Do you drink tea?

[KoolBak]

Love these sweeping over generalizations. You just pegged the drinking habits of 300 million people! Nicely played....

Tea is an entry-level drug for coffee. When I was a kid I drank tea all the time, but once I got a job I had to upgrade to coffee. I almost never drink hot tea any more.

Iced tea, on the other hand, and especially iced tea with herbals like raspberry or peppermint, is still my favourite cold beverage.

I hate iced tea. I've only drank coffee once.

The hell do you drink then? Water? Pussy.

The problem with north america and it's overweighted population is the lack of water consumption. I got a bit fat when I did a 1 year exchange program in the US as a student... cause all you d drink was soda and beer. We re like 80% water.. not drinking water is terrible. At the DC there was 1 freaking water fountain for like 15 soda fountains. Wtf dude... don't parents teach you when you are kids not to drink soda while you eat and how bad it is? Once in a while.. ok.. but every day for all your meals? That's basic diet that I wouldn t even qualify as healthy.. because it s just normal. Soda doesn t hydrate you.

[2dimes]

Love these sweeping over generalizations. You just pegged the drinking habits of 300 million people! Nicely played....

Tea is an entry-level drug for coffee. When I was a kid I drank tea all the time, but once I got a job I had to upgrade to coffee. I almost never drink hot tea any more.

Iced tea, on the other hand, and especially iced tea with herbals like raspberry or peppermint, is still my favourite cold beverage.

I hate iced tea. I've only drank coffee once.[/quote lurn two kwote justplayJr]
The hell do you drink then? Water? Pussy.

The problem with north america and it's overweighted population is the lack of water consumption. I got a bit fat when I did a 1 year exchange program in the US as a student... cause all you d drink was soda and beer. We re like 80% water.. not drinking water is terrible. At the DC there was 1 freaking water fountain for like 15 soda fountains. Wtf dude... don't parents teach you when you are kids not to drink soda while you eat and how bad it is? Once in a while.. ok.. but every day for all your meals? That's basic diet that I wouldn t even qualify as healthy.. because it s just normal. Soda doesn t hydrate you.

[tzor]

Wtf dude... don't parents teach you when you are kids not to drink soda while you eat and how bad it is?

That's generally changed these days and lots of parents are pushing water on their children but it tends to be bottled water. Ironic, given the fact that American tap water tends to be pretty darn good compared to the rest of the world.

[Symmetry]

The problem with tea in the US is that US electric kettles are slow and expensive. That and the whole thing with the poor quality of tea served in restaurants and cafes.

Most Americans I know haven't ever had a real cup of tea from tea leaves server via a tea-pot. Most have had a coffee from a machine that percolated ground beans.

[jonesthecurl]

Yes- often when the locals offer you tea ("because you're British, right?", they think they are doing you s service by providing a cup of hot tepid water and a selection of "tea"bags with fruit, chamomile, herbs, spices, and just maybe an Earl Grey.

Proper tea is made from leaves, in a pot, with boiling water. I used to like to blend my own tea when I was in the UK, you can't get the right selection of leaves here.

[tzor]

The problem with tea in the US is that US electric kettles are slow and expensive.

I haven't used a kettle to boil water in decades. At work we use a water filtration device; the red button gives hot water at good tea temperature. At home I use a Kureg without a cup(.

And I generally don't drink tea from a bag. (Note that is not never but generally.)

[mookiemcgee]

The problem with tea in the US is that US electric kettles are slow and expensive. That and the whole thing with the poor quality of tea served in restaurants and cafes.

Most Americans I know haven't ever had a real cup of tea from tea leaves server via a tea-pot. Most have had a coffee from a machine that percolated ground beans.

Our tea kettles are slow lol?

I have a water dispenser that instantly dispenses perfect tea temp water... so i don't need a stupid kettle....Thanks America!

[Symmetry]

The problem with tea in the US is that US electric kettles are slow and expensive. That and the whole thing with the poor quality of tea served in restaurants and cafes.

Most Americans I know haven't ever had a real cup of tea from tea leaves server via a tea-pot. Most have had a coffee from a machine that percolated ground beans.

Our tea kettles are slow lol?

I have a water dispenser that instantly dispenses perfect tea temp water... so i don't need a stupid kettle....Thanks America!

Yeah- sorry, american electric kettles are slow, and expensive. Not horribly expensive, but you can get a kettle for under a fiver here.

[jonesthecurl]

The problem with tea in the US is that US electric kettles are slow and expensive. That and the whole thing with the poor quality of tea served in restaurants and cafes.

Most Americans I know haven't ever had a real cup of tea from tea leaves server via a tea-pot. Most have had a coffee from a machine that percolated ground beans.

Our tea kettles are slow lol?

I have a water dispenser that instantly dispenses perfect tea temp water... so i don't need a stupid kettle....Thanks America!

Boiling? If not, wrong temperature.

[jonesthecurl]

The problem with tea in the US is that US electric kettles are slow and expensive. That and the whole thing with the poor quality of tea served in restaurants and cafes.

Most Americans I know haven't ever had a real cup of tea from tea leaves server via a tea-pot. Most have had a coffee from a machine that percolated ground beans.

Our tea kettles are slow lol?

I have a water dispenser that instantly dispenses perfect tea temp water... so i don't need a stupid kettle....Thanks America!

Also, yes, the kettles are slow because of the voltage difference. It takes bloody ages for a kettle to boil.

[WILLIAMS5232]

I drink unsweet iced tea daily. I used to drink it sweet, (I live in the southern US), but in an attempt to be more healthy about 15 years ago switched to the unsweet. I'll say unsweet is just better if you like tea, sweet tea is pretty much just sugar water. You don't even taste the tea anymore. It took me a few weeks to adjust, but I'll never enjoy sweet tea again.

With that said, there is something to drinking unsweet tea while eating a peppermint.

[2dimes]

I'm with WILLIAMS on this. I thinks there are too many varieties to make it a hard rule. Like a good single malt you drink it without anything to ruin the flavour. There are blends out there that could use some mix to distract you from the fact they are not your thing. Having said that putting junk in it makes a new thing and maybe you'd rather drink that instead of tea. I'm down for a nice bubble tea and that's going to extremes with mix.

Also look at saxitoxin, he drinks cat semen because he believes drinking tea will turn him against Drumpht.

Also boiling is by no means incorrect but will alter the tea because it cooks it while it steeps. For some it's going to make the drink better for others it will arguably ruin it. For many of the fresher greens and whites it's good to boil the water then let it sit without heat for a minute or two before pouring it in the pot/cup with the leaves it really lets the freshness infuse.

[jonesthecurl]

Good point. Boiling for black, slightly under for others.

[mookiemcgee]

The problem with tea in the US is that US electric kettles are slow and expensive. That and the whole thing with the poor quality of tea served in restaurants and cafes.

Most Americans I know haven't ever had a real cup of tea from tea leaves server via a tea-pot. Most have had a coffee from a machine that percolated ground beans.

Our tea kettles are slow lol?

I have a water dispenser that instantly dispenses perfect tea temp water... so i don't need a stupid kettle....Thanks America!

Boiling? If not, wrong temperature.

Not quite boiling is the instant water I get ...again not waiting for electric kettle of any kind . Perfect for coffee, and green tea. fine for black tea too in my opinion.

[Dukasaur]

The problem with tea in the US is that US electric kettles are slow and expensive. That and the whole thing with the poor quality of tea served in restaurants and cafes.

Most Americans I know haven't ever had a real cup of tea from tea leaves server via a tea-pot. Most have had a coffee from a machine that percolated ground beans.

Our tea kettles are slow lol?

I have a water dispenser that instantly dispenses perfect tea temp water... so i don't need a stupid kettle....Thanks America!

Boiling? If not, wrong temperature.

Misconception based on tradition and not on science. I know you Brits say if it's not made with boiling water it's not real tea, but science disagrees with you. Turns out, water at 93 degrees Celsius is fine for brewing tea, and that's what high-end hot water dispensers put out. (Some of the cheaper dispensers are more like 85 degrees, which is crap, but we'll assume mookie works in a trendy office with a nice high-end dispenser.)

I suspect the prejudice that's it's not real tea if it isn't boiling comes from the 19th Century, and the water was boiled more for safety than for its ability to extract flavour.

[2dimes]

But boiling will change the flavour of the water. That's got to be part of why some wish to boil and rest to make fresher leaves.

I just brewed a pot of one of my old favorites, 100 monkeys from Banff Tea Company. I'm finding it not great today. I guess my palate is changing. Taste a bit too much like lawn clippings.

[mookiemcgee]

The problem with tea in the US is that US electric kettles are slow and expensive. That and the whole thing with the poor quality of tea served in restaurants and cafes.

Most Americans I know haven't ever had a real cup of tea from tea leaves server via a tea-pot. Most have had a coffee from a machine that percolated ground beans.

Our tea kettles are slow lol?

I have a water dispenser that instantly dispenses perfect tea temp water... so i don't need a stupid kettle....Thanks America!

Boiling? If not, wrong temperature.

Misconception based on tradition and not on science. I know you Brits say if it's not made with boiling water it's not real tea, but science disagrees with you. Turns out, water at 93 degrees Celsius is fine for brewing tea, and that's what high-end hot water dispensers put out. (Some of the cheaper dispensers are more like 85 degrees, which is crap, but we'll assume mookie works in a trendy office with a nice high-end dispenser.)

I suspect the prejudice that's it's not real tea if it isn't boiling comes from the 19th Century, and the water was boiled more for safety than for its ability to extract flavour.

Oh man, No trendy office here... this one is at home (and frankly it's nothing fancy, I think I rent it for $5 month from alhambra, but could buy a similar one for $100) Our city water taste like shit to my refined palate (actually it taste like pool sanitizer), so I finally broke down and got one the delivery program a few years back. It was hard for my inner hippy to accept this change, but now that i've had it a while I'll never go back to tap. Britta filters and the like don't seem to remove the flavor that bothers me and I think the next step up would be a few thousand dollars for a high end home water filtering system.

And I've never actually taken the temp because until this thread I had no reason to. All i know is that it is steaming, and that I have to wait about 1 min for my mug to absorb enough heat for the coffee/tea to be a perfect drinkable temperature. wondering what kind of thermometer to use to test this now...

[2dimes]

If you use a rectal thermometer you should probably rinse it or something first.

[Symmetry]

Sorry- American kettles are kinda slow. To be fair, although I think it's mainly the difference in output on the grid, another reason did occur to me- simply that Brits use kettles more regularly and so might be re-boiling already hot water left in the kettle.

Just going by experience though- American electric kettles take longer to boil.

[mrswdk]

jones shouldn’t be making tea with boiling hot water anyway. Once you’ve boiled the water you need to leave it for 10ish seconds to cool a bit before putting it on your tea, otherwise you scald the leaves and mess up the taste.

[Symmetry]

jones shouldn’t be making tea with boiling hot water anyway. Once you’ve boiled the water you need to leave it for 10ish seconds to cool a bit before putting it on your tea, otherwise you scald the leaves and mess up the taste.

Nobody uses boiling water. Even with kettles turning off after the boiling point, pouring reduces the temp, and going into a teapot or cup reduces it further.

Actually boiling tea leaves would mean that you've been putting tea leaves, or a tea bag in a kettle and raising the temp to boiling. That would be weird.

Literally nobody I know has ever added genuinely boiling hot water to tea. Even simmering would be bizarre.

[saxitoxin]

jones shouldn’t be making tea with boiling hot water anyway. Once you’ve boiled the water you need to leave it for 10ish seconds to cool a bit before putting it on your tea, otherwise you scald the leaves and mess up the taste.

Wow, you started this thread going full anti-tea, but now - true to the nature of your race - you seem, in fact, to be an expert on it.

What a trickster.

[KoolBak]

Coffee is so much simpler

Isn't Tim Hortons the famous coffee joint(s) in Canada? So does canada in general prefer tea (due to the english ties) or coffee? Or can one generalize?

Tea is actually gaining in popularity here with the younger, hip generations.....but so is avacado toast.....whatever

[2dimes]

Coffee from Tim's and Starbucks are the most popular. You can't even get tea everywhere. I started by drinking the green tea at the Chinese meal shops. I like cold tea too.

[Symmetry]

Tea really is easy. It's weird how it can be so messed up.