The math of tea bags

Post #144,742 by Ashton 3/6/04 6:11:16 PM Reply	The math of tea bags So you've poured the ebullient fluid over the tea bag. It sits there, solubles being leached via local convection and thermal eddies related to the packaging. A) Is it 'better' to stir, thus more quickly reducing the local concentration (saturation) of the solute, at the interface? B) Repeatedly dip the bag? How often and, better to hold it up out of the cup for x seconds - and allow gravity draining - before reinserting? or not. Repeatedly? Z) Optimum process for strongest brew in shortest time: _____? (Regardless of additional work/energy expended by the tea bag humanoid -or transistorized- manipulator) Thermodynamics tells us that, adding the milk initially - is best for conservation of most thermal energy / length of time the potion remains drinkable - via reducing the temperature differential with environment, SAP. But what effect might that early dilution/cooling + the chemistry of milk: have on the leaching (and particularly - on any selectivity? ie alteration of the solution-rates of the complex components within 'tea' leaves) - as relate to 'taste' and likely even.. vary with the actual plant variety. Ditto re ultimate taste: time of sugar addition. unless the milk is also heated - Case 2. Nothing is ever really Simple.
Post #144,747 by boxley 3/6/04 7:26:51 PM Reply	proper tea making one heaping teaspoon of black tea for every 4oz cup. bring water to a furious boil, heat the teapot with hot water so the teapot is preheated. Add tea in the above amounts, pour boiling water into teapot. Wight 5 minutes, no more no less than five. Heat Mug to be used. 3.5 heaping teaspoons of sugar per 8oz mug. Fill to just below brim with tea. Carnation canned mik is added until color lightly changes, Stir vigorously and noisily, this will announce to others that tea is ready. My Nanna's recipe, you would be WIDE awake after having one of these with a scone for breakfast. Called it gunpowder tea. Now with tea bags I prefer the dunking method with a last squeeze. Coffee on the other hand, take a lot of milk, nuke it to froth then add hot coffee and chocolate if you have some. thanx, bill when I was young I envisioned myself as the embodiment of Trinity, Now I realize I have turned into the Bambino questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org]
Post #144,748 by bepatient 3/6/04 7:32:20 PM Reply	ObSent LRPD Mmmmm... warm chunky cheese Danish... in a cup! How convenient is that?? If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. _{Fudd's First Law of Opposition} It goes in, it must come out._{Teslacle's Deviant to Fudd's Law} [link\|mailto:bepatient@aol.com\|BePatient]
Post #144,749 by Another Scott 3/6/04 7:43:14 PM Reply	'tis complicated if you consider caffeine chemistry At least if you believe [link\|http://groups.google.com/groups?&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=3moscq%24dg7%40newsbf02.news.aol.com&rnum=1\|this]: 3.1.5. How much caffeine does tea have in it? Does green tea have more or less caffeine than black tea? The amount of caffeine in a cup of tea varies with the variety of tea and the brewing time. Here are some rough figures, with comparisons to coffee and other caffeine sources, from All the Tea in China by Kit Chow and Ione Kramer (China Books, 1990): Black tea infused for 5 minutes: 40-100 milligrams caffeine per 5-oz. cup Black tea infused for 3 minutes: 20-40 milligrams Oolong tea: 12-55 milligrams Green tea: 8-36 milligrams Coffee, drip: 60-180 milligrams Coffee, instant: 30-120 milligrams Coffee, decaffeinated: 2-5 milligrams Coca-Cola (TM), 12-oz serving: 46 milligrams As you can see from this chart, green tea has relatively little caffeine, but it still has some. Mild green tea may have about as much caffeine as some decaffeinated coffees. I vaguely recall some other Usenet discussion on caffeine that claimed that the concentration in tea decreased with steeping time. It never made sense to me. In graduate school my recipe for tea was to boil some clean water, steep a tea bag (e.g. Red Rose) in a 12 oz glass mug for 20 - 30 minutes, remove the bag, add about 2 teaspoons of sugar, and enjoy (yum!). (I've never been a fan of milk in tea.) I'd have about 4 of those a day, then wondered why I had trouble sleeping at night... I rarely drink tea now because I get evil caffeine withdrawal headaches. :-( Cheers, Scott. (Who agrees that nothing is simple. :-)
Post #144,751 by FuManChu 3/6/04 7:58:42 PM Reply	You're looking for the strongest brew in the shortest time? You don't understand tea. Try coffee.
Post #144,760 by Ashton 3/6/04 10:53:13 PM Reply	s flavourful/strong
Post #144,752 by deSitter 3/6/04 8:15:20 PM Reply	Can't find real tea You make real tea with leaves, not bags. Bags are a true horror. Bagged tea to real tea is even worse than instant coffee to fresh ground. Can you even get actual tea leaves? I've never seen any. -drl
Post #144,754 by boxley 3/6/04 8:21:51 PM Reply	Liptons sells it in most stores. used to be straight black but is now mixed with pekoe. Real tea is in bricks. thanx, bill when I was young I envisioned myself as the embodiment of Trinity, Now I realize I have turned into the Bambino questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org]
Post #144,755 by bepatient 3/6/04 8:22:04 PM Reply	Loose tea. Can get it alot of places. I've always been partial to the 'real' brew as opposed to the Tetley version. Dump the tea in the pot...pour through the strainer and enjoy. If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. _{Fudd's First Law of Opposition} It goes in, it must come out._{Teslacle's Deviant to Fudd's Law} [link\|mailto:bepatient@aol.com\|BePatient]
Post #144,758 by Andrew Grygus 3/6/04 8:58:27 PM Reply	Tea Bags? You buy tea in Tea Bags? I always thought it came from India in tins (or adjacent China or Ceylon, but still in tins, or at least foil lined boxes). Anyway, what you want is one of these screen plunger coffee makers. They're not that good for coffee, but they're great for tea. Put your leaves in and pour in the required amount of freshly boiled water and put the lid on with the plunger all the way up. When steeped long enough, push down the plunger and pour. [image\|http://www.aaxnet.com/ajg/tea01.jpg\|\|\|\|] Better still is the Russian way: put a lot of tea in the coffee maker and steep with freshly boiled water. Push down the plunger and pour the concentrated tea into a little tea pot (like the one shown). You make a trip to your samovar, fill your cup with hot water and pour in concentrated tea to the desired strength. [image\|http://www.aaxnet.com/ajg/tea02.jpg\|\|\|\|] [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #144,763 by Ashton 3/6/04 11:43:32 PM Reply	Thanks, Andrew Suspected our sole Renaissance Incarnation would have an angle, possibly a picture with authentic background .. and maybe an original device from an Eastern tomb, (not necessarily from any Baghdad contacts, of course). :-\ufffd I like the concentrated idea and even more - the wonderful shape of your storage vessel. I shall forthwith seek out a suitable plunger dealie and begin refining perceptions of the various Oolongs and lightly roiling branch water - all arrayed on my Karastan. (The Japanese Tea ceremony is, of course, about quite much more than the 'tea' - but it must rank as the most impressive ritual I know of, re the infusion; if not about the 'tasting'.) Was arriving at Heathrow eons ago ~ 5 AM local time.. befoggedly shuffling down passageway to join my luggage. Then I spotted a Tea Lady + cart! For some paltry sum, I was served bloody good English-style tea in a porcelain-ish cup. Manna. Ready to face the ride to Stoke Newington and make it through the rest of the day. Even airport-grade - nobody makes tea like the Brits, for those of us that Do take milk with it. Unapologetically. Thanks for the eye candy, Ashton
Post #144,765 by Andrew Grygus 3/7/04 12:18:22 AM Reply	The Japanese tea ceremony . . . . . is descended from Chinese court tea tasting parties (similar to our competitive wine tasting parties, but all tasting from the same cup to make sure all tasted the exact same brew). The samurai rulers of the Kamakura Shogunate distorted this entertainment to the service of their new Zen Buddhist religion. In like manner they distorted many other common daily things, tranforming Japan from "Little China" to what we think of as essentially Japanese today, all in about 200 years. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #144,766 by boxley 3/7/04 12:21:23 AM Reply	screens n filters we dont need no steekin filters actual will be looking for one of those manyana, have a soochong (pine resin smoked tea) that would benefit from same. Now if I could find a source for ghee. thanx, bill when I was young I envisioned myself as the embodiment of Trinity, Now I realize I have turned into the Bambino questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org]
Post #144,771 by Andrew Grygus 3/7/04 12:48:50 AM Reply	Ghee? We've got gobs of it around here (literally and figuratively), in every state of refinement and authenticity you could hope for. The one I've got on hand is distributed by Indo-European over in Glendale, so it's about as refined as you can get and still be authentic. I was down in Artesia a few days ago picking up a pile of Wog supplies, but this product came from my local store, Sunland Produce. Of course you can make your own - there's no secret about it - it's just clarified butter. You melt down a big bunch of good butter and bring it up hot, but well below boiling. and skim off any froth that rises to the top as soon as it rises. When there is no more froth, you let it settle quitely for a while, then pour off the clear part for use, leaving all solids behind at the bottom of the container. For those unfamiliar with ghee, this process produces an oil that does not easily go rancid at room temperature (some buried caches over 100 years old have been dug up still in good condition) and you can fry with it at reasonably high temperatures without it getting a burned taste as regular butter would. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #144,907 by Arkadiy 3/8/04 3:14:41 PM Reply	No, no, no, no!!! You put the tea in tea pot (1/3 to 2/3 of the volume). Pour in the boiling water. Let it stand for 15 minutes minimum - very important! Pour the concentrated tea into the cup first, add hot water to taste. As to tea debris - it just adds to the flavor. If you did things right, it will all be on the bottom of the cup. If you feel really posh, buy a tyny wire basket that hangs under teapot's spout and traps the leaves. Some people actually cover the teapot with special thick cover to preserve the heat while the tea is being infused. -- The number of the beast - vi vi vi --[link\|http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?QuotesOnComputers\|Delexa Jones]

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