As you may or may not know, I am a tea drinker. I really dislike coffee, and I don't care if you think me weird for it. Be it black, green, oolong, white, or something in the middle, I like most teas. Obviously this should be my drink of choice at work then, and it is, but there is, as always, a snag.
Everyone knows that tea bags are how you drink tea. In this country. In more civilized countries, people make their teas from loose leaf tea, which is, to any tongue, far superior to tea bags, known as "tampon tea" by the Brits. I, having tasted both, can say with great certainty that loose leaf is better... Provided it is brewed correctly.
How hard can it be to brew tea? Pour hot water over leaves, steep, drink! Right.
Nerd powers engage!
Tea, depending on style, likes to be brewed at a specific temperature. Each tea may have some wiggle room on temp, but black tea likes water just off a boil and green tea likes water closer to 175 degrees. Easy enough, right? Well, the only access to hot water I have is the crappy coffee machine at work, and while I haven't been so nerdy as to bring an instant read in to find the exact temp of the water, I know it's much shy of boiling. For green tea, that's fine. For black, not so much.
Why not bring in an electric kettle? Because that's a fire hazard and I couldn't leave it in the break room anyway since someone would definitely steal it.
So here's what I'm stuck with: draw water from coffee hot water tap, place chopstick in water to prevent superheating water, place mug in microwave, heat for 2 minutes or until boiling, put loose leaf tea into French press, pour water over tea, steep 3-4 minutes, sugar to taste, enjoy tea. I do this three times a day, sometimes more. And let's not forget that oolong tea, a favorite of mine, likes water a couple minutes off a boil, so that becomes more complicated.
The more tea astute of you might also note that using the water from the coffee machine might not be the optimum choice since some of the oxygen has been boiled out of the water. To you I say what Teddy Rosevelt may have once said, "You do the best you can with what you got where you are."
Getting a decent cup of tea might be annoying, but dammit, a good cuppa is the best way to start the day.
Today's post brought to you by the Corporation for Stuff You Probably Don't Care About.
July 28, 2010
The Ballad of Drinking Tea at Work
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