What is your tea making ritual

[High Lord Tolkien]

Hopefully I'm not the only mental case that has to make his tea in a certain way!

In my own home where I control my tea options (as compared to being at a restraunt or coffee shop) I have a certain........procedure.

First a ceramic mug, not glass and not a cup.
Teabag in the cup
Boiling water poured over the bag.
Water stirred by spoon
Bag is removed, squeezed into spoon over mug and then bag is removed.
Sweetener is then added.
Then light dab of milk.
Spoon is left in mug while drinking.

Anybody else follow a tea making routine?
Is anyone else even aware that they make a cup of tea in a certain way?
I've asked friends and family how they make a cup and so far I've never gotten the same answer!
Some put the sweetener in after the milk.
Some leave the bag in at all times........
Some after I asked them just assumed that everyone did it the same way that they did it.
Lets see how everyone here makes a cup of tea.

[duchess of malfi]

At home, when I have control of the process:

A large glass root beer mug with a handle is used

Sweetener is put into bottom of glass

a little very hot water is added -- sweetener is mixed with the water

glass mug filled the rest of the way with very hot water

tea bag added

tea allowed to steep for a few minutes

tea blissfully drank, with bag in for entire amount of time

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

My tea habits are reflected more in my choice of tea than how I make it, but...

At work (where it's completely unjustified to boil water on the stove when the microwave does it in 3 minutes):

1) rifle through random tea packets in drawer
2) select one based on (in descending order): a) mood b) taste c) what's available
3) put tea packet in mug and go to lunch room, gritting teeth as I walk by the receptionist's desk (nosy old *****), take tea packet out of mug & fill mug w/ water at fountain
4) heat mug of water for 3 minutes (used to be 3:45, and it didn't even boil - all hail the new, super-powerful microwave!)
5) dip tea bag into mug repeatedly to soak all the leaves thoroughly (having previously torn off the fancy individual wrapper if neccessary)
6) balance overfull mug back to desk, occasionally being chided by nosy old ***** for spilling a few drops onthe floor/carpet
7) forget about tea until it has oversteeped; savor it anyway, because everyone else drinks soda, the unrefined slobs


at home:

1) add fresh water to the kettle - even if it just boiled ten minutes ago
2) ceramic mug - I use a glass only when we're absolutely out of anything resmebling a normal-sized mug
3) rifle through cabinet containing between 15 and 30 different kinds of tea, depending on who's been shopping, in what mood, how long ago and what was on sale
4) put tea bag (or two, if mug is of the oversized variety) in first, then pour boiling water over it
5) keep an eye on the time - I rarely drink overbrewed tea at home
6) if I'm feeling under the weather, put in a couple spoonfuls of honey, usually leaving the spoon in
7) otherwise, bravely guard my tea from the influence of sugar and milk: Bah, I say. Bah!

[matrixman]

I always use filtered water for tea (or coffee), never straight from the tap. I assume everybody else does that, too, but you never know.

I use a ceramic mug, too.

I wait til the water boils, then I put teabag in mug and pour.

I let the tea steep for the recommended 4 minutes or so.

Plop in two sugar cubes, stir nonchalantly, and I'm done. No milk or cream for me, thanks. I usually take the spoon out before sipping.

[Menolly]

I'm a loose tea-leaf kinda girl, although I prefer using a tea ball for them instead of having leaves in my cup. And, I guess I make it the way I have heard it is traditionally done:

Set tea pot with lid in bowl
Bring spring water to boil in kettle
pour water inside and over tea pot to warm it
Add fresh spring water to kettle and return to stove
spoon appropriate amount of leaves into tea ball
When kettle whistles, pour off and out water from tea pot
insert tea ball into tea pot and add water from kettle
Steep four to five minutes, pour into ceramic mug
add turbinado sugar and cream

[Damelon]

This thread reminds me that my tea pot broke.

[Worm of Despite]

My tea ritual: take the top off the jug, pour it, and drink it.

[stonemaybe]

Make sure all the shrooms are filtered out....

[balon!]

Well, I've got this fired clay bowl that my friend made for me, with no handles.

I put the teas bag in the cup, and our in the water. Use a spoon to press the tea bag to the side a few times to push the water through it.

Remove the bag to use again when I'm done with the first cup.

Add some honey, and stir with spoon.

Remove spoon, let cool and drink.

[Menolly]

Make sure all the shrooms are filtered out....

...a man after my own heart, and yet, I've never done such...

*sigh*

[stonemaybe]

does anyone stir their tea widdershins??????

[stonemaybe]

once upon a time my sister got my sympathy telling me a story about her mother-in-law who's a fussy old so-and-so and used to give my sister hell about not cleaning the butter dish right, not doing this and not doing that, but then she'd annoy my sister by throwing her old tea bags in the sink for my sister to clean up.

so I bought my sis this



to put by her sink. it got a laugh so was a few quid well spent!

[Menolly]

Oh...that's cute!!

[emotional leper]

First, we are dressed in traditional warrior garb, our Battleh's resting across our laps as we sit on either side of the table.

The poison, preferably something slow acting, is added to the tea.

We sit, drink, and talk.

If one of us remembers, we take the antidote.

[Menolly]

*making mental note to not go to Miraku with EL*

...at least, not in traditional warrior garb...

[emotional leper]

*making mental note to not go to Miraku with EL*

...at least, not in traditional warrior garb...

Nothing makes a Tea Ceremony with your best friend better than his wife serving the tea and being completely silent for an hour.

[Menolly]

*silently laughing*

B"H that Hyperception is not your best friend.

...hmm...unless I can convince Hyperception to switch roles for an hour?...now that would be something to see...I don't think I've ever seen him silent for a full hour, unless he's meditating or asleep...

[Avatar]

Funny, I don't remember this thread.

My tea-cup is a 500ml ceramic beer-stein-looking thing.

Insert teabag and 2 tablespoons sugar.

Boil kettle and pour rapidly boiling water directly onto teabag. (Not that just boiled water is not good enough. must be actively boiling when added to cup.)

Stir, frequently squeezing bag against side of mug. Add touch of milk (if required by variety of tea), remove teabag and spoon, drink while still piping hot.

--A

[aliantha]

I have tea every morning with breakfast. Here's the process:

1. Get up, shuffle to the kitchen, avoiding cats.
2. Feed cats, so as to get them out from underfoot while I make breakfast.
3. Lift teapot on stove to see if there is sufficient water inside. If not, fill teapot.
4. Turn on burner. Bring to boil.
5. While waiting, plunk English Breakfast or Irish Breakfast teabag into whichever of my preferred mugs is clean. I cycle through three, more or less: A cobalt glass mug with sun-moon-stars decals; a ceramic mug with a lovely moody-woods-in-winter design painted all around it; and one of a set of 6 Czech porcelain mugs that I got from Williams-Sonoma years ago. (A digression: I used to collect mugs. At one time I had nearly 100. Then I got tired of packing and unpacking them every time I moved. I saved a few favorites, the 6 Czech mugs, one or two each for the girls, and another group of mugs from random media outlets where I used to work. I gave away some really cool ones -- for instance, I had one from Lender's Bagels with a hole through it. And one with a Cheshire cat on it -- when you put in the hot water, everything disappeared but the smile. But the paint quit doing the changing thing, so out it went.)
6. When water boils, remove pot from heat, wait 30-ish seconds, then pour water on teabag. (Another digression: I used to have enamel-on-steel teapots, which would inevitably rust inside eventually, due to my habit of leaving water in the teapot on top of the stove. A couple of years ago, I found a ceramic teapot that can go straight on the burner -- the brand name is Joyce Chen -- so I have been using that ever since and it works great. In the materials accompanying the teapot, Joyce Chen told me to wait 30 seconds after taking the pot off the heat. I assume that's to avoid random scaldings. I know it takes some of the adventure out of life, but I do it anyway.)
7. Let teabag stew for, oh, maybe 10 minutes while I finish packing my lunch, drink my V-8, pour cereal in a bowl, etc.
8. Remove teabag and toss. Plop in an ice cube so that I can chug the tea. Drink.

I have another cup at work, which is fun in a different way. We have those one-cup-at-a-time coffee/tea machines. So I just plop in the K-Cup and hit the little green button.

[matrixman]

Cripes, aliantha...and I thought Alynna's ritual was complicated! And plopping ice cubes in your tea? Radical!

I didn't mention that I use an electric kettle. Am I the only one who does?