Hitchens on How to Make a Decent Cup of Tea

[liveonearth]

Christopher Hitchens may have throat cancer, but he still appreciates tea when it is properly made. He has learned, as I already well knew, that you cannot get a decent pot or cup of tea here in the US. And so he wrote an article for Slate about how to do it. All you Americans that think tea sucks, it is because here, it does. But made properly tea is amazing.

Comments

[geordie.livejournal.com]

That's not a bad article. But you really must not use silver teapots because they flavor the tea. Some would say that the insistence on preheating the pot was to prevent lower quality pots from shattering when the boiling water was poured in.

Steeping black tea can be overdone, if you leave it for long you get a metallic taste and eventually an iridescent sheen on top. There's so little tea in US tea bags that you have to leave it for ages to get any flavor. I buy UK tea bags from Amazon.com and they make strong tea in little time. The black tea available in the US is generally very very poor.

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

I buy PG Tips teabags at Cost Plus World Market. I can also get Twinings there. Sometimes I buy Fortnum & Mason loose tea but it's expensive.

[geordie.livejournal.com]

PG Tips is OK, that's what I have. Twinings, on the other hand, I have not had great luck with here. Fortnum and Mason certainly has the best name.

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Twinings pretty much stinks. I have some but I don't DRINK it. I agree about the metal pot--ick. Ceramic is the way to go. Holds heat better too.

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

Good article. I posted it on my Facebook. One thing he doesn't mention is how restaurants serve a cup of hot water, a stainless steel pot of hot water, and ONE teabag. Harumph.

[geordie.livejournal.com]

You could always carry a couple in your purse and just ask them for hot water.

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

That's a good idea. It would certainly be better than the Lipton crap they usually bring along wit the water.

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

That's what I do. I always have a zippy in my bag with a few tasty options for herbal, black or green. In US restaurants it's hard to even get a cup of hot water. It seems they keep the mugs in the freezer.

[geordie.livejournal.com]

Right, and they have a lot of thermal mass. With the ceramic mugs at home I don't really bother pre-heating them but with the travel mugs I rinse them with boiling water then bring the water back to the boil before making the tea. It makes a difference to the brewing and to how long the tea stays hot enough to enjoy.