I agree, restaurant tap water can be very hot … there is even a faucet in some places I’ve seen from coffee machines that can dispense hot water. But all of them fall just below the threshold of boiling water which is 100 degrees C.
Tea needs boiling water at least for a moment in order to brew properly. I don’t know the science of it … I just know from experience and having had tea all my life. If you place an orange pekoe tea bag in anything but boiling water, it will never steep properly. In any other heated water, orange pekoe tea just comes out bland and not as tasty. Like I mentioned in my early comments, my family used to throw tea bags into boiling water and let it stay in rolling boiling water for about 30 seconds and it immediately brews a potent mixture of dark red liquid that has as much caffeine as coffee.
The only other great sin to steeping tea is to place the tea bag in boiling water and immediately mix it all with milk - that guarantees a ruined steeped tea. You wait about five full minutes for the tea to steep before mixing anything with it.
I’ve been frustrated by friends and family all my life who didn’t grow up drinking tea because they’ll boil some water, leave the water sit for a minute or two until it cools off from 100C or even wait several minutes until it cools off to 80C and then try to make a cup of tea. It drives me nuts when they serve me luke warm tea and then pour in a bit of milk into it all and everything turns white.
Absolutely … I’ve never met anyone outside of the northern communities who knew about it.
In our language we call it ‘KA-KEE-KEH-POO-KWA’ … I think the word stems from the word ‘KA-KEE-KEH’, which translates as ‘forever’ … because you can even find this plant frozen in the wilderness in the dead of winter and still make tea from it.
However, it makes a very weak mild tea … highly nutritious but it doesn’t taste like much. I got the bright idea one summer to make it extra strong and boiled a small bushel to make a dark tea. A more scientific friend of mine later warned me that the drink has to be mild because in stronger doses, it can be poisonous.
Have you ever had sun tea? You get a clear glass container, preferably the kind with a nozzle for dispensing drinks from, then you fill it with water and load it up with a bunch of tea bags, maybe 10 per gallon(?), then you close the lid and set it somewhere in direct sunlight in the morning on a hot summer day. By mid afternoon you can take the tea bags out and put the tea container in your refrigerator.
It’s just as dark as regular tea, but it has a smoother flavor. Typically you drink it iced, since it’s a summer drink for hot days.
Not saying it does, ive drank stuff thats been sitting out for a very long time sithout getting sick. This is basically just a tangentially related fun fact but: in the absence of a limiting factor, bacteria grows following the law of exponential growth. A single bacteria that is not restricted from replicating ever would be able to convert the entire surface of the planet into that bacteria in two days. If the medium is right, it can fill that cup in minutes.
I agree, restaurant tap water can be very hot … there is even a faucet in some places I’ve seen from coffee machines that can dispense hot water. But all of them fall just below the threshold of boiling water which is 100 degrees C.
Tea needs boiling water at least for a moment in order to brew properly. I don’t know the science of it … I just know from experience and having had tea all my life. If you place an orange pekoe tea bag in anything but boiling water, it will never steep properly. In any other heated water, orange pekoe tea just comes out bland and not as tasty. Like I mentioned in my early comments, my family used to throw tea bags into boiling water and let it stay in rolling boiling water for about 30 seconds and it immediately brews a potent mixture of dark red liquid that has as much caffeine as coffee.
The only other great sin to steeping tea is to place the tea bag in boiling water and immediately mix it all with milk - that guarantees a ruined steeped tea. You wait about five full minutes for the tea to steep before mixing anything with it.
I’ve been frustrated by friends and family all my life who didn’t grow up drinking tea because they’ll boil some water, leave the water sit for a minute or two until it cools off from 100C or even wait several minutes until it cools off to 80C and then try to make a cup of tea. It drives me nuts when they serve me luke warm tea and then pour in a bit of milk into it all and everything turns white.
As you might have guessed … I love my tea.
Have you ever heard of Labrador tea?
Absolutely … I’ve never met anyone outside of the northern communities who knew about it.
In our language we call it ‘KA-KEE-KEH-POO-KWA’ … I think the word stems from the word ‘KA-KEE-KEH’, which translates as ‘forever’ … because you can even find this plant frozen in the wilderness in the dead of winter and still make tea from it.
However, it makes a very weak mild tea … highly nutritious but it doesn’t taste like much. I got the bright idea one summer to make it extra strong and boiled a small bushel to make a dark tea. A more scientific friend of mine later warned me that the drink has to be mild because in stronger doses, it can be poisonous.
I like the flavor, maybe I make it too strong, I just put enough leaves to cover the bottom of my tea strainer/brewer thing. I like the flavor.
If you wanna try something flavorful and no caffeine, try the Aveda tea. Brew it hot, but drink it lukewarmish. Somehow it tastes much better cooler.
Poisonous flower, hmm? Id be willing to bet its related to the nightshade family even though there are a ton of poisons that are not
Have you ever had sun tea? You get a clear glass container, preferably the kind with a nozzle for dispensing drinks from, then you fill it with water and load it up with a bunch of tea bags, maybe 10 per gallon(?), then you close the lid and set it somewhere in direct sunlight in the morning on a hot summer day. By mid afternoon you can take the tea bags out and put the tea container in your refrigerator.
It’s just as dark as regular tea, but it has a smoother flavor. Typically you drink it iced, since it’s a summer drink for hot days.
How to make bacterial soup 101
You drink it within a day or 2, before it can grow a significant amount of bacteria.
Not saying it does, ive drank stuff thats been sitting out for a very long time sithout getting sick. This is basically just a tangentially related fun fact but: in the absence of a limiting factor, bacteria grows following the law of exponential growth. A single bacteria that is not restricted from replicating ever would be able to convert the entire surface of the planet into that bacteria in two days. If the medium is right, it can fill that cup in minutes.