5/21/2023 Question of the day

[petrea_mitchell]

International Tea Day: Do you like tea (proper tea, not those herbal infusions [tisanes])? What is your favourite type of tea and how to you take it (black, or with milk and/or sugar/honey, etc.)? Do you use an actual teapot to make your tea, or are you a "tea bag in a cup" person?

Mostly not, but I will drink tea when eating Chinese or Mongolian food because somehow it tastes better then. (Or maybe it's a different kind of tea than I usually encounter. I have no idea.)

Comments

[delosharriman]

According to Chinese legend, the monk Bodhidharma first cultivated tea, as a stimulant to keep himself from falling asleep while meditating. This somehow metamorphosed into the idea that he had ripped off his own eyelids to keep from closing his eyes, and by the time it reached Japan, he had supposedly mutilated himself to the point that he had no limbs. Hence a Daruma is a doll in the form of a crazily staring human-ish head/torso combination, in shape rather like a bowling pin or a Russian matryoshka.

On the advice of an on-line acquaintance who is a tea snob/enthusiast (and has actually mailed me packets of tea), I purchased at an Oriental grocery a large glass jar of a type of green tea known as Long Jing (Dragon Well). I'm sure that my brewing technique is deficient and I don't get the best possible results. On the other hand, half the time when I'm making a cup of tea, the main purpose is for the heat and steam (and to a lesser extent the caffeine) to ease my sinus pain.

There is definitely some technique involved. American restaurants usually can't make a decent cup of tea, because they take the hot water off the side of the coffee maker, and it just isn't hot enough. Black tea, if steeped too long, becomes excessively bitter. Some people swear by using green tea in a large strainer, steeping for only about 30 seconds — discard the first steeping (which tastes like lawn clippings), and you can use the same leaves for four or five subsequent steepings.