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Prepare to get hammered … uh, squared off … hm, nailed … er, leveled … oh heck, let’s just get acquainted with a British-ism: builders tea. It’s one of those odd names like “toad in the hole” and “spotted dick.” A quick peek reveals something more familiar, such as “sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter” and “sponge pudding made with golden syrup, suet and raisins” respectively.
Steeped loose, of course! (Photo source: A.C. Cargill, all rights reserved)
What Is Builders Tea?
Basically, “builders tea” is a term to describe a strong cuppa black tea with milk and sugar. It is part of the growing trend in Britain toward more specialty teas, with the term “builders tea” being a bit of a snub to those who like their tea basic and tasty. Or some folks use it to show how “unsnobby” they are about their tea. Oddly enough, folks working in the building trade have begun switching to coffee and tea drinkers on a budget, who used to drink premium teas, are returning to builders tea. And the world of tea spins round and round!
Builders Tea Competition
There is quite a debate out there on which tea brand makes the best builders tea. However, everyone seems to agree that steeping that tea strong and adding the right amount of milk and sugar (or other sweetener) is the way to go. Recently, a brand has appeared on the market actually called “Make Mine a Builders Tea” — what chutzpah! Claiming a whole style of tea as their own brand. Sounds to me like a time for a bit of a builders tea competition. Time to get started!
1 – Make Mine a Builders Tea; 2 – PG Tips; 3 – Typhoo (Photo source: A.C. Cargill, all rights reserved)
We used the tea dust from three bags in two cups of boiling water and steeped for five minutes. (We know that a certain tea guy recommends steeping black teas only 2-3 minutes, but…) Then, we added milk and sweetener and the tasting began.
- PG Tips — Single estate teas from around the world blended in precise proportions set by the tea tasters. The dry tea is a bit coarser and darker than the other two teas. Taste results: Strong yet smooth when served “builders style.”
- Typhoo — The blenders taste up to 500 teas every day just to make sure that all the teas are consistently excellent in quality, flavor, and character. Taste results: Strong with that distinctive Typhoo difference, even when served “builders style.”
- Make Mine a Builders Tea — Named after the phrase “Make mine a builders,” this tea is a blend of hand-picked teas from tea estates in Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. They steep up a strong color and body. Taste results: Slightly stronger flavor (and the dry tea is also more aromatic) that stands up very well served “builders style.”
There you go. Three cuppas, good and strong and hot, for when you’re done building that railroad or skyscraper or maybe just a modest dollhouse or backyard fort. Enjoy!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
What’s the strangest place you’ve ever drunk a cup of tea? Well, no matter how strange it might be it probably doesn’t compare to drinking it in a wind tunnel. Which is what British adventurer and TV personality attempted to do in 2011 to further the noble cause of helping Typhoo Tea sell more of their wares. Granted, trying to drink tea in winds of up to 150 mph is something of an exercise in futility, but you’ve got to give Fogle an “A” for effort. See the official Typhoo video of the event here or click on the image below:
Ben Fogle in Typhoo Tea’s Ul-Tea-Mate Challenge (Photo source: screen capture from site)
In August, 2012, the good people at Virgin Balloon Flights sponsored an event that gave a whole new dimension to the term “high” tea. They hosted what was “believed to be the highest open-air airborne tea party” sailing above the Earth in one of their balloons at a mere 1,300 feet. Sandwiches and cream cakes were served during the hour-long flight, along with Twinings tea and sparkling wine. You can read all about it at the company’s blog but judging from their current list of offerings you don’t have the option to recreate the experience for yourself.
If you’re a hardy sort looking for an offbeat place to take tea, albeit one that’s a little more down to Earth, you might check out a pair of tea houses located in the Canadian Rockies. There’s Lake Agnes Tea House, which was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway as a refuge for hikers and which has been serving tea since 1905. It’s located at Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, at an elevation of about 7,000 feet, and you’ll have to hike to get there, although they note at their Web site that you do have the option to rent horses.
In the same general neck of the woods and at about the same elevation you’ll also find another tea house, located at the end of the trail of the strikingly named Plain of Six Glaciers hike, which appears to be a slightly longer and somewhat more strenuous hike than the aforementioned. Read all about the hike and the tea house, and check out a selection of great photos in this blog post.
Last up, some perennial favorites that we covered a few years back but that are worth another quick mention. Here’s the ever popular video of astronaut Don Pettit drinking tea globules with chopsticks onboard the International Space Station. Tea, South Dakota isn’t named for the beverage but it would be a great place to have a cup of tea, even so. Or you could try the town of Pu-er, in China, which is actually named for a type of tea.
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
As someone who spends a fair amount of time studying and writing about the history of tea I can’t help wondering occasionally about some of the teas people drank in days gone by. Wondering specifically, that is, what those teas tasted like. Of course, unless I manage to lay my hands on a time machine, there will never be any way to truly know. Even the most detailed description of what a tea from yesteryear might have tasted like isn’t sufficient to the task, given that matters of taste are so subjective.
Typhoo – putting the “oo” into the Diamond J“oo”bilee (Photo source: screen capture from site)
While a simple web search will turn up any number of “classic” tea blends, there have been several attempts lately to recreate actual tea blends that consumers from yesteryear might have recognized. Which is what the blenders at Typhoo Tea did recently, in recognition of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
The curiously named Diamond J“oo”bilee tea is a limited edition commemorative blend that pays tribute to Typhoo blends that would have been in circulation when the Queen took the throne in 1952. Although one blender was quoted as saying about this tea, “We wanted to create a blend that stayed true to the period but also suited today’s palate as there have been many changes in how we enjoy our tea over the last 60 years.”
Harney & Sons is one of many other tea firms that have also created their own version of a Diamond Jubilee blend. In this case the blend is part of their Historic Royal Palaces of England series. While they may not necessarily attempt to recreate classic teas part and parcel, the blends, as they put it, pay “homage to tea’s imperial history and roots.”
Another prominent effort in this area found a master blender doing tea forensics of a sort and trying to recreate a blend that pays tribute to the Boston Tea Party. It’s an initiative that’s tied in to the recently opened Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, which I wrote about here. Said tea blender, Bruce Richardson, recounted his efforts to come up with the Tea Party-inspired Abigail’s Blend in an article at the museum’s web site.
See also: Tea and the Diamond Jubilee
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
A tin of tea from the ill-fated 2nd expedition by Scott and team to Antarctica
Tea had a landmark anniversary in January of this year: it was the beverage of choice on the expedition to the South Pole led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, which his team reached in January 1912. An unopened tin of this tea, retrieved from the expedition’s campsite years later by Ernest Shackleton and taken to New Zealand, is on display at the Powerhouse Museum. A label on one side of the tin says “TOWER TEA THE CHOICE BLEND FINE INDIAN & CEYLON TEA 11b Nett Weight.” It was produced sometime between 1895 and 1905, meaning that Sri Lanka (called “Ceylon” then) had been growing tea for only a few years, having switched from coffee growing due to a blight.
Jules Verne wrote about a fantastical journey to the center of the earth, a fictional account of exploring unknown reaches of our planet. But there are real explorers — people like Scott and his team who traveled to the far off place (at least from their part of the planet in the UK) of Antarctica (reaching the South Pole in January 1912 — 100 years ago) — and tea was part of the journey!
Okay, so the expedition wasn’t, if you’ll pardon the expression, a walk in the park, and Scott himself, once they reached Antarctica, was heard to proclaim “Great God! this is an awful place…” and they suffered frost bite, injury, malnutrition, and exhaustion, but they had tea with them! Sorry, was I being sarcastic there?
Cameras were another important part of Captain Scott's Antarctic exploration
Actually, I admire people who can leave the comforts of hearth and home to pit themselves against this big ball we all live on, and to do so in an age where the technology (things like thermal underwear, for example) is not there to help out is even more admirable. Scott was seeking to lead a team of explorers to the South Pole and to carry out some scientific observations along the way. He arrived at the South Pole only to discover that Norwegian Roald Amundsen was already there. Sigh! So much for being first.
But wait, it was still quite an achievement and certainly makes many of our accomplishments seem humble in comparison. Some blame him for the deaths of his team on their return trip (an 800-mile trek on foot in temperatures that got up to -30° on a balmy day), but each one was there of his own accord, not through any coercion.
In June 2010, it was reported that Typhoo raised £20,000 to go toward preserving the 50’x20’ rough wooden hut built by Scott’s team on Ross Island in the Antarctic. They have also teamed up with Tesco, a British supermarket chain, to market a special blend (a replicate of the original blend that traveled with the Scott 1910-1913 expedition) they produced of strong tea, appropriately named “Captain Scott’s Strong Blend.” (The Typhoo company, originally called Ridgways, produced the tea that traveled with Scott 100 years ago.) A small amount of the purchase price of every box of this tea sold went to the preservation fund.
Huntley and Palmers Digestives
Among the things found in Scott’s hut when it was dug out from under ice and snow by an expedition in 1956 was a package of Huntley & Palmers Digestives, well preserved (that is, not moldy and fairly intact) although probably not as tasty as they were in 1910 when they were packed aboard the ship for the long voyage across oceans to the hut in McMurdo sound. I think I’d rather have some fresh McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives!
Next time you’re enjoying a good strong cuppa Typhoo tea, remember those intrepid, albeit ill-fated, explorers, traveling to the far reaches of our planet. Cheers!
My thanks to May King Tsang, another writer for this blog and a knowledgeable tea consultant, for passing along to me an item she saw in Twitter about tea being on Scott’s expedition to Antarctica.
See also:
Typhoo Tea — The Doctor Is In
Tea Pioneers of Great Britain
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Typhoo tea
If you head out to the Internet looking for tea books from yesteryear, you’ll find enough to keep you occupied for a very long time. I’ve written about quite a few such works in these very pages, but to the best of my recall I can’t think of one that was written by an author who later went on to found a well-known tea company.
Until I recently ran across a book called A Popular Treatise on Tea: Its Qualities and Effects, that is. This particular tome first saw the light of day in 1863 and its author was John Sumner. Along with his father William, Sumner later founded a grocery business that went on to become Typhoo Tea, though it was apparently John Sumner, Jr., who took the firm into the territory of tea selling. Trivia fans, take note: the name Typhoo is apparently derived from a Chinese word for doctor.
Sumner opens the book with the bold statement that “the great Anglo-Saxon race are essentially a tea-drinking people.” Which is a matter that could probably be disputed, given that Europeans had only been drinking tea for about two centuries. But there’s no disputing his further assertion that among said people tea was now considered “one of the necessaries of life.”
From there the book is broken down into a structure that’s fairly typical for these kinds of works, starting with a chapter on the history of tea and moving on to one that looks at various botanical aspects of the plant. From there it’s a chapter on the assorted and sundry varieties of black and green tea that were popular at the time, many of which (Twankay, Hyson Skin, Imperial) will be unfamiliar to tea drinkers nowadays.
Chapter four tackles an unusual topic, looking at various tea substitutes used in other parts of the world. Among them are coffee; Paraguay Tea, or what we know today as yerba mate, and enough other items to fill a large chart. Other chapters look at the chemistry of tea, in which Sumner remarks on the beneficial compound theine, or what we know today as theanine.
Sumner also looks at the medicinal properties of tea and summarizes the various pros and cons regarding its consumption. He winds things up with a chapter on the social influence of tea, where he quotes an earlier writer who goes so far as to make the grand statement “tea and the discontinuance of barbarism are connected in the way of cause and effect.”
Here, here.
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
In the blue Mediterranean lies an archipelago of islands, one of which is named Malta. Not quite the setting where you would expect tea experts and tea traditions dating back centuries. And best known as the origin of “The Maltese Falcon” — you know, that troublesome little statue that people were bumping each other off for in the classic 1941 movie.
Sidewalk cafés in Malta
Being in a strategic position, Malta has a long and varied history. Control changed hands many times. The Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, French (under Napoleon), and finally the British took turns claiming sovereignty there. Each left their mark on the culture and language of the people there, with the British imparting their love of tea to the locals during their century of rule. Malta became independent in 1964 but retains the tea traditions and much more.
Importers Borg & Aquilina, established in 1916 while the British were in control, got the idea to start importing tea to Malta in the 1930s, despite coffee being the most common beverage at the time. Wooden boxes filled with loose tea bearing brand names like PG Tips, Typhoo, and others that were already British favorites began arriving on the island. In the 1960s, Borg & Aquilina started putting the tea in square bags, branding them with the name “Lion.” In the 1990s they did an upgrade of their machinery so that the process was fully automated and switched to the round teabag shape.
Of course, this growth in Borg & Aquilina meant a growth in tea consumption among the people of Malta. Coffee shops started also serving tea, tearooms opened up, and eventually herbals as well as fruit-flavored teas became available, although they along with green teas were in limited demand. Black tea ruled in Malta. With milk and sugar. Very British.
In the capital city of Valletta is Caffe Cordina, one of Malta’s oldest cafés, founded in 1837. The building it is in was damaged during World War II, but the business thrives. The founder Cesare Cordina came from Italy, starting the business as a sweets and pastry shop. A tearoom, bar, and finally an outdoor café were added. They hosted a sit-down dinner for 1,300 when Prince Phillip visited in 1964 to officially acknowledge Malta’s independence. Truly a café full of history. Today, the café is a landmark as well as a place of charm and elegance. The main hall boasts a vaulted ceiling with paintings by Maltese painter Giuseppe Cali and gilt interior with mirrored walls. They offer 12 choices of tea selections.
The Maltese seem to prefer straightforward stronger dark tea and the more sophisticated-palate-pleasing green teas, as well as light teas such as Early Grey, and of course traditional English Breakfast.
No need to chase around San Francisco or hire a private detective to find your Maltese tea connection. Just steep yourself a nice cuppa one of the above teas and stick the Bogey classic in the DVD player. Here’s looking at you, kid!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
There are quite a few “breakfast blends” out there. These are teas that have been blended to “pack a punch” to help you start your day. However, some of these excel in flavor while remaining mild to such an extent that they go beyond breakfast.
These blends often contain teas from the Assam, Nilgiri, and Darjeeling tea-growing regions of India, from Kenya and Rwanda in Africa, from Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) and Taiwan, and of course Keemun from China. These teas take milk well which is one of the qualities that makes them perfect for breakfast.
Scottish Breakfast and English Breakfast Blend #1
If you’re the kind who drags a bit in the afternoon, though, these teas will be great choices then, too. For this time of day you may want to enjoy them without the milk and with just a bit of some type of sweetener, such as agave nectar (one I omitted mentioning in my sweetener roundup). You could also steep them a bit lighter so that they won’t be bitter.
A few recommendations:
Breakfast Blend #1 — Assam, Ceylon, and Kenyan teas blended to perfection so that the maltiness of the Assam balances with the sweet Ceylon and the mild Kenyan for a wonderful flavor. Whether you prefer milk or just a bit of lemon, this will perk you up mid-afternoon or even at dinner.
Breakfast Blend #2 — Don’t let the name fool you. This tea is quite different from blend #1. For one thing, the leaf pieces are much bigger, meaning that it steeps up a bit milder while #1 steeps up strong and fast. You can also get a couple of infusions from the same batch of leaves. It’s another tea that’s great for both lunch, afternoon teatime, and even dinner. It’s a blend of high-grown Kenyan, Ceylon, and 2nd Flush Assam that pleases.
Devonshire Tea — A light-tasting blend of Kenyan teas from four plantations high in the mountains. Great with or without milk. While relatively new on the market, it is quickly becoming a tearoom favorite for that Devonshire Style Cream Tea.
Harney and Sons English Breakfast Tea — Ceylon tea adds flavor, Assam gives malty strength, and Kenyan brings out a bright color. It takes milk well and is considered by many to be the ultimate all-day tea.
Golden Moon English Breakfast — A blend of Keemun from China with Assam, Ceylon, and a touch of Darjeeling produces a reddish-brown liquid with a flavor that wakes you up. Enjoy with breakfast or any time of day either with milk, straight, or your favorite black tea enhancer.
Typhoo Tea — Strong and full of flavor. If you like it straight, just shorten the steeping time from the normal to 5 minutes to 3 minutes or so. Hubby and I steep it by the potful and gulp it with breakfast and lunch.
PG Tips — Blended to wake you up, but good anytime. Small wonder it’s the #1 tea in the UK.
Bewley’s Irish Breakfast — Assam and Darjeeling combined to produce a creamy, malty, full-bodied taste. Note: They have an Irish Afternoon tea, too, blended from Kenyan and other African teas.
Barry’s Irish Breakfast — Kenya and Assam teas that steep up a liquid with pungency, strength and flavor.
The moral here is not to let the name limit you. Breakfast teas are great whenever you want a flavorful black tea. Pick one and enjoy it throughout the day.
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Members of the Executive Team and the Blender Team at Typhoo Tea imbibe tea in her or his own unique way. It got me to wondering how Typhoo would taste prepared according to each person’s preferred method. Time for a Typhoo Taste Test — woohoo!
First, a reminder that this tea is processed to minimize the amount of tannins in it, so it’s much gentler on the tummy. Good news for people like me who get queasy at the merest whiff of peppermint and bell pepper. (Don’t even mention strawberries and bananas to me, or you never know what might come up.) Small wonder that Typhoo is one of my favorite teas.
On with the test.
Here’s the team and how each has stated he/she likes tea:
- Keith Packer, CEO — Strong with half fat milk.
- Kath Hughes, Head of Human Resources — Milk, no sugar.
- Somnath Saha, Finance Director — Strong tea (two tea bags) with full cream milk and two sugars.
- Alan Hargreaves, Blender — With two tea bags in a cup, strong but quite milky, no sugar.
- Jon Chartrey, Blender — Strong with half fat milk (same as the CEO).
- Kevin Evans, Blender — A good strong cup of tea with a splash of milk.
With the exception of Ms. Hughes, all of these people like their tea strong, as in take-a-few-sips-and-be-buzzing-all-day strong. The question is: Really? I mean, this isn’t just hype trying to increase the consumption rate among Typhoo customers by claiming that a cup of tea made from two teabags is the way to go? Probably not. The range of tea strength preferred by people varies widely. So how does a cup of tea of 1-bag-strength compare to a cup of 2-bag-strength look and taste? Let’s find out.
The Method:
- Select mugs of about the same size and shape. (Hubby and I collect mugs and tend to go for rather unique designs, resulting in few that match, but we managed to find a pair.)
- Boil enough water to fill both mugs.
- Place one Typhoo teabag into one mug.
- Place two Typhoo teabags into the other mug.
- Pour water into each mug. (We did about 8 ounces per mug.)
- Set the timer to steep 5 minutes.
- When timer goes off, remove teabags from mugs.
- Take a big sip from both and compare.
The Results:
- Plain:
(The 1-bag was dark, with strong tea aroma and taste. Predictably, the 2-bag was darker, almost like coffee, with stronger aroma and taste.)
- With milk (about one ounce):
(The 1-bag took the milk well and had no bitterness. The 2-bag took the milk well but let some of the bitterness through; definitely needed more milk and some sweetener.)
Call me a “tea wimp” if you must, but a cup of Typhoo made with one teabag is overpowering and a cupful made with two teabags could, if you’ll excuse the expression, put hair on my chest. It’s that strong. Thank goodness I did this experiment fairly early in the day. I was still buzzing during the evening news (reminded me of the buzz I got a few years ago from some Swiss chocolate I had in the Zurich airport, waiting for my connection flight on to Greece).
My personal recipe for a perfect pot of Typhoo:
- Ingredients: 6 cups of water, 3 Typhoo teabags, my 6-cup Blue Betty teapot.
- Boil water.
- Add teabags to teapot and pour in boiling water.
- Steep 5 minutes.
- Pour 2 cupfuls into mugs and enjoy.
- Boil 2 more cups of water and add to teapot.
- Steep another 5 minutes.
- Remove teabags from teapot.
- Enjoy rest of tea in pot as day goes on.
Work out your own special recipe and have a great Typhoo day!
No matter how it’s prepared, A.C.’s blog, Tea Time with A.C. Cargill, is always smooth-tasting and without bitterness! Check it out today!
I’m starting to think that bagged teas have gotten a bad rap (or maybe just a bad “wrap”). Generally speaking, tea in bags aren’t a staple item in my tea pantry. As one who lives the “tea life,” bagged tea is not to me what tea is all about. Hubby and I are the types that enjoy the process of tea preparation as much as the drinking of it. That means steeping the leaves (whole, pieces, or fannings) of the Camellia Sinensis plant to produce a tasteful tea “liquor” that hubby and I can then enjoy by itself or with some scrumptious tidbit.
Some teas that I absolutely must have on hand at all times (PG Tips, Typhoo, etc.) have to be ordered since they are not available in loose form from local vendors. Sometimes, I forget to order ahead and, when running low, have to buy from those vendors the bagged versions, which surprisingly, have proven to be most suitable — thus my change in thinking.
Yes, bagged teas have definitely gotten a bad rap. But there’s more to my change of heart than just poor planning of my tea purchases. The bagged teas I have used had one thing in common: they contained fannings and/or dust tea. These are the tiny bits left after the whole leaves and pieces have been separated out. While I still prefer to steep my teas made of whole leaves and/or pieces (broken leaf) floating free in the hot water to get every molecule of tea-ness, teas made of fannings and/or dust, such as most breakfast blends, seem to steep equally well in a bag vs. loose in the pot. That means convenience, especially at work.
Teabag shape is a determining factor in how well the tea steeps in the bag. Remember the old Lipton commercial for the “flo-thru” teabag? They were trying to assure tea drinkers that the tea would still get adequate exposure to the water and thus steep up good and strong as if the tea were floating free in the pot. Not sure if that’s true or not (never did a side-by-side comparison — maybe later), but the “flo-thru” design sold a lot of tea and is now used in other brands. Today there are a variety of shapes: round, pyramidal, sachets, etc.
Part of my issue with teabags was the teabag material, i.e., the “wrap” of the tea. Bleached paper-like material used to be the only option. Teabags now are made of a variety of materials. For example, many teabags today are unbleached and made of a light paperish material (some Websites say it’s Manila hemp). Some, like Mighty Leaf, are made of nylon. More importantly, these teabags seem to allow for free interaction between tea and water almost as good as loose — I say “almost” because there’s still some blocking of free flow.
Teabag sturdiness is also an issue. My personal experience is that, except for the nylon material used by Mighty Leaf and some others, the typical teabag material seems to be more and more flimsy. My teabags often fall apart in the teapot. (Nothing like a cupful of tea dust!) That’s bagged tea with a bad “wrap”!
While I would still consider heinous the very idea of trapping teas made of full or broken leaves (such as Indian Spiced Chai or higher quality Oolongs) inside a bag (or an infuser, teaball, or other such device), I acknowledge that there are teas, especially quality teas like Typhoo and PG Tips, that are suitable for being wrapped in a teabag. So, yes, teabags — in this context — have gotten a bad rap!
Get your teabags ready. It’s dunkin’ time!
Learn more about tea on A.C.’s blog, Tea Time with A.C. Cargill.
By A.C. Cargill
Tea is a precious commodity, one that you want to get every drop of value from. It takes a lot of labor, time, and effort to get those magic little tea leaves from the tea fields to your table. As one who lives the “tea life,” I appreciate this very much and therefore want to get the most out of every tea leaf. This brings into play something I call the “Pioneer Spirit,” where you get every bit of use out of an item, like the pioneers did.
When these pioneers moved Westward, they took with them the basic necessities of life and made sure that they got the best use possible out of each item. Even when they found a place to stop and settle down, that principle still held true. For example, old clothes became doll clothes or were cut into squares and sewn into a quilt. Being descended from some of those brave pioneers as well as from American Indians who certainly knew how to get the most out of everything, I use that spirit of “repurposing” daily.
Instead of getting caught up in the big push to “go green” and recycling, where unwanted items are handed over to a company that grinds them up into something else, that “pioneer spirit” prompts me to say “Why throw out today what you could use tomorrow?”
My husband and I implemented this when we owned a “mini-ranch” (about 10 acres) where the previous owners had left piles of stuff around. A lot of it was definitely real trash (even I can’t think of a way to make something good out of “well worn” disposable diapers!). Much, though, was in re-usable condition that we stored for future use, saving us the 25-mile trip into the nearest town to buy something new. If you approach this sensibly, you may never need to buy materials for your next craft project or rush to the hardware store to replace a nut or washer.
“How does this relate to tea?” you ask. One answer is “multiple infusions” — all the more reason to buy the best quality teas in full-leaf or even broken-leaf form. I have a wonderful Ceylon tea that is full-leaf. Measuring it out in spoonfuls is tricky, so I do pinches. About four pinches (plus one for the pot) goes into my 4-cup teapot. Then, the hot water is added, and I let it infuse (or “steep,” “brew,” etc., whatever term you prefer). I pour and enjoy that first cupful or two and, while the pot is still hot, add more boiling water for another infusion. Since the tea is good quality, the second — and even third — infusion is usually as tasty as the first. It is also free of the bitterness that bagged tea can have if you let the bags sit in the water too long. [Update: I tried the free sample of Snow Dragon I received a couple months ago from The English Tea Store and find that this white tea is also excellent in its second infusion, maybe even a third. So are other higher quality teas like this.]
That’s not to say that you can’t apply your “pioneer spirit” to tea bags. The better brands like Barry’s, Typhoo, and PG Tips are usually good for a second infusion, at least. They are stronger tasting teas and can stand up to such treatment. If you are watching your caffeine intake, you will be happy to hear that the amount of caffeine decreases with each infusion (or so I’ve heard, although some say this is an urban myth).
I can almost hear the wheels of those covered wagons of my pioneer ancestors as I drink. Guess my “pioneer spirit” is still going strong. Hope yours is, too. Enjoy!
Find more tips on living the “tea life” on A.C.’s blog, Tea Time with A.C. Cargill!
