Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Tea Party

Expecting someone from the USA to spout (pun intended) something about a certain party in Boston, MA in 1773? No, this is all about TEA – the beverage, and one man’s quest for it in the USA.

I must admit that since coming to the USA in 1970 I have probably consumed 200 cups of coffee for every 1 of tea. Tea was THE drink in my homeland, Wales. When I worked there for the National Coal Board, we had two ‘official’ tea-breaks every day. About 10:00 am each day, it was ‘down tools and go to the tea-room’ where Dai had a fresh brew for everyone in the office – about a dozen of us. A similar ritual occurred about 2:00 pm, but then Dai delivered our ‘cuppa’ (a cup of tea) to our desks. Truly a clockwork life in the arms of a Government employer!

Maybe my early ‘tea experiences’ in the USA is what steered me away from ‘the leaf’ and to ‘the bean’.  What was that C-change experience?

First, in almost every restaurant ‘in the States’ there was the initial inquiry when asking for tea: “Hot, or iced?” I had not only never heard of iced tea until I crossed the pond, but I have never liked it. Have you ever had, or ‘made’, the outdoor variety of iced tea - ‘sun tea’? I first fell afoul of it whilst working in the ‘back-woods’ (perhaps ‘back-cacti’ is more apt) of New Mexico. One of the guys I was working with produced a 4-gallon jar, threw in several tea bags, poured in water from his ‘igloo’ cooler, and left on the tailgate of his pickup to ‘brew in the sun’. We have a phrase in Wales, for something that is disgusting – ‘Ych y fi’; ‘google’ it.   😉  

Next, was the way hot tea was usually made and served here in the USA: a small plate, with a metal container of hot water with a teabag (and sometimes a slice of lemon alongside it) was brought to the table. THAT is NOT the way to make - what should be an aromatic elixir - but is transformed into a tissue-cocooned, odorless bag of leaves immersed in hot (if you are lucky) water.

I should note that as I child in Wales I had never even seen a teabag. For me, a tea-leaf's life began thus: it arrived – with a million or so others – from China, Ceylon (that’s what it was known as in my day – before it became known as Sri Lanka), or from India, in 24” x 24” x 24” plywood tea-chests that were lined with ‘tinfoil’.  At the grocer’s shop, the leaves were scooped from that chest into a brown paper bag and weighed on a see-saw type scale that had various sized brass weights on one end and a metal bowl (into which the paper bag was placed) on the other end.  Then, back at home, the contents of the paper bag was tipped into a metal tin or canister – known as a tea caddy.

Having become, over the years in this land across the pond, more frugal and less purist, I began to buy my tea in those convenient ‘sachets’ - sounds more PC than ‘bags’, eh? – rather than eke out loose tea vendors. But, more on that later, but here a recommended way to make that perfect ‘cuppa’ - for 4 people:

1 - Pre-heat your china (or ceramic) teapot and 4 cups, with hot water
2 - Put 5 cups of cold water into a kettle and bring it to the boil
3 - Empty the hot water from the 4 cups and the teapot and put 5 teaspoons of loose tea (or 5 teabags if you are a Philistine) into the warmed teapot.
4 - As soon as the kettle has boiled, pour the water into the teapot - do not overboil the water; it loses its oxygen and freshness 
5 - Stir the pot well and let it sit for 4 minutes - using a tea-cozy (if you have one) to keep the teapot warm
6 - Pour your tea into your cup and, if you desire, add milk, lemon, sugar or honey
Note the ‘peculiarity’ stated above. Use 1 more teaspoon or teabag than the number of cups you intend to make; this is known as ‘1 per person and 1 for the pot’.

Speaking of tea-pots here is part of my collection:












               
  
                   
 A tea-cozy is a sort of cloth - preferably woolen – ‘hat’ that is placed over the teapot to insulate it and keep it hot – in case you want that second ‘cuppa’. The better cozies have a slit for the handle and a hole for the spout.
            



IF you like to drink your tea with milk, there are two schools of thought – one of which in my book is absolute rubbish!  

There is the (rubbish) ‘MIF’ method and the (logical) ‘MIL’ method regarding tea-with-milk. My sister-in-law, much to my chagrin, is an insistent ‘MIL’ tea-maker. I don’t care if she takes HER tea that way, but I MUST have mine in the ’MIL’ manner. You may have no idea what ‘MIF’ and ‘MIL’ are. It is quite simple: ‘MIF’ = ‘Milk In First’ and ‘MIL” = ‘Milk In Last’. You see, most people prefer ‘tea with a dash of milk’, not ‘milk with a dash of tea’ - which is why I ALSO prefer that the dispenser of the milk additive be ME.  Unless the pourer of the ‘cuppa’ has an immaculately trained eye and can perfectly assess (before the tea is poured into the cup) the amount of milk to pour into the cup to produce the desired color and strength of the resultant mix as YOU want it, I’ll say “No! I want it 'MIL' - and I’ll pour the milk myself, thank you very much!” 

As if I weren’t quirky enough, I usually prefer to have the milk heated too – so it doesn’t cool the brew too much. I particularly recall always enjoying a hot cup of ‘chai’ after a spicy curry at one of the many Indo-Pak restaurants that I frequented in my home town. Somehow, it seemed almost cathartic.  Of course, it is the ubiquitous hot milk content that makes chai so special; no wonder cows are considered to be sacred. However, I don’t always drink my tea with milk added, especially when I occasionally ‘spice up’ my tea with various ‘concoctions’ from my local Indian grocery stores. Here are a couple of those additives - first, a mixture of cinnamon sticks, cloves, and coriander pods, and another is a powdered spice mix:               
                          
















           




There is a bit of irony in that comment about hot tea that is too hot, because I recall when as a child - of course, we were ‘less hardened’ then - a custom (at least, in OUR house) was to ‘saucer the tea’ if our tea was too hot; we would pour the tea into the saucer (there was ALWAYS a saucer in those days - unlike now) and back into the cup as many times as would be necessary to cool it to the desired temperature. I don’t think that practice would go down too well at Buckingham Palace - even IF the ‘pinky finger’ was extended. Does anyone really do that ‘extended pinky-finger-thing’, I wonder?  😉 

Speaking of ‘tea-drinking-quirkiness’, my brother could easily top me! Back as far as 1956, I recall him asking guests at home if they wanted him to serve them ‘high tea’ or ‘low tea’. If the response was for ‘high tea’, he would stand on a chair and pour their tea into their cup which was sat on the table - two or 3 feet below the teapot. ‘Once bitten, twice shy’ a guest would think and on any subsequent visit would naturally ask for ‘low tea’ - expecting to have a normal dispensation of their tea that time. But, NO; in that instance, he would place the cup on the floor and pour the tea from waist height - still a 2 to 3 feet plunge for their brew. 😉

Enough of that nonsense. What type or brand of tea should you get? Experiment and settle for what you like is the only answer I can honestly give. For me, I do not like weak-looking teas, green teas, ‘funky-flavored’ teas – in short, I like a dark-colored strong tea. There are many varieties, some with strange names - such as Orange Pekoe, Oolong, and Dahjeeling; the latter named for the region in which it grew and was picked.  Now, even it has been subjected to numerous modifications – to accommodate the dissimilar palette of the masses and their very similar pocket-books/purses. Another popular ‘brand’ is ‘Earl Grey’ – a favorite of my other (the non-quirky one of us) brother. Anyone who ever drank tea will surely have also heard of Lipton’s, Tetley’s, Twining’s, Ty-phoo, and lots of brands, and of course, you can ‘google’ each of those and hundreds of others for yourself - as you can for these ‘lesser-known’ brands:

I was first introduced to these by a couple of fellow ex-pats from Wales as we gathered to eat ‘bacon-butties’ (sandwiches with butter and ‘real’ bacon) and watch Six-Nations Rugby on a (possibly) pirated TV-channel a few years ago. Do not be fooled by the names; these teas are only blended and packaged in Wales; not GROWN on the Welsh mountainsides – they are reserved for our beloved (do NOT even start with those jokes!) sheep. The brands I refer to are ‘Welsh Brew’ and ‘Glengettie’ – each of which sells here for about $8 to $9 for a box of 80 bags.                                                                                             
   
                      
                                                          


                                               


However, long before that, I had been introduced to Ireland’s favorite hot beverage – one that even surpasses Irish Coffee with its whiskey and Baileys Irish Cream. I refer of course to Barry’s Tea.



       
                                                                                                                                 
I wouldn’t swear to it, but if you have ‘a bit of the Irish in ye’ you could persuade yourself that it was named for that 18-year old martyr/rebel/patriot (you choose) of 1920 – Kevin Barry. Of course, if you are Welsh, you could equally persuade yourself it was named after King Barry of Wales. King Barry? Never heard of him?  Well, if you are truly Welsh – and you have to be a rugby fan to make that claim – you will know I refer to Barry John, the ‘King’ of WRU in the ‘60s and early ‘70s. Of course, even Barry’s tea is now available in decaffeinated form. I find it interesting that removing an integral part of a ‘pick-me-up’ results in it costing 30%+ more than the ‘real thing’. Barry’s ‘full-octane tea’ costs about $8 for a box of 80 bags.   
To underscore that tea is also the darling of the Irish, as well as the British, there is this variety from Twinings:


                   
Though you can buy teas in almost any grocery store in the USA, a greater variety (and often the best source for some of those noted above) may be the ethnic – particularly Indian or Pakistani - grocery stores. One of my favorite sources in St Louis is ‘Global Foods Market’ in Kirkwood; another is any of the several 'Trader Joe' stores.  

Of course, the cost of importing our favorite treats comes at a cost. Here is a sample of prices I saw locally a few years ago when the exchange rate was about $1.60 to the GB Pound Sterling – so, a mark-up of about 240% to 320%. 
      
Look at the pricing on this box of Tetley’s tea: The ‘regular’ tea - in a 160-bag box - sells at $0.09 per ‘regular’ bag here versus $0.03 per bag ‘over there’.  

                                


The 40-bag ‘decaf’ box sells for $0.13 per bag here in the USA, versus $0.05 per bag ‘across the pond’.



 This 80-bag box of Ty-phoo also costs $0.09 per bag here, but only $0.04 there – even only $0.03 at that sale price. Note the 'decaf' Ty-phoo costs 33% more.



 There are better value teas to be found – like this one at $4.99 instead of $7.49 a box.


                                    
I can’t recall whose brand it is – and I have yet to taste it.

The best price - and even quality, in my book, is a blend I had not heard until I spotted it at a Trader Joe’s here – an Irish Breakfast Tea.
                            


I believe it cost only $2.99 for an 80-bag box. Yes, I know, it is a ‘bagged’, not a ‘loose-leaf’ tea, but I also drink ‘instant coffee’ and MBI (the ‘Beast) so shoot me if you must – but then bury me in a tea-chest.     

 


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