The Tea Lovers Thread

[vanalisa]

@JennySolano
How many do you suppose will agree?

 

[FishHobby99]

 

[WhistlingBadger54 10]

Well, this thread died a sudden death. But I still like tea. And I'm designing a fish tank largely around my love of tea. So it's back.

I just tried some pu erh tea for the first time. I keep hearing how good it is, but I've never been able to get around the name. I advise against pronouncing it phonetically in English, as it doesn't sound like something you want to drink (or breathe). I'm sure it means something much nicer in Chinese. Anyway, I finally opened my mind and tried some today. It tasted disturbingly like it sounds in English, I'm afraid: a bit like something someone scraped off the floor of a horse coral.

But now I know. Yay for cultural experiences!

 

[Morganna]

Great for reviving this thread!
I love tea! Real tea, not chilled fruit juices pretending to be tea, not boba, but tea, hot tea that is undrinkable without sugar. It started with English breakfast and Earl grey, but now it's Twinnings specials, Harney and sons series blends, Simpson & Vail collections, local brand delicacies that include popcorn in the blend, and even the pu erh (which I liked). My family enjoys it enough that we make a meal of it with a charcuterie board every week, and my sister wants to open a tea shop/restaurant one day.

 

[WhistlingBadger54 10]

Great for reviving this thread!
I love tea! Real tea, not chilled fruit juices pretending to be tea, not boba, but tea, hot tea that is undrinkable without sugar. It started with English breakfast and Earl grey, but now it's Twinnings specials, Harney and sons series blends, Simpson & Vail collections, local brand delicacies that include popcorn in the blend, and even the pu erh (which I liked). My family enjoys it enough that we make a meal of it with a charcuterie board every week, and my sister wants to open a tea shop/restaurant one day.

If you're in the States, look up Upton Tea Imports. Their catalog is fairly amazing, and they have too much of my money.

 

[WhistlingBadger54 10]

Today, and in general, I like to drink tea with ginger and cinnamon. It is very tasty and strengthens our immune system very well. Try it somehow

I often have a mug of lemon-ginger tea with me at school. It helps my voice get through the day.

 

[WhistlingBadger54 10]

Hey, remember this thread? Yep, tea is still good.

I was reading about the Boston Tea Party the other day. The article mentioned the kinds of teas that went for a swim: a lot of keemun and something called Bohea, and a little Lapsang Souchong. It seems that the closest modern equivalent to Bohea is "Wuyi rock tea," a type of oolong. So I got some of each kind (thanks, Amazon) and blended them up, 80g of keemun, 10 g of wuyi oolong, and 10g of Lapsang souchong. It takes a very long steeping to get enough flavor to stand up to milk. But I like it. Much different from my usual British style morning brew. It's a bit like "Russian Caravan Tea," if you've ever had that.

 

[Jennet39 97]

Only once ever tasted Lapsang Souchong when I went with my sister to a chinese restaurant in Birmingham (England). Managed a few sips before the smell overcame me. Never been able to take the smell of tea, and don't like the idea of holding my nose whilst drinking it. Fine with dark fruit tea's though, otherwise its coffee all the way for me. My husband drinks Yorkshire, two teabags in one large mug, bless him.

 

[CassCats33 15]

Tea?

Rooibos is a favourite though, as is Japanese rice tea. Have also enjoyed mountain tea from Greece too

 

[gwand58 175]

Every British show I watch on PBS or Brit Box, the characters are always “putting the kettle on”.

 

[WhistlingBadger54 10]

Every British show I watch on PBS or Brit Box, the characters are always “putting the kettle on”.

Based on my experience, that's a pretty accurate depiction of life in England.

I was over in County Durham oh, 20 some years ago, staying with some friends. The mother of the family, an ambulance nurse, came home one evening and told us about an elderly lady who called in because her husband had died. When the medical team arrived, they found that the man was not dead, but only unconscious.

Upon hearing the good news, the lady immediately scuttled off to the kitchen with "We'd better make him a cup of tea and warm him up then, hadn't we?"

 

[Back in the fold14]

I like tea . I like herbal teas mostly but succumb to various black teas occasionally . I’m very particular about my tea kettle . I keep it antiseptically clean and fill it with fresh clean R/O water when I use it .
There’s a movie called “ Paul “ about an alien who is taken in by two British tourists . They help Paul evade the U.S. government on his way to Devils Tower and in the end when he’s reunited with his fellow aliens one of the tourists , the great actor Simon Pegg , laments that there wasn’t time to teach him how to make “ a really good cup of tea “ . That line cracked me up , all the funnier in his nasal British accent .

 

[Back in the fold14]

The whole tea thing is gone over thoroughly in many movies and TV shows .
You should not miss Maggie Smith’s meltdown in “ The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel “ when she is brought lukewarm tea water for the umpteenth time and Norman Clegg’s devotion to tea making in “ Last of The Summer Wine “ . Simon Pegg , of ”Paul “ fame , also disdains Americans for leaving the bag in . On and on it goes even back to “ The Great Escape “ when Donald Pleasance , as Colin The Forger , informs a bewildered James Garner that he needs milk for his tea .

 

[DayTripper9 2]

Tea?

Rooibos is a favourite though, as is Japanese rice tea. Have also enjoyed mountain tea from Greece too
View attachment 388044

My fish love Rooibos Tea. Keeps the tank amber while waiting for natural tannins to occur.

 

[TwoTankAmin50]

Rooibos tea (meaning red bush in Afrikaans and pronounced roy + boss) has nothing to do with traditional tea, which comes from the Chinese plant Camellia sinensis in the family Rosaceae. Rooibos comes from the plant, Aspalathus linearis, a legume in the family Fabaceae- it is related to peas and beans. The bush is more like a broom than a bush. The top of the bush is cut off, dried and oxidized before packing in tea bags or sold as loose tea.

In fish keeping we are interested in the plant phenolic compounds that act as antioxidants and antibacterials (it won’t harm filters). This is similar to the humic acids found in natural tea stained water. Oak leaves contain the plant phenolic quercetin (from the Latin name for oak trees, Quercus robur). Rooibos contains some quercetin plus the compound aspalathin, closely related to quercetin. Research at the University of Stellenbosch indicates that rooibos
has natural stress relieving properties. It is safe to use and is beneficial for both keepers and fish. The "organic" label is unnecessary as rooibos is grown naturally without insecticides and herbicides, they are just simply not needed and can actually harm the plant.

To stain the water in my Altum tank I used brewed rooibos and a few catappa leaves in the tank and a bag of alder cones in the filter.