NationStates

Nobel Hobos 2 wrote:

An Alan Smithee Nation wrote:
Black tea you want the water boiling, green tea you want the water at about 70 C so either stop it before boiling or let it boil and then wait five minutes.

Ah. This would be why I always find green tea foul and bitter. Thanks for the tip!

Trollzyn the Infinite wrote:Absolutely mesmerized that while in the midst of a devastating global pandemic that is killing thousands of Americans a day, rising social unrest in the face of police brutality and resurgence of Nazism, and the systematic suppression of voting rights as part of the annihilation of our democracy by the most corrupt and authoritarian administration in our young history that a US Ambassador can find the time to address a British Ambassador getting her panties in a twist over some teenage girl's TikTok video on how to make tea.

Nobel Hobos 2 wrote:

Trollzyn the Infinite wrote:Absolutely mesmerized that while in the midst of a devastating global pandemic that is killing thousands of Americans a day, rising social unrest in the face of police brutality and resurgence of Nazism, and the systematic suppression of voting rights as part of the annihilation of our democracy by the most corrupt and authoritarian administration in our young history that a US Ambassador can find the time to address a British Ambassador getting her panties in a twist over some teenage girl's TikTok video on how to make tea.

But it said in the OP, the British escalated this by calling in the military!
History tells us that the British declaring war over tea is no small matter.

Somerania wrote:

Nobel Hobos 2 wrote:
But it said in the OP, the British escalated this by calling in the military!
History tells us that the British declaring war over tea is no small matter.

Both sides overreacted but America overreacted first because they didn't want to pay back the United kingdom FOR DEFENDING THEM AGAINST THE FRENCH!

Starblaydia wrote:How to make a proper* cup of tea in 10 easy steps. Biscuits/Cookies/Cake/Chocolate optional (but recommended) on the side. It's worth it.

1. Boil the water in a kettle
2. Place your English Breakfast teabag (ideally Tetley, PG Tips or Yorkshire brands, something with a bit of strength) in the cup
3. When the water boils, fill around 80-90% of the easily drinkable volume of the cup with the water
4. Leave for 2 minutes
5. Add low fat milk, cold from the fridge, to the cup until it's the colour you want
6. Use a teaspoon to crush the teabag on the inside of the rim of the cup, to get rid of excess liquid, and save drippage when putting the teabag in the bin/compost
7. If you have a fancy drawstring-type teabag, use this instead as a retrieval and trash delivery system
8. Wait a reasonable amount of time for the tea to cool (If you are a teacher or a builder, this time may be up to 2 hours)
9. Sip your tea
10. Say "Ahhh' and relax a bit

* for a given value of proper

Infected Mushroom wrote:

Starblaydia wrote:How to make a proper* cup of tea in 10 easy steps. Biscuits/Cookies/Cake/Chocolate optional (but recommended) on the side. It's worth it.

1. Boil the water in a kettle
2. Place your English Breakfast teabag (ideally Tetley, PG Tips or Yorkshire brands, something with a bit of strength) in the cup
3. When the water boils, fill around 80-90% of the easily drinkable volume of the cup with the water
4. Leave for 2 minutes
5. Add low fat milk, cold from the fridge, to the cup until it's the colour you want
6. Use a teaspoon to crush the teabag on the inside of the rim of the cup, to get rid of excess liquid, and save drippage when putting the teabag in the bin/compost
7. If you have a fancy drawstring-type teabag, use this instead as a retrieval and trash delivery system
8. Wait a reasonable amount of time for the tea to cool (If you are a teacher or a builder, this time may be up to 2 hours)
9. Sip your tea
10. Say "Ahhh' and relax a bit

* for a given value of proper

Question: how many cups do you do before switching tea bags? or is it 1 cup 1 bag?

Nobel Hobos 2 wrote:

Infected Mushroom wrote:
Question: how many cups do you do before switching tea bags? or is it 1 cup 1 bag?

Note: I only re-used tea bags when I would run out of new ones and was broke. It's really not as good, it lacks the aromatics.

Infected Mushroom wrote:

Nobel Hobos 2 wrote:
Note: I only re-used tea bags when I would run out of new ones and was broke. It's really not as good, it lacks the aromatics.

oh.... hmmmm

I do re-use for 2-3 cups. I also take the bag out to prevent the tea from getting too strong.

Is that a big no no?

Somerania wrote:

Nobel Hobos 2 wrote:
But it said in the OP, the British escalated this by calling in the military!
History tells us that the British declaring war over tea is no small matter.

Both sides overreacted but America overreacted first because they didn't want to pay back the United kingdom FOR DEFENDING THEM AGAINST THE FRENCH!

Bombadil wrote:Right..

Nearly 250 years after the Boston Tea Party, the British ambassador in Washington and her US counterpart in London are going at it over how to make a decent hot drink. And by Wednesday evening, the conflict was spilling over into mainland Europe.

Bloody 2020, can it get any worse..

Like many tense diplomatic standoffs, it began with a deliberate provocation. An American TikTok user going by the name of Michelle from North Carolina posted a video showing how to make what she describes as “hot tea”, which entails mixing milk with powdered lemonade, cinnamon, cloves, sugar and Tang, which turns out to be a soft drink.

Tang? What devilry is this?

As an afterthought she dunked a teabag, and then put the whole thing in the microwave.

Microwave, what is wrong with you people?

Her subsequent attempt at “British tea” involved cold water first. The British internet lost its marbles.

Jesus wept. I actually saw this video, she bunged it all in the microwave as usual and it.. was.. fucked.. up..

Inevitably, Dame Karen Pierce, the British ambassador to Washington – who holds an MSc in international strategy and diplomacy from the LSE, has served in the Foreign Office for 39 years and is a former president of the UN security council - was obliged to weigh in.

She posted a viral video of her own on Monday, explaining that “the Anglo-American relationship is defined by tea”, a reference to the Boston Tea Party of 1773 that eventually led to US independence.

Then, in what Twitter banter enthusiasts viewed as a thrilling escalation, she threw to three branches of the armed forces, who took it in turns to demonstrate how to make what one Royal Navy sailor called a “proper British cup of tea”.

Nice little coded threat of force there Ambassador, you spoil us..

The US ambassador in London, Woody Johnson, who recognised the impossibility of his position on the tea front and quickly shifted his forces to a classic British weakness: coffee.

“I’m going to make an American cup of coffee, the way I make it every day, responding to Ambassador Pierce’s perfect cup of tea and her instructions,”.

Okay..

He proceeded to pour a bottle of water into a kettle, stick a spoon of instant coffee in a mug, splash in some milk and say “have a nice day”.

WTF.. hear that Italians.. that's proper coffee.

But there may now be questions as to whether he had committed a serious strategic error, by making, to put it bluntly, what looked like a terrible cup of coffee. On Wednesday evening, a source at the Italian embassy asked for a view on the US video replied: “What he made was American coffee. And I stress... American coffee.”

We don't screw around with, like, hotdogs Americans so why are you so adamant in screwing up our tea, was Boston not enough, what is wrong with you people? When did you lose all sense of values by using a microwave to make tea for god's sake?

However, otherwise, what is you favourite tea - since WFH I've been gazzumping gallons of good old Breakfast Tea where I substitute sugar with a drop or two of honey. Here in HK iced lemon tea is very popular too. When I lived in India I did love those big pots of masala chai.

What about you, please indicate if you're American and therefore we can dismiss your opinion off the bat.

Katganistan wrote:I am American.
That "tea" is an abomination. To make good tea you need to steep the tea in a proper teapot, none of this microwave nonsense.... and the type of tea informs you on how long to steep it. White tea steeps a very short time, 2-3 minutes for loose leaf, black tea steeps three to five minutes, and herbals -- well, check the timing on the packet.

I like Irish Breakfast Tea, tbh. Not much of a fan of Earl Grey, the bergamot ruins it for me.

Instant "coffee" is an abomination. Fresh ground beans, please, hot water over it in a French press optimally or even better -- cold brew it and get to taste the smoothest, least bitter coffee you will ever have. Drip or percolator is ok, too. Instant coffee is what we send into space because freeze dried food takes up less space.

That is all.

Mushet wrote:Tik Tok user should know better if she's from North Carolina, one of the best things about the South is their cultural emphasis on sweet iced tea.

On that note unsweetended iced tea is just leaf juice.

Neutraligon wrote:

Mushet wrote:Tik Tok user should know better if she's from North Carolina, one of the best things about the South is their cultural emphasis on sweet iced tea.

On that note unsweetended iced tea is just leaf juice.

Sweat Iced tea...yuck, that stuff is basically pure sugar.

Luziyca wrote:As someone who drinks Coca-Cola, you guys can fight over how to make tea and coffee and what not. I can sail by just fine.

Neanderthaland wrote:What if Tea were made infinite, by poring vast quantities of it into the ocean?

America is willing to do her part!

Infected Mushroom wrote:

Luziyca wrote:As someone who drinks Coca-Cola, you guys can fight over how to make tea and coffee and what not. I can sail by just fine.

Hmmm

then what do you like to drink when having cakes and cookies?

This is when I like to gave tea the most

Luziyca wrote:

Infected Mushroom wrote:
Hmmm

then what do you like to drink when having cakes and cookies?

This is when I like to gave tea the most

For cakes, there's no need to dip them in anything, mostly because the cakes I usually have aren't the sort of thing you'd dip into anything. As for cookies, for the rare occasions I dip them (I prefer them plain, tyvm), it's milk.

Infected Mushroom wrote:

Neanderthaland wrote:What if Tea were made infinite, by poring vast quantities of it into the ocean?

America is willing to do her part!

The salt would ruin it