Tea question. Especially seeking answers from UK/ Irish folks or those with such ancestry

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

Tis_Bearself

Patron
I have a question about the steeping of tea bags or loose tea, from a UK / Ireland perspective.

My mother’s parents drank a lot of tea because one parent was from England and the other parent was Canadian born of Irish immigrant parents, and apparently tea was their drink of choice. My mother used to make me tea as a child and just leave the loose tea sit in the cup of boiling water while one was drinking it, or if it was a tea bag she just left it hang in the cup. I presume this is also what her parents did based on what she told me. Obviously this made for a nice strong cup of tea and I didn’t mind because Mom also put in a good bit of sugar and milk.

As an adult I more often drink coffee, but will sometimes drink tea, especially if I am in UK or if I happen to have a bunch of tea on hand to use up (my current situation for various reasons). I usually do not add sugar to my tea, and I only add milk or cream to my tea about 1/3 to 1/2 the time.

I found out only about 10 years ago that one is not supposed to just leave the tea bag or loose tea in there when one drinks, but remove it from the boiling water after X number of minutes. So since I found that out, I take it out after 1 minute or sometimes 2 minutes.

However, I am not sure as to how many minutes one is supposed to leave the tea in the boiling water for the proper British/ Irish cup of tea. Mom is deceased for a few years so I cannot discuss this with her.

Can someone please tell me how many minutes I should leave the tea in the boiling water? We are talking about regular UK and Ireland type teas such as orange pekoe, Earl Grey, Irish Breakfast, Irish Black etc. Not herbal tea or Chinese tea. Thank you in advance.
 
Last edited:
I heard 5 minutes,* but you must be sure to start with a hot teapot or else it gets cool during those 5 minutes. You can pour boiling water in it and let it sit for a minute and dump it out. (Unless you don’t prefer your tea mad hot.🙂)

*There is a definite change in taste between a 1-2 minute steep and a 5 minute one.
 
I was taught how to make tea by my dear friend who is English. It depends on the tea, but in general black tea can be between 3-5 minutes. You can check by by spooning out some of the tea to check its color: tea that is done should look like a caramel color on the spoon.

The steps are as follows:
Heat the water to boiling in a pan, preferably a kettle.
If you have a teapot, pour a little water in the bottom and swirl it.
Put tea bag in and pour hot water.
Let the tea stew for however long it needs. It is a cardinal sin to boil stewing tea.
Pour a cup, add milk and sugar as needed.
 
Last edited:
Funny story about tea. I never liked tea. My parents had Lipton. I thought all tea tasted like that, what did I know? Never drank it again for many years. Went to Ireland :ireland:. Stayed with a family that used loose tea. Oh, so delicious! Came home after a month. Made tea at home, thinking my taste must have changed after all those years and that’s why I now liked tea. Yuck. It was Lipton. That’s when the lightbulb went off that I just don’t like Lipton. Went out and bought Twining’s Irish breakfast. Loved it. Have received other Irish teas as gifts from Ireland and they are all lovely.
 
My mom was a Brit and she always used loose leaf in the teapot and never took it out…just carefully poured each cup so the leaf stayed in the pot. If an hour later there was still some rather cool and very strong tea still left in the pot…all the better. Note; she also made coffee that could float rocks!

Of course, I wound up liking my coffee and tea quite strong! :hugs:
 
my aunt (a WW2 English bride) always told me the secret to good tea is to pour the water the night before and let it aerate. She would never make tea from fresh-water.

I asked her one time what happens when the water runs out and you are still thirsty, she said, “that means it is cocktail time!”

God rest her soul
 
Thank you all. I think I got the 1-2 minute idea either from some website or from a guy who had been studying how to make Chinese tea. Which, I’ve been thinking, is not the same thing.

I think I will go back to Mom’s method of leaving the tea in the cup.

As for brand of tea, while I drink both expensive tea and cheap tea, I like all of it okay. Mom bought a lot of Lipton growing up and would use like 15 bags at a time to make iced tea in the sun, during the years that was popular (I think later on somebody claimed it could grow bacteria so she stopped). However, towards the end of her life somehow a bunch of decaf Lipton got into her house. I think she either bought it by mistake or someone shopping for her bought it thinking it was better for her or something. That stuff is vile. I should drink it for penance.
 
I’m not much of a tea drinker personally. I’ve never made loose tea so I can’t comment on that… my mother used to make it using loose tea but I can’t recall how she did it, except that there was a teapot involved and a tea strainer, and she would always warm the pot first. They still use loose in tea rooms btw.

In general, people over here would let a teabag infuse for about 3 mins (+/- 2 mins) depending on how strong/hot they like it. I reckon that most people just bash the teabag around for a short time then squeeze it instead of letting it infuse over time, though, to stop it going cold. Only tea I drink myself is chamomile and that’s using a bag.
 
Last edited:
Tis_Bearself said:
I found out only about 10 years ago that one is not supposed to just leave the tea bag or loose tea in there when one drinks, but remove it from the boiling water after X number of minutes. So since I found that out, I take it out after 1 minute or sometimes 2 minutes.
Click to expand...
Not Irish or English here but leaving the tea bag in can ruin the flavour of certain sorts of teas that are not meant to be too strong. Some teas are best when the tea bag is left in for no more than two minutes and any more than that the tea is ruined and it’s light, often fruity (depending on the tea) flavour is overwhelmed. Other teas are meant to be drunk strong and taste best when the tea bag is left in for 5 minutes, like Arabic or Turkish breakfast teas. There is a website, Spruce Eats, that you can visit for some great advice on just this matter.

 
Last edited:
What’s with all the Lipton bashing 😳???
Lipton is my go-to for making ice tea, and there’s always a pitcher of it in the fridge during the summer (and usually in the winter, too).

Five bags for a 2-3 quart pitcher, add the sweetener, and it tastes even better the next day after making it.

However, to make the tea more interesting, I’ll substitute a bag of Earl Grey or something floral/fruity, like red rooibus (sp?) for one of the Liptons.

But a really different tea is Lapsang souchong which smells and tastes like wood smoke. Love it.
 
Lipton’s definitely not as good as Twinings tea or Irish black tea.

Lipton’s is an okay “everyday” tea though. It’s the tea equivalent of Maxwell House coffee.
 
Not really bashing, it’s just not my taste. And I thought all tea tasted like like that.🙂
 
This may not strictly be the UK/Ireland perspective, even though I have English ancestry. But I took a tea class several years ago and am an avid tea drinker.

The general guidance is as follows:

Black tea - use boiling water, steep 4 to 5 minutes
Green tea - use not quite boiling water (about 170-175 degrees F), steep 2 to 3 minutes. This is because green tea leaves are more delicate.

Leaving the tea leaves in too long can result in a bitter aftertaste. In my experience, this is especially true of green tea.
 
Twining’s of London produces the most desirable tea. It has a Royal Warrant from Her Majesty the Queen.

I myself like Earl Grey, Lady Grey, English Breakfast, and Irish Breakfast.

I recommend this video by etiquette expert, William Hanson.


The ‘6-12’ stirring method will speed up the steeping. This is where one stirs using a tea spoon, going from the top to the bottom of the cup back and forth.

Another useful video by Mr Hanson.

 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top