A few things

[cleolinda]

So. Not feeling much better; spent the weekend in a very grim, self-pitying funk. But I'm going back to work ("work") today because you have to move on with life. I think I'm actually going through kind of a post-partum project-completion slump, what with the first e-book finished. The only problem is, I now have to finish the second one, which

Comments

[marzikin]

I'm squeeing myself at the thought of advising you on this one.

*ahem*

In order to make good tea, you need to use boilING, not boilED water, straight from the kettle, and if you want to be really picky, you should use the water the first time it's boiled, not the second (and so forth - it's something about boiling away all the oxygen or some such).

If it's teabags, it's advisable to dunk them up and down, rather than/as well as stirring. If it's leaf tea, stir and let steep. Then I'd go on taste. Again, if you want to be picky, warm your cup with a swill of water from the kettle, pour it away, then pour in a little of the tea to taste. : ) Do this until you get to a strength you like. This isn't official advice, but it's what seems logical to me. : ) Different teas need to be steeped for different lengths of time (I've had some herbal teas that need seven, but with typical bog standard tea, I don't even leave it to steep, I swirl, dunk, squeeze, repeat, and take the bag out, and everyone seems to like it... > >)

[cleolinda]

Wow. This is... complicated. And it looks like two blacks and a fruit/herbal, so it's not like this is going to be easy and consistent. Tea is hard, y'all.

[off_coloratura]

Just use boiling water for all three, and let the herbal steep a little longer than the black, till it smells nice. Don't stress too much about it.

[marzikin]

Aah, but if you leave green tea TOO long, it turns bitter.

Actually, lots of teas do that.

Tea is serious business, you know? x3

But the purist/snob route is such fuuun.

[marzikin]

I don't mind a little dribble of honey in mint tea. : ) But I don't take sugar-sugar in any tea (or coffee... even espresso; I'm doing it WRONG, for shame!) UNLESS I'm having a bacon sandwich in white bread with butter. In which case, you need piping hot, milky, sugary tea to wash it down with.

In another life, I was a builder. Apparently. o__O

Loving what's going on with the icons, btw.

[sachielle]

sugar in green tea IS weird. you are correct sir! ma'am? gender on the internet is tricky and subjective.

i have the gift/curse of having had a british colonist grandmother. there is no such thing as not knowing how to brew tea. so i'm always amazed/at a loss when i find someone who hasn't been trained in the ways of tea time (seriously, we had 4 o'clock tea times with cookies whenever we visited. and only cookies since she could never get her hands on scones. uncivilized west virginians!)

i am terribly sorry that your tea experience should begin with Twilight. no one deserves that. :(