I am personally not very fond of tea – which I realise puts me in a tiny minority. This lamentable poor taste of mine frequently finds me sidelined in conversations about the refreshing nature and health-giving properties of tea. In gatherings where everyone has a fragrant cup to sip on, I find myself twiddling my thumbs. As such, I am deeply mindful of the passion that tea drinking and tea-making stir within so many not just in India but the world over.
Apparently this person has trouble trusting a person who makes their tea without steeping it sufficiently. They think it is arrogant and egotistical to think that just dunking a teabag into a cup for a bit gives sufficient flavour.
Apparently you have to steep the teabag for ten minutes. That also gets the liquid to the right, non-scorching temperature.
There are those who are convinced that teabags should remain in the cup till the last drop is drained. The resultant stains in your cup are badges or honour.
Some scoffed at the very idea of using tea bags.
Of course there were the loose leaf snobs who looked down their noses as those who use teabags and offered their own suggestions.
… Even those, who (like me) have little idea what they are talking about.
Making tea in a mug is a terrible thing to do, according to this commentator. Use a teapot! To make tea like an adult, one simply has to use a teapot.
One must use not only a teapot but also a tea cozy. Tradition? Probably.
Apparently there are those who cannot tell tea from coffee? As a coffee lover myself, I find that a little hard to believe.
Clearly there were those who were not taking this important tea-making discussion at all seriously
A few were really annoyed with the utter frivolity of the discussion.
Those that thought the discussion was dumb and futile were told this. And really, how does it all matter. We all know – even a non-tea-lover – that black tea and green tea and white tea are all rubbish.
To make tea, one needs a large pan, water, milk, masala, lashings of sugar and lots of boiling. That spicy, sweet, thick, aromatic liquid that ensues – that is tea, not that tepid, flavourless, watery stuff that passes for tea but tastes like dishwater.
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