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

[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.