# Your cup of tea!



## Etcetera

Hi everyone, 
I am drinking tea right now, and thinking about this wonderful drink. I prefer tea with lemon and honey, and sometimes I drink tea with milk. I remember reading a book which said that tea with lemon is often called 'the Russian tea', and tea with milk is known as 'the English tea', because the Englishmen prefer to drink tea with milk. OK, in this day and age things can be different from what they used to be even not so long ago; so I'd like to know if tea with milk is indeed so popular in England. In Russia, we *do* like tea with lemon and sugar (a lot of sugar, usually), but in recent years, as tea bags have become very popular, more and more people prefer to have their tea without any lemon, sugar, or whatever. 
What about other countries? Do you brew your tea, or use tea bags? Are there any special secrets how to make tea even more tasty?


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## Miguelillo 87

On Mexico depend on where you are is how tea id prepared, Tea bags are very popilar in big cityes, I mean everybdy prefers to have a tea bag on the office's kitchen than a bounch of herbs!!!1. But in towns and in some houses (even on cityÇ9 people still prrefer to have natural tea, with the leaves and all the sugg , also Mexican people drink tea because is medicinal, For emple chmomile tea if you have stomachche, Hierbabuena tea aldo for stomach, lemon tea, only because it's delicious, Thanks gGoD AS WE'RE A TROPICLA COUNTRUY WE HAVE A BIG VARIETY OF TEAS TO CHOOSE!!!1


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## Cereth

Well in Mexico is common to brew the tea and use tea bags it depends how much time you have..at office i have to use tea bags...right now i´m drinking blueberry and cherry tea it is delicious!!

I´m afraid that the way you drink tea is strange for me... i haven´t drink tea with milk (tetra brick´s milk?? or powder milk???) ..is it good?? i think i´ll have one of those teas when i travel to London ...
We don´t add lemon to our tea cup but we can add honey...

mmm wait a sec...now that i think about it Chai tea has milk ....but it is kind of a new beverage here... it´s very exotic and delicious...
Most popular teas in Mexico are : peppermint, camomile, lemon (from the lemon tree leaves), cinnamon, and recently apples and cinnamon and japanese green tea...

I found another day peach and vanilla tea bags, as well as coconut and pineapple but they taste so artificial !!


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## *Ginnyminny*

Hi everyone
We (my family) always use tea bags. I think tea bags are normal in Germany. I haven't seen anyone here who makes tea in another way.
Ginnyminny


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## Etcetera

Cereth said:
			
		

> Most popular teas in Mexico are : peppermint, camomile, lemon (from the lemon tree leaves), cinnamon, and recently apples and cinnamon and japanese green tea...
> 
> I found another day peach and vanilla tea bags, as well as coconut and pineapple but they taste so artificial !!


 Peppermint tea is among my favourites. There's a lot of different sorts of tea, but, frankly, I prefer to drink 'exotic' teas in cafes, because they have it in leaves, and in shops you can only get tea bags. Of course, there are special tea shops, but most 'unusual' teas cost so much here!.. 

Speaking of strange ways of drinking tea, I've just remembered one more nice recipe - the so-called 'Admiral tea'. You brew a cup of strong black tea, take a bottle of cognac, and start to drink the tea. The point is that whenever you take a sip of tea, you should immediately pour some cognac in your cup in order to keep it full all the time! Guess what you get in the end? A cup of cognac!
But I've never seen anyone who would drink tea in such a way, although I know a number of mariners.


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## cuchuflete

When I'm in a hurry (which really means when I'm lazy) I use a tea bag.  Otherwise, I fill a tea ball, a perforated metal egg-shaped thing, with loose tea leaves, and let it steep in a cup.  My parents, with the habits of my grandparents, drank tea with lemon and honey or sugar, and always in a glass, not a cup.  I use a mug.

In summer I make sun tea:  fifteen or twenty tea bags, and lots of garden mint, in a glass pitcher.  It sits in the sun for a hour or two, and brews a gentle, but strong drink.  It is poured over a block of ice in a very large glass.  I add lemon or lime to it.

In the evening I often drink herbal teas with no caffeine.
My English friends ruin embellish their tea with milk.
That must be a vile habit an acquired taste.


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## Miguelillo 87

I think in Argentina they brew a kind of tea call Mate which is colocated in a strange recipient as a matte rof fact I think its a costume of almos all souht souht america, Let's wait for one of them if they can explain us.


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## Etcetera

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> In summer I make sun tea:  fifteen or twenty tea bags, and lots of garden mint, in a glass pitcher.  It sits in the sun for a hour or two, and brews a gentle, but strong drink.  It is poured over a block of ice in a very large glass.  I add lemon or lime to it.


It sounds really delicious! I think I'll try to make 'sun tea'. Thank you, Cuchu!



> In the evening I often drink herbal teas with no caffeine.
> My English friends ruin embellish their tea with milk.
> That must be a vile habit an acquired taste.


You know, after coming over a description of an English 'five o'clock' for the twentieth time or so, I decided to taste tea with milk. It was rather strange, I must admit. But it's a matter of taste, indeed, - and of habit! And also of your mood, it seems...


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## maxiogee

As I mentioned on another thread - Ireland functions on the highest per-capita consumption of tea in the world! We each get through 3 kilos of it a year. 3 Kilos!!! — of dried tea leaves. That's a mighty amount. We should be made honorary citizens of India for that!

Tea is usually made with a tea-bag, dunked into a mug. But there are formal ritualised family moments in many families when "a cup of tea" is an event. The good china comes out, the teapot is 'scalded' with boiling water and emptied. Then the tea-leaves are put in (one spoonful per person and "one for the pot" is the normal ration. Then boiling water is added. 
An uncle who owned a tea company here long ago told me that the water should never be re-boiled. Use fresh cold water each time. Bring it to the boil, and then pout it over the tea-leaves. Let it stand for about three minutes. Add milk and sugar if required, or lemon or whatever takes your fancy.
There is no need nowadays for milk-in-first/tea-in-first as that was done to protect the fine porcelain cups from cracking with sudden heat. But as the the should have been let stand the heat shouldn't have been a problem. Putting in the milk first was an affectation to pretend that one was used to drinking from porcelain cups!

Now we need to discuss how often one has tea…


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## french4beth

I'm a _tea addict_. I never drink coffee, which has led many foreigners to question whether I'm truly an American (that, and the fact that I speak French fluently, and acquired it through schooling & living abroad & am not of French heritage).

I usually take cream (actually half & half - half cream, half milk) & sugar or honey with my tea. I have about 18 different kinds at home, but at work I currently have regular tea, and two different kinds of chai in my desk. I just love the spices in chai (cardomom, ginger, cloves, peppercorn, star anise)!

I also find herbal teas to be incredibly soothing, particularly anything with chamomile - these teas also help me feel much better if I have a cold (but if you have hayfever, you should probably avoid chamomile as it could exacerbate your symptoms).

I have also started drinking lots of green tea the past couple of years, and have recently tried white tea (quite good, too!). Rooibos  (a South African tea) is tasty, too!  And Yerba Mate, an Argentinian tea, is great, also.  Here's more info on Mate, Miguellilo.

In hot weather, I usually stick to various forms of iced tea (caffeinated & otherwise). I also occasionally make sun tea, as cuchu described above (takes some time, but well worth it!).

Several local establishments serve bubble teas, too - a refreshing alternative.


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## moirag

Yes, in England we really do take milk in our tea (myself included). We are talking about standard black tea, here. I don't think anyone puts milk in herbal teas, which are relatively rare, but becoming more popular. Almost everyone in Britain uses fresh milk, not tetrabrik longlife milk, which tastes pretty disgusting in tea, or anywhere else. Neither do they use powdered milk or evaperated milk. The type of milk does, of course, make a big difference to the taste, so if you've tried it with longlife milk or "coffee cream", evaporated milk etc. it's not surprising you don't like it. Another thing that makes a huge difference is the quality/taste of the water. No matter what I do, my tea never tastes the same here in Spain, or in Germany as it did in England, where I had good, soft water. I simply mean it varies from town to town, as the water does.


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## Cereth

Thanks Moira now is clear to me!!!!

i thought herbal teas and milk were a pretty odd combination (specially with powdered milk), but now that you mention black tea (not so popular in mexico though...) I can imagine the flavor...maybe it is similar to my chai-latte  
thanks thanks


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## badgrammar

I use loose leavs and a French-press coffee pot - put the leaves in, pour the boiling wtaer over, then push the leaves to the bottom with the piston, and serve.  Unorthodox, but very effective.  Drink one or two pots a day, as often cold as not.

The Turks have a real love affair with tea, I'd be surprised if they consume less per capita than the Brits.  Their whole tea making thing requires boiling the leaves for 15 minutes or so, then fill a glass about half full and add hot water.  You need one of those double-decker pots for that.


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## MariBR

I’m from a southern state in Brazil – border with Argentina and Uruguay - and we also have this special tea – mate – but we call it *Chimarrão*!
 
Check this out if you want to know how to prepare a Chimarrão!!!  
http://www.chimarrao.com.br/PrepareChimarrao.html
 
First you have to put the *mate* – the tea itself – in the cup (which is not exactly a cup, it’s made of wood and we call it *cuia*). Then you insert a kind of straw (a silver straw called *bomba*) in the “cuia” and pour hot water.
 
 If we are drinking other varieties of tea, we use tea bags. It's not usual to put milk in any kind of tea here. But brazilians have more coffee than tea anyway.


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## Seana

In Poland tea with milk is a called 'Bavarka' but I don't know why.
It is used by nursing mothers. I am curious whether young mums in your countries  drink tea with milk ?

We drink black tea with lemon and honey as well, especially in winter.

The bags are use in everyday time but  on the party or for the guests  using the tea bags is little tactless.


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## mytwolangs

Tea with Milk? So people actually drink it that way? How much milk?
I read about that in this German language book I sometimes pick up.
I do not like tea much at all, I would almost have to be dieing of thirst. 
Maybe ginnyminny could chime back in?


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## Tensai

I only like Chinese,Japanese and Korean tea.


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## cuchuflete

In Argentina, I adopted the local custom of drinking hot mate.
It's an infusion made from the leaves of a type of holly bush.
I was surprised--pleasantly--to find that the custom in Paraguay is to drink mate cold.  It's very refreshing that way.


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## Pivra

MariBR said:
			
		

> I’m from a southern state in Brazil – border with Argentina and Uruguay - and we also have this special tea – mate – but we call it *Chimarrão*!
> 
> Check this out if you want to know how to prepare a Chimarrão!!!
> http://www.chimarrao.com.br/PrepareChimarrao.html
> 
> First you have to put the *mate* – the tea itself – in the cup (which is not exactly a cup, it’s made of wood and we call it *cuia*). Then you insert a kind of straw (a silver straw called *bomba*) in the “cuia” and pour hot water.
> 
> If we are drinking other varieties of tea, we use tea bags. It's not usual to put milk in any kind of tea here. But brazilians have more coffee than tea anyway.


 
Is açai some sorts of Brazialian baverages too?


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## ukuca

Indeed we consume lots of tea. The common way of making Turkish tea: 
1. First, You should use *"Rize" blend* (A well-known city for tea growth). 
2. Then pour the tea to the upper deck of the pot (The amount is very important). 
3. Put some water in the lower part, wait until it boils. Then add the water onto the tea. 
4. Again put cold water to the lower deck
5. Place the upper deck onto lower one and put them on to fire.
6. You should well-step it so don't turn up the button (gas) too much.
7. Wait until the water in the lower lower pot boils.
8. Then wait 5 minutes more (to well-step)
9. Your Turkish tea is ready.
10. As Badgrammar mentioned, fill a glass about half full from the top decker and add hot water from the lower one. 

Last year I had guests form Spain. They were very suprised when they saw our usual double-decker pot. (I remember that they were looking at it as if it was a UFO) Before, I believed that it was a common tool for all to make tea. 

I'm just gonna make some tea now, mmmm


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## ukuca

In Turkey, people drink their tea in different ways. Some use lemon but that's not a common thing. The most usual way is just adding two sugarcubes into a teaglass. People mostly from the east side of Turkey drink their tea by putting a piece of sugarcube under their tongue. That method is called "kıtlama". And some people drink it without sugar. 

I can drink tea with dinner, while eating peach, yoghurt, watermelon, ice-cream, or almost any kind of food. My brothers do the same. No, I'm not exaggerating.


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## Tennis

I always love to put alot of milk into my cup of tea. I should move to England lol


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## Moogey

I love tea and I absolutely *must* have a cup every day.

I bring water approx. 14 oz of water to a boil and pour it over 2 tea bags (the brand's page is http://lipton.com/ -- I probably can't say the name by itself here!). I then add 3 teaspoons of sugar and set the timer on the microwave for 2 minutes (I don't microwave it, I just set the timer on it) and then I add about 1/2 to 1 oz of milk. I leave the tea bag in there the whole time I drink it.

When I'm in school I must drink the tea during the 6 PM hour and when on summer vacation I must drink it during the 4 PM hour. Otherwise, things are just not right. 

I completely dislike herbal and green tea.

Every now and then I'll drink flavored black tea.

-M


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## brian

I drink all kinds of tea depending on my mood.  I particularly enjoy Chinese green, black, and oolong teas as well as many Japanese green teas.  Occasionally I like to enjoy Moroccan green tea infused with mint.  I never ever drink bagged tea, even if it is my only option, because I always taste a hint (sometimes more than a hint !) of bitterness, due to the inconsistent and fine grind of the tea leaves (some of them are as small as powder and brew way faster than the rest, leaving you with bitterness).

I prepare my tea like badgrammar, in a french press.

First, I put my water on the stove to bring to a boil.  In the meantime, I put a couple scoops of tea into my french press.  Right when the water begins to boil (I do not let the water boil more than a couple seconds because then you disturb some of the chemistry of the water...it has to do with the oxygen molecules and other crazy science stuff), I turn the stove off and let the water sit.  I never pour water right off the boil onto tea leaves, especially not green leaves since they are so fragile.  Boiling water risks damaging the tea leaves.   After 30 seconds, maybe a minute (again, it depends on which tea I'm brewing), I pour the water over the tea leaves, usually in a circular fashion, slowly.  Once I fill my french press, I put the top on and let steep for however long, depending on the tea.  Then I plunge the filter and pour! 

In the summer I drink iced herbal teas and iced African rooibos (red) "tea" (it's not technically tea since it doesn't come from the _Camellia sinensis _plant).


I'm also an avid coffee drinker.  I drink coffee (made also from a french press) in the morning, and tea later in the day.  I also enjoy reading about growing, harvesting, and producing tea leaves and coffee beans/berries.


Brian


P.S. - If you hadn't noticed, I'm kind of an elitist/perfectionist when it comes to my tea & coffee.


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## Blackleaf

Cereth said:
			
		

> Well in Mexright now i´m drinking blueberry and cherry tea it is delicious!!
> 
> I´m afraid that the way you drink tea is strange for me... i haven´t drink tea with milk (tetra brick´s milk?? or powder milk???) ..is it good?? i think i´ll have one of those teas when i travel to London ...
> We don´t add lemon to our tea cup but we can add honey...
> 
> mmm wait a sec...now that i think about it Chai tea has milk ....but it is kind of a new beverage here... it´s very exotic and delicious...
> Most popular teas in Mexico are : peppermint, camomile, lemon (from the lemon tree leaves), cinnamon, and recently apples and cinnamon and japanese green tea...
> 
> I found another day peach and vanilla tea bags, as well as coconut and pineapple but they taste so artificial !!


 
Tea with milk is very common in England, although I often drink it without milk. And because it has a lot less caffeine in it, tea is healthier for you than coffee.  Most tea that is drunk in England is not the posh tea, such as herbal tea or tea that is lemon or apple flavoured.  It's just normal tea that you get when pouring boiling water over normal tea leaves.  

If youw ere to drink herbal tea or flavoured tea, then it would be stupid to put milk in.


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## Sallyb36

I prefer coffee, but when I do drink tea, which I have to now due to excessive coffee addiction, it has to be a certain brand called Yorkshire Tea, or Yorkshire Gold, which is strong by british standards, and I make it really strong and drink it with just a splash of milk and no sugar.  It has such soothing, almost healing properties.


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## MariBR

Pivra said:
			
		

> Is açai some sorts of Brazialian baverages too?


 
Yes! But we usually have it as a juice... It´s a small round dark purple fruit from the north of Brazil. It's really healthy and energetic. Young people have it before going to the gym or after great parties!

cheers!


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## estrella de mar

It's incredible the passion that the subject of tea can create. It's true that _most_ people in Britain take it with milk (usually accompanied by a biscuit or two) and a good cup of tea can really "hit the spot" - that is satisfy you and calm you. It's often said that it's the staple of Britain and fantastic in a crisis. If anything bad happens, often the first response is "I'll put the kettle on!"  I sometimes think that if the aliens arrived, we'd all want a cup of tea to get over the shock!

Proof of the British obsession with this wonderful drink can be found at this website www.*nice**cup*of*tea*anda*sit**down*.com. which includes their chosen "biscuit of the day!"


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## natasha2000

I like tea very much, and I prefer strong teas to fruit ones. As a matter of fact, I don't like fruit teas. Earl Gray, English Breakfast, Ceylon Tea, black tea are one of my favourites, jasmin too, usually without anything. The exception is black tea, which I like to drink with lemon and honey (never sugar, as a matter of fact, I don't use white sugar at all), or with milk. 

As far as the countries I lived (Serbia) and I am living in (Spain), the attitude towards tea drinking is pretty the same: 99% of people ask me if I am ill when I tell them that I am drinking tea ....


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## french4beth

natasha2000 said:
			
		

> E*a*rl Gray          *one of my all time favorites!*
> 99% of people ask me if I am ill when I tell them that I am drinking tea ....


 When I lived in Quebec, where tea (and coffee) are very popular, people used to ask me if I was pregnant (i.e. weird food craving) because I took half & half / cream / milk with my tea!

Almost forgot - tea biscuits!  These are a _must_ when drinking tea in Quebec, especially at the end of a meal. They are also called 'digestive _biscuits'_ (biscuit = cookie, not the US version which is like a dinner roll).


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## Tatzingo

I like tea and i love coffee. If i remember correctly, in Hong Kong and i think perhaps also Japan, they have a drink which is half tea and half coffee... it tastes better than you'd think.. shame that it's a trend confined to that part of the globe!! 

Tatz.

Ps. Or perhaps i should inform Starbucks??


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## estrella de mar

That half tea-half coffee sounds weird but wonderful! The _worst_ cup of tea I ever had was in Spain when I asked for "te con leche" and I was given a small metal teapot full of *steamed* milk, and a teabag! Asqueroso! I also had to ask my Mum to post English teabags to me, because the ones in Spain taste very weak to me!


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## Tatzingo

estrella de mar said:
			
		

> That half tea-half coffee sounds weird but wonderful! The _worst_ cup of tea I ever had was in Spain when I asked for "te con leche" and I was given a small metal teapot full of *steamed* milk, and a teabag! Asqueroso! I also had to ask my Mum to post English teabags to me, because the ones in Spain taste very weak to me!



I remember doing something similar - packing a bumper bag of Tetley's tea with me when i went to Spain. Though, if i recall correctly, you could get Earlgrey and the herbals almost anywhere.

Tatz.


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## natasha2000

estrella de mar said:
			
		

> That half tea-half coffee sounds weird but wonderful! *The worst cup of tea I ever had was in Spain when I asked for "te con leche" and I was given a small metal teapot full of steamed milk, and a teabag!* Asqueroso! I also had to ask my Mum to post English teabags to me, because the ones in Spain taste very weak to me!


 
Aghh! I cannot believe it! It's just a waiter that was a stupid ignorant, for sure! Spanish people do not drink tea, but they know what the tea is! 
the waiter was thinking that tea with milk is the same thing as coffee with milk.


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## la reine victoria

mytwolangs said:
			
		

> Tea with Milk? So people actually drink it that way? How much milk?


 

It's a matter of personal taste.  Some Brits drink really strong tea with only a little milk and about 6 spoonfuls of sugar  .  Others drink it weak and milky.

I drink "'standard" tea very rarely.  When I do it is of average strength, small amount of milk, no sugar.

I much prefer green tea, herbal teas and the increasingly popular "fruit" teas.  No milk, no sugar.

Mint or lemon tea with ice is particularly good in the summer.




LRV


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## estrella de mar

I live with a girl who drinks it literally half milk and half tea. It must be cold when she drinks it, but she loves it!


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## Etcetera

maxiogee said:
			
		

> An uncle who owned a tea company here long ago told me that the water should never be re-boiled. Use fresh cold water each time.


 I try to use only fresh water for my tea, but not always can I do that. By the way, in my family we never use for making tea, as well as for cooking, plumbing water - we use only clear water from bottles. In the region I live currently (near Moscow) water is just too bad. 
Of course, the quality of water matters a lot for tea. 



> There is no need nowadays for milk-in-first/tea-in-first as that was done to protect the fine porcelain cups from cracking with sudden heat. But as the the should have been let stand the heat shouldn't have been a problem. Putting in the milk first was an affectation to pretend that one was used to drinking from porcelain cups!


 What an interesting explanation! I usually put a cold spoon in the cup before pouring hot tea in order to prevent the cup from cracking. I do it even I'm going to drink tea not from a porcelain cup, but from an ordinary ceramic one. 



> Now we need to discuss how often one has tea…


 When I'm at home and I'm not too absorbed with my work or whatever, I drink tea all the time, in fact! So I can drink a total of three or four tea pots a day...


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## maxiogee

maxiogee said:
			
		

> Ireland … consumption … 3 Kilos!!!





			
				Etcetera said:
			
		

> So I can drink a whole of three or four tea pots a day...




As little as that?


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## emma42

My two cents (or BE pennorth [pennies worth]).

Yes, most people in England drink a lot of tea, although instant coffee is very popular too (proper coffee becoming more and more so, but has always been popular with the middle classes).

Most people buy either a cheap supermarket brand or something better like Tetleys, PG Tips or Yorkshire Tea (which is, as someone said, strong).  I can get at least two cups out of a Yorkshire tea bag.  All these are usually bought in tea bag form.  Older people may prefer loose tea.

Nearly everyone has milk.  I suppose the proportions would be about 10-15 parts tea to one part cold milk, depending on how strong one wants it.

There is a very good variety of more speciality teas - pure Darjeeling, Earl Grey (flavoured with lemony bergamot oil), Lapsang Souchong.  The two latter are often drunk without milk, but I like Earl Grey with milk.  I could take it "black" though, but black coffee makes me feel a bit nauseous.

There is also a choice of two or three Fair Trade teas usually.  I try to buy this when I remember.  It's twice as expensive as "ordinary" tea, but still only a matter of one English pound (around $1.85) difference.

The  middle classes tend to take less sugar in their tea.  "Workmens' tea (no workpersons' tea as yet!) is usually very strong, cheapish tea with at least two sugars, if not three.  This is the tea one finds nearly always preferred by the men who come to fix the plumbing or the roof or whatever.  Times are definitely changing, though, quite a few of them like coffee nowadays, or do not take sugar.

I do like tea in a china mug, but as long as the material of the mug is not too thick and the rim is wide, I am happy.

I drink tea all day.  There is nothing like the promise of "a nice cup of tea" (very common English, possibly British expression) to make me get on with cleaning the windows or watering the garden.  And lovely to have a "cuppa" after shopping.

My American friends will insist on drinking cold or warm tea with no milk, but this will have to be slapped out of them and a lesson in proper tea-drinking administered.

And as for cold coffee or cafe frappe (acute accents on the final "e"s.  Well, words fail me.......


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## Etcetera

maxiogee said:
			
		

> As little as that?


Honestly, Tony! Do you really think *my *tea pots are so small?


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## maxiogee

I suppose you will try to convince me that you have steaming, gleaming, streaming samovars of it!


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## Etcetera

By the way, samovars are really great, I can assure you. But I'm using ordinary tea pots - they're just much more convenient in daily life!


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## estrella de mar

I do love my tea, but I don't like to drink it out of a bone china mug. I'm so clumsy I would almost certainly break it! Also  as a vegetarian I don't like the idea that they still put animal bonemeal in the china when they make it.


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## javen

I drink green tea regularly in the summer


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## natasha2000

estrella de mar said:
			
		

> The _worst_ cup of tea I ever had was in Spain when I asked for "te con leche" and I was given a small metal teapot full of *steamed* milk, and a teabag! Asqueroso!


 
As I alrady mentioned, I do agree with you... But...
Estrella, have you had a look at the link French4Beth gave about CHAI? 



> The most preferred way of preparing tea in India is *boiling* *tea leaves* *together with* *milk* to get a strong flavor and color.


 
Maybe the waiter was Indian...


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## Etcetera

javen said:
			
		

> I drink green tea regularly in the summer


Yeah, green tea is among my favourites!
I like the so-called 'Japanese Lemon' - it's sort of Japanese green tea, and green tea with jasmine.


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## dahut

I like drinking tea.


			
				maxiogee said:
			
		

> The good china comes out, the teapot is 'scalded' with boiling water and emptied. Then the tea-leaves are put in (one spoonful per person and "one for the pot" is the normal ration. Then boiling water is added.
> An uncle who owned a tea company here long ago told me that the water should never be re-boiled. Use fresh cold water each time. Bring it to the boil, and then pout it over the tea-leaves. Let it stand for about three minutes. Add milk and sugar if required, or lemon or whatever takes your fancy.


Just as my Belgian aunt explained to me.
She is the kind of _England-way-of-tea drinker_.

My mother drinks herbal teas (e.g. camomile-tea, mint-tea, lime-blossom-tea) and I _"inherited"_ those too.
I made my research, so I found yogi-tea, all sorts of colour teas (ok, not all sorts, but I am coming closer to the rainbow  ), Arabian tea (in a beautiful glass, poured out from a metal tea-pot, sweet).
I like it with milk (fresh, tetra-brik, cream, light, soya drink), or with lemon or with honey, brown sugar, white sugar or "only tea", it depends on the mood, the weather...

I like coffee as well. But real coffee, although I can drink American coffee too (the one from the glass pot, which is re-heated again and again, you know) if I haven't another options... But I always try to find other options


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## dahut

natasha2000, estrelladelmar...
My opinion: In Spain, they don't know how to make tea or drink it, for the matter. But they do know about herbal teas, said by experience.
Of course, I don't mean everyone. There are lot of people who can make tea and know how to drink it, but, in my experience, all of them learn it in another country.


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## avok

In Turkey, there is a serious tea addiction. I can't think of a single day without drinking tea like millions of other people here! 

We brew tea inside a double-decker pot as explained by badgrammar and ukuca. Europeans do not know this pot and they usually have tea bags for that matter. Tea bags are very popular as well since you directly put them inside some hot boiled water and your tea is ready in 2 minutes. Turkish brewed tea is one of the things I desperately miss once I am abroad. 

Also many rural people in the Black Sea region of Turkey plant tea.


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## Teena

I'm Russian and my favorite tea is definetely with lemon and (probably too much) sugar. When I was a kid I used to just mush the lemon with the sugar in a cup & eat it just like that before I even got to the tea part.

Then in Uzbekistan the tea has be to poured into the cup & then back into the teapot several times & from as far away as possible.


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## Julz

I don't know anyone who drinks milk- I don't know whether it's at all a popular option here, but I personally dislike the idea.

The tea I drink is usually with dried berries, I particularly favor goji berries as they add a nice sweetness and a small amount of lemon.


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## sokol

avok said:


> We brew tea inside a double-decker pot as explained by badgrammar and ukuca. Europeans do not know this pot and they usually have tea bags for that matter. Tea bags are very popular as well since you directly put them inside some hot boiled water and your tea is ready in 2 minutes. Turkish brewed tea is one of the things I desperately miss once I am abroad.



So I guess you don't know the Balkans, avok, because there this tea tradition still is alive, certainly as a remnant of the Turkish rule there.
And with the Balkanic people this tradition also came to Austria, although it is only to be observed in migrant families or migrant bars.

I once was invited to an Albanian family where I was served this Turkish brewed tea. It was brewed extremely strong - I guess this is how they like their tea -, and these Albanians drank a lot of it. And if your glass was empty they immediately filled it up again.
So I did try to drink _very _slowly - which didn't help at all, because my Albanian friends asked me wether my tea was already cold, and even emptied the glass and filled it up with hot tea again.
Not to drink would have been very impolite - and even though the tea tasted good, I already felt quite ... well: 'drunk' for the lack of a better word. I was there approximately two hours, and I certainly had more than 8 or 10 little cups of tea.
That night I hardly did sleep at all; the tea which I wasn't accustomed to played havoc on my circulation.


So for me it is 'no, thanks' ... I'll stick to bag tea really  ... well, what I _would _prefer was Indian leaf tea with milk and sugar, but I don't drink enough tea to be worth the pains, and then of course leaf tea looses flavor if you keep it to long (to empty one pack of leaf tea probably would take me a whole year).
Because basically I am a 'coffee man'.


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## avok

Of course I know Balkans. By "European" I meant "Western European". "European" is not the first adjective when I think of Balkan countries. And in Turkey, we consider "Bosnians" and "Albanians" one of "us" not one of ...you  Turkish culture is still pretty much alive there despite all kind of wars etc. (It's believed to be there are more people of Bosnian/Albanian origin in Turkey than the whole populations in Albania/Kosovo/Bosnia ) In some way, Turkey is partly Slavic 

But if you wanted less strong tea, you should have simply asked for it. He would pour less tea, more hot water into your cup.
Tea bags are easy but not as good as brewed tea. They are more urban


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## Chaska Ñawi

Yup, this was a great thread in its day ..... but since there's a lot of personal opinion rather than cultural perspective, even in some of the newer posts, it has had its day in the sun.

If anybody has any doubts when resurrecting older threads, have a look at the forum guidelines to see how closely they adhere to these.  Even if the first post puts the question in a cultural perspective, as is the case here, often the subsequent posts consist of things that are now outside the guidelines, ie chat and personal opinion.


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