How tea.......should be

[Phage]

Also - Stoke for City of Culture !!!
C'mon Stokies

[Saracen]

I'm actually a coffee drinker by preference, but the one thing I've found is that if you try enough types of tea, you can find ones which are enjoyable and as complex as a good cup of coffee.

I don't doubt it. My problem is that while the destination may be fine, the journey there doesn't much appeal.

[Saracen]

I have have had tea which has been straight from a plantation - it was really nice. Plus you could see it being dried and sorted on site,and choose what type you want(size of the tea itself has an effect). Also the height at which tea is grown affects it's flavour.

It also tasted very different from the standard stuff you get here which is made for hard water and is mostly cheaper tea with a small amount of more expensive teas - it's kind of like comparing cheaper blended whisky to a single malt.

That, I entirely believe. And I envy you the "direct" experience. I don't live at plantation's edge though.


To be a little more honest than my so-far slightly wind-up remarks, I have been through tea-drinking phases, and on e of my friends that stayed with me for a while many years ago was, shall we say, a tea enthusiast, and well-healed enough to be selective. Even now, I have several types of tea here from a Tea Pigs selection, to the usual Earl Grey, Darjeeling and even green teas. I do quite like Japanese tea ... which usually leads to Sake, which I certainly like. It's one of very few alcoholic drinks that tempt me these days.

Anyway, the wife is a tea drinker ..... normally. I have phases, but as I've settled into a tea phase that must be in it's third decade, I guess I'm more a coffee person. But phases aside, I have had the occasional tea, usually when I ask for coffee and get given tea, or VERY rarely, when I fancy a tea.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

That, I entirely believe. And I envy you the "direct" experience. I don't live at plantation's edge though.


To be a little more honest than my so-far slightly wind-up remarks, I have been through tea-drinking phases, and on e of my friends that stayed with me for a while many years ago was, shall we say, a tea enthusiast, and well-healed enough to be selective. Even now, I have several types of tea here from a Tea Pigs selection, to the usual Earl Grey, Darjeeling and even green teas. I do quite like Japanese tea ... which usually leads to Sake, which I certainly like. It's one of very few alcoholic drinks that tempt me these days.

Anyway, the wife is a tea drinker ..... normally. I have phases, but as I've settled into a tea phase that must be in it's third decade, I guess I'm more a coffee person. But phases aside, I have had the occasional tea, usually when I ask for coffee and get given tea, or VERY rarely, when I fancy a tea.

Neither do I and sadly the UK is ever so slightly too cold for tea growing!! OTH,it does make normal tea seem a tad meh,and getting decent tea here is not very cheap - I tend to end up usually having coffee TBF! It was interesting seeing coffee growing wild there - talking to some of the villagers,apparently they would harvest the coffee beans(red little things),process and roast it themselves. I never got a chance to try that myself - I suspect it would be very nice.

[Saracen]

It might be an "interesting" taste. As I understand it, being very far from expert, the roasting process is absolutely crucual to getting coffee how we like it, The first job is getting the right blend of beans, each type having it's own unique flavour profile, but then the exact temperature, and duration, of roasting makes a vast difference. The guy deciding exactly when they're done is, if he (or she) is any good is a true artist.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It might be an "interesting" taste. As I understand it, being very far from expert, the roasting process is absolutely crucual to getting coffee how we like it, The first job is getting the right blend of beans, each type having it's own unique flavour profile, but then the exact temperature, and duration, of roasting makes a vast difference. The guy deciding exactly when they're done is, if he (or she) is any good is a true artist.

I suspect the skills are handed down across the generations,so I expect there is some method in the madness. OFC,I somehow doubt they could do a blend(probably because it will be definitively single origin there!).

Having said that it wouldn't surprise me either if less and less people do it as time progresses,as processed food its creeping in everywhere now.

[Gerrard]

Tonight at 7pm on BBC2 is Inside the Factory about how tea bags are made. It is a repeat from earlier in the week, so should also be on iPlayer. Some interesting information about how the plants are picked and processed as well as how to make a decent cuppa; filtered water and leaving the tea bag in for 5 minutes seemed the most important.

[peterb]

I suspect the skills are handed down across the generations,so I expect there is some method in the madness. OFC,I somehow doubt they could do a blend(probably because it will be definitively single origin there!).

Having said that it wouldn't surprise me either if less and less people do it as time progresses,as processed food its creeping in everywhere now.

However its produced, coffee needs a fair bit of processing - picking the fruit, extracting and drying the bean - then blending (if required) and roasting, letting it stand and then grinding, and brewing! Nothing very difficult, but each step has an impact on the final flavour, which is personal anyway! And each step has to be tailored with regard to the previous and subsequent ones.

And tea has its own process too!

[Saracen]

....

And tea has its own process too!

Yep. Allegedly, the universe will implode and disappear up it's own singularity if you pour milk, then add tea. Or is it othe other way round? I can never remember.

That's the real reason I don't drink tea .... being responsible for ending Creation would make me feel a smidge guilty.



Mind you .... dunking biscuits. Hmmm. That's definitely a tea-related task .... and you lot have got me missing dunking a digestive. Or a Rich Tea.


Oh, the hell with it. Cross your fingers everybody, I'm going to risk it and give it a try. I'll flip a DDG (*) for which way to do it, so if you're reading this .....




(* = Digital Decision Generator = coin to flip)

[Saracen]

Tonight at 7pm on BBC2 is Inside the Factory about how tea bags are made. It is a repeat from earlier in the week, so should also be on iPlayer. Some interesting information about how the plants are picked and processed as well as how to make a decent cuppa; filtered water and leaving the tea bag in for 5 minutes seemed the most important.

Well, that worth watching, by the sound of .... wait, what?

Teabag?

Teabag?

Teabag?

[peterb]

(* = Digital Decision Generator = coin to flip)

Strictly should be your binary decision maker as a flipped coin has one of two states (unless it lands and stays on its edge)






What that? You're pointing your (middle) digital commander at me?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

However its produced, coffee needs a fair bit of processing - picking the fruit, extracting and drying the bean - then blending (if required) and roasting, letting it stand and then grinding, and brewing! Nothing very difficult, but each step has an impact on the final flavour, which is personal anyway! And each step has to be tailored with regard to the previous and subsequent ones.

And tea has its own process too!

Yep,tea indeed does. The altitude at which the tea is grown,the soil,the age of the leaf,size of the picked leaf,etc plus the drying time,and the size of the processed leaves all have an effect. If you ever visit a tea growing country its worth visiting one of the plantations with an attached factory to see how it is all done.

Yep. Allegedly, the universe will implode and disappear up it's own singularity if you pour milk, then add tea. Or is it othe other way round? I can never remember.

In fact a little tea tidbit - apparently the reason why milk was used in the first place,was because early china tended not to resist sudden heat changes very well as it would crack. Hence milk used to be added first,before the hot water since it would mean a lower likelihood of you expensive china going kaput.

[Saracen]

Strictly should be your binary decision maker as a flipped coin has one of two states (unless it lands and stays on its edge)






What that? You're pointing your (middle) digital commander at me?

Hmm. This could get silly, quickly.

Okay, digital as in unique, non-contiguous states, like a watch where the second hand goes tick, tick, tick jumping from one second to the next, as opposed to one sweeping smoothly (*) and continuously round the face. Which, by the way, is one way to detect many fake Rolexs.


(*) In my example, I used "like" to suggest an illustrative analogy, not an identical situation. This is to allow for the point that with such watches, the visual effect of smoothness is an illusion, generated by the fact that the internal ticking of the watch movement might be at a resolution of about 14k/sec, or even 28 k/sec, but the time intervals, and associated effect are the appearance of continuous, analog movement.

At the risk of uxing an analogy within an analogy, if you look at an analog sound source on an oscilloscope, you see a continuous wave, like a true sine wave. Breakmit down to thousands of discrete amplitude values, per second, and you have a dataset that can be reproduced in such a way that the approximation is close enough to fool the human ear in to thinking it heard the analog wave, when in fact it heard a digitally-sampled version.

Therefore, my "DDG" is digital rather than binary because the digital refers, as you mentioned, to the discrete values, true or false, not the number system or sampling rate used to record them.

Your serve. Happy Sunday morning,


PS. What were we talking about?

Oh yeah, tea. That reminds me, cuppa time. BBL.

PPS. And some people ask why I make long posts.

[Saracen]

.....

In fact a little tea tidbit - apparently the reason why milk was used in the first place,was because early china tended not to resist sudden heat changes very well as it would crack. Hence milk used to be added first,before the hot water since it would mean a lower likelihood of you expensive china going kaput.

Interesting Makes sense.

Or it does if using delicate bone china. Not so much if using a circa 1995 freebie trade-show giveaway mug.

By the way, I went tea then milk, so either the belief about universe ending is wrong, or it's tea-milk, not milk-tea.

Or, I've lit the fuse. Oh bother, now I need a coffee to soothe my nerves. Irish coffee, I think, with double Jamiesons.

[Gerrard]

Well, that worth watching, by the sound of .... wait, what?

Teabag?

Teabag?

Teabag?

You yelling tea bag reminded me of this...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Interesting Makes sense.

Or it does if using delicate bone china. Not so much if using a circa 1995 freebie trade-show giveaway mug.

By the way, I went tea then milk, so either the belief about universe ending is wrong, or it's tea-milk, not milk-tea.

Or, I've lit the fuse. Oh bother, now I need a coffee to soothe my nerves. Irish coffee, I think, with double Jamiesons.

Well tea was considered a luxury item at the time so you would probably have used your finest cups,but probably not so much now!