavender, separately or together, are excellent. (Not jasmine, though!) I don't mind some fruit flavours, such as lemon or currant, but don't care for the flavours of sweet fruits such as mango or blueberry in tea, despite liking these things in fruit form.
I don't drink many herbal 'teas.' (Note for non-tea people: generally "tea" is limited to a beverage made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis, the tea plant. If you use other plants instead, that's a tisane.) They often lack caffeine, and I can think of few herbs I wouldn't prefer as a tea flavouring rather than on their own. Rosemary-lavender Earl Grey is amazing! Mint is okay by itself, but add it to black tea with some sage and ginger, and you have my favourite local Mediterranean restaurant's tea recipe, which is so good they sell it in big jars. In summer I'll pick lemon verbena or spearmint from my garden to toss into the pot with whatever I'm brewing.
History.
I grew up drinking tea, but mostly of the iced variety. (Unsweetened, though this is a description that shouldn't exist; tea without sweeteners should be the default. Do we order 'unsweet popcorn' at the movies, or request 'unsweet bread' for sandwiches?) I began drinking hot tea regularly as a university student in the early 2000s, because it was caffeinated, easy to make in a dorm room, and delicious! No dedicated machine was required; I could heat water in my little hot pot. Mess was minimal: tea bags make disposal simple, and for loose leaf tea I have reusable linen tea bags. Hundreds of varieties meant never getting bored with too much of the same drink.
Paraphernalia.
At this point in my life I own practically every tea-related gadget on the market, from bamboo whisk sets for matcha to novelty-shaped tea balls to double-walled glass tumblers. (Sometimes I think I should have run a blog where I rated them as I got them!) The things that I use regularly, and would recommend to others:
* Electric kettle. Mine has settings for 'warm water' (100 F), white tea, green tea, oolong tea, 'French press' (200 F) and boiling. While I use the white, green, and oolong settings for those teas, I've found that I actually prefer my black tea made with water just slightly less than boiling, so I always use the French Press setting. I think boiling changes the taste and makes it more bitter. My current electric kettle wasn't cheap, but after wearing out two cheap models in a few years I decided it was worth it to scale up, and it's served me well for at leasat 5 years now.
* Glass tea pot. I actually own two glass tea pots, and I really love them! There are a couple of different reasons. First, I like seeing the tea! (Is it fully steeped? Is there sediment on the bottom to avoid?) Sometimes I have teas that are particularly designed for viewing, too, like flowering teas, and glass pots are ideal for these. Second, it makes cleaning the pot easier! So many tea pots I see are badly designed, presumably by people who don't drink tea, because any tea-drinker (or their dentist) will be the first to tell you: tea leaves residue! A glass pot is fully visible, so you know if there's gunk in the spout or lurking in the handle attachment site, and can clean it.
* Reusable natural-fabric tea bags. These turn loose leaf tea into something much less messy to deal with! They're adjustable - you can put a mug's worth or a pot's worth of leaves in them, as you choose. They'e washable - if you have one, you're good, and if you have 2-3, you're set for life. They're made of renewable resources (usually cotton or linen) and they last forever, though they will gradually acquire a deep brown colour with repeated uses.
* Tea leaf basket - this is another "makes loose leaf tea easy to handle" item and it's great to have, but usually it has to come with your teapot, or it won't fit nicely. A basket allows the leaves more room to expand, which helps them fully infuse, and since it's made of metal it's easy to clean and doesn't stain easily. Since it fits the pot, it's only useful if you make your tea a pot at a time, rather than by the cup, whereas reusable tea bags are a little more flexible (but give less expansion space if making a full pot).
Caffeine.
Black tea is generally highest in caffeine, but it's never bothered me. I make all the usual jokes about needing caffeine to get me through the day, but I honestly suspect that it's primarily a placebo effect at this point. I drink a lot of tea, and since regular caffeine use does lead to acclimatisation, I'm likely as immune as one can get. The warmth and the smell/taste probably have more to do with my enjoyment than the caffeine does, but in this coffee-drinking world everybody seems more willing to accept 'it's a caffeine source' than 'I like it.' And the caffeine doesn't hurt, either, given my propensity for staying up inadvisably late. :D
A few times when my tea consumption was very high and very steady through the week, I found myself with withdrawal headaches on Sunday when I drank significantly less tea. That has kind of become my benchmark: if I'm not suffering withdrawals on the days when my schedule interferes with tea, I'm probably fine. :D
Hopefully that wasn't too much Tea Discussion for the non-tea-drinkers who read this journal. :D I apologise for this entry's late appearance, too - I posted an initial draft under lock, and forgot to unlock it after editing! *facepalming*
That encompasses the basics, but there's so much involved with that simple statement that it can't possibly all fit in a DW entry, so I'll pick a few subcategories to discuss. You're welcome to ask about others in comments.
Types and flavours.
As my tea-and-cards posts always mention, there are certain types and flavours of tea that I prefer! 95% of what I drink is black tea, but occasionally I'll drink white tea, or one of the two green teas that I find enjoyable. (Genmaicha, and Tazo "Zen" Green, which involves lemongrass and some other herbs.) As far as flavoured teas go, I prefer non-sweet flavours; Earl Grey is a favourite, and I also enjoy a lot of florals: rose and lavender, separately or together, are excellent. (Not jasmine, though!) I don't mind some fruit flavours, such as lemon or currant, but don't care for the flavours of sweet fruits such as mango or blueberry in tea, despite liking these things in fruit form.
I don't drink many herbal 'teas.' (Note for non-tea people: generally "tea" is limited to a beverage made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis, the tea plant. If you use other plants instead, that's a tisane.) They often lack caffeine, and I can think of few herbs I wouldn't prefer as a tea flavouring rather than on their own. Rosemary-lavender Earl Grey is amazing! Mint is okay by itself, but add it to black tea with some sage and ginger, and you have my favourite local Mediterranean restaurant's tea recipe, which is so good they sell it in big jars. In summer I'll pick lemon verbena or spearmint from my garden to toss into the pot with whatever I'm brewing.
History.
I grew up drinking tea, but mostly of the iced variety. (Unsweetened, though this is a description that shouldn't exist; tea without sweeteners should be the default. Do we order 'unsweet popcorn' at the movies, or request 'unsweet bread' for sandwiches?) I began drinking hot tea regularly as a university student in the early 2000s, because it was caffeinated, easy to make in a dorm room, and delicious! No dedicated machine was required; I could heat water in my little hot pot. Mess was minimal: tea bags make disposal simple, and for loose leaf tea I have reusable linen tea bags. Hundreds of varieties meant never getting bored with too much of the same drink.
Paraphernalia.
At this point in my life I own practically every tea-related gadget on the market, from bamboo whisk sets for matcha to novelty-shaped tea balls to double-walled glass tumblers. (Sometimes I think I should have run a blog where I rated them as I got them!) The things that I use regularly, and would recommend to others:
* Electric kettle. Mine has settings for 'warm water' (100 F), white tea, green tea, oolong tea, 'French press' (200 F) and boiling. While I use the white, green, and oolong settings for those teas, I've found that I actually prefer my black tea made with water just slightly less than boiling, so I always use the French Press setting. I think boiling changes the taste and makes it more bitter. My current electric kettle wasn't cheap, but after wearing out two cheap models in a few years I decided it was worth it to scale up, and it's served me well for at leasat 5 years now.
* Glass tea pot. I actually own two glass tea pots, and I really love them! There are a couple of different reasons. First, I like seeing the tea! (Is it fully steeped? Is there sediment on the bottom to avoid?) Sometimes I have teas that are particularly designed for viewing, too, like flowering teas, and glass pots are ideal for these. Second, it makes cleaning the pot easier! So many tea pots I see are badly designed, presumably by people who don't drink tea, because any tea-drinker (or their dentist) will be the first to tell you: tea leaves residue! A glass pot is fully visible, so you know if there's gunk in the spout or lurking in the handle attachment site, and can clean it.
* Reusable natural-fabric tea bags. These turn loose leaf tea into something much less messy to deal with! They're adjustable - you can put a mug's worth or a pot's worth of leaves in them, as you choose. They'e washable - if you have one, you're good, and if you have 2-3, you're set for life. They're made of renewable resources (usually cotton or linen) and they last forever, though they will gradually acquire a deep brown colour with repeated uses.
* Tea leaf basket - this is another "makes loose leaf tea easy to handle" item and it's great to have, but usually it has to come with your teapot, or it won't fit nicely. A basket allows the leaves more room to expand, which helps them fully infuse, and since it's made of metal it's easy to clean and doesn't stain easily. Since it fits the pot, it's only useful if you make your tea a pot at a time, rather than by the cup, whereas reusable tea bags are a little more flexible (but give less expansion space if making a full pot).
Caffeine.
Black tea is generally highest in caffeine, but it's never bothered me. I make all the usual jokes about needing caffeine to get me through the day, but I honestly suspect that it's primarily a placebo effect at this point. I drink a lot of tea, and since regular caffeine use does lead to acclimatisation, I'm likely as immune as one can get. The warmth and the smell/taste probably have more to do with my enjoyment than the caffeine does, but in this coffee-drinking world everybody seems more willing to accept 'it's a caffeine source' than 'I like it.' And the caffeine doesn't hurt, either, given my propensity for staying up inadvisably late. :D
A few times when my tea consumption was very high and very steady through the week, I found myself with withdrawal headaches on Sunday when I drank significantly less tea. That has kind of become my benchmark: if I'm not suffering withdrawals on the days when my schedule interferes with tea, I'm probably fine. :D
Hopefully that wasn't too much Tea Discussion for the non-tea-drinkers who read this journal. :D I apologise for this entry's late appearance, too - I posted an initial draft under lock, and forgot to unlock it after editing! *facepalming*