My Experiments with Tea
I usually don’t require a daily cup of Tea and/or Coffee(Iced Tea and Cold Coffee being exceptions) and can carry on with my day without it but off late my mother has been pressurizing me into starting with it. Tea is good for overall health it seems. My first step towards this new experiment was to remember the recipe for making the perfect cup of tea, the one I had learned during my visit to the Makaibari Tea plantation when I was vacationing in Darjeeling.
The recipe was simple but effective. Add tea leaves to a pot. Pour boiling water into the pot, cover it and leave it for undisturbed at least 5 minutes. Longer brewing time for larger leaves. Tea bags take less time. The pot should be warmed initially by rinsing it with boiling water. For black tea use freshly boiled water and for green tea the water should be just at boil.
Image Courtesy: Google
Prefer to drink it black but you may add a little milk and sugar to taste if you want. And only a little, we are making a sophisticated brew here unlike the one available at canteens and with road side tea stalls which is more like drinking boiled milk and sugar syrup with a hint of tea leaves and that to leaves of inferior quality. Add only crystallised white sugar if necessary and please no sugar in flavoured tea.
Now currently, I have in my house a wide range of different teas:
- Lipton: Green Label
- Lipton: Yellow Lable
- Brooke Bond: Red Label
- Tetly: Tea Bags
- Tetly: Green Tea
- Tetly: Green with Mint and Honey
- Twinings: Earl Grey
- Twinings: English Breakfast Tea
- Twinings: Classic Assam Tea
- Twinings: Origins Darjeeling Tea
- Twinings: Lemon Flavoured Tea
- Twinings: Green with Jasmine
Currently I am experimenting with different flavours of the traditional drink. Will be bringing white tea next and also the different fruit and aromatic flavours are also in my “to buy” list.
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oh! I am such a tea fan too… I love going for tea tasting sessions. Have you explored any of the tea houses in Delhi?
next time also try Silver Needles, it recorded the highest price in the world history at the tea Auction held in Kolkata in the year 2003.
I always miss visiting the tea houses. End up at a coffee shop or somewhere else.
Yeah have heard of Silver Needles but I thought it was Makaibari’s Silver Tips that was the most expensive. The most expensive tea I had was brought from Makibari Plantation is Darjeling.
Tea is rich in antioxidants and helps only if you have it green sans sugar and milk.
And having just one cup doesn’t help.
And you can’t give us a long list of the variety of tea you love to stock up on and not invite us!
You are welcome. I can send a formal invitation if you want.
I don’t drink tea regularly but when I do I want it perfect.
And if anyone of you want teas freshly packed and delivered to you directly from Darjeeling, in vacuum packs – do explore us at http://www.darjeelingteaexpress.com. Twinnings definitely has good Darjeeling but a real conoisseur would prefer single estate unblended teas for his palate.
Thanks for the comment. The only single estate tea I have had was brought from the Makaibari Estate, as I have mentioned in the post. And yes, it was excellent.
Wow! I am also a good Tea fan. 2 weeks back, I visited Tea estates and Tea Factory in Ooty and I bought some wonderful flavours like Cardomom, Ginger, Chocolate,Strong etc. They are really good.
Good to know that you are enjoying it. How was the trip to Ooty?
It was Awesome!!
I like Ooty the most, over all the other places we covered. We had seen all the site seeing places over there including chocolate factories, tea factories etc!!
Really Superb place and Superb climate!! Everyone likes it.
I tried a cup of Earl Grey Tea at this lovely cafe called the ‘French Loaf’ this morning!
Very very nice I must say. Smooth and smelt really good!
Also, munnar in Kerala has a wonderful Tea museum, where they serve you tea, south Indian style. With the light rain, and tea estates all around it. That was my perfect cup of tea. 🙂
I’m still trying to perfect a cup of tea, I’m a clutz!
Welcome to the blog, Priyanka. 🙂
A tea museum, hmmm. Tell me more about the South India style of tea. Would love to hear about it.
I am sure with a few hits and misses, you will be able to figure out the perfect cup for your taste. Keep experimenting. 🙂
Oh well… South Indian tea is predominantly sweet, lots of milk, lots of sugar. You also get a very subtle taste of cardamom. Its served very very hot, so much that you’ll have to let the smell hang around before you get down to tasting it. You’ll end up burning your tongue otherwise..
Hmmm….much like the tea you get all over India at road side stalls. More like a saturated solution of Milk and Sugar. Though here in Delhi there might or might not be a hint of cardamom.
And it is hot but can not be very very hot. You see the temperature cannot go beyond 100 degrees untill all the liquid is turned into steam first and by the time it reaches you the temperature will only drop unless it is an isolated thermal system. Ignore my scientific and analytical mind. I know I can be a big bore sometimes when I start analyzing each and every thing.
Can’t believe you said that! hahaha… I meant a notch higher than ‘piping hot’, thats all 😛
Told you I can be a bore sometimes 😛