My cup of tea
This blog post fueled by Twinings’ Lady Grey tea.
Every year, I look forward to November for two very important reasons. The first is NaNoWriMo. The second is tea.
Growing up in Southern California, otherwise known as the land of perpetual summer, November was the first month when drinking warm beverages made sense. Each year, I’d eagerly await the moment when it became cold enough to indulge in tea, or peppermint hot chocolate, or a perfect caramel latte without feeling like it made more sense to order it over ice. In fact, the Bay Area’s slightly more inclement weather was one point in favor of my moving up here for college: the “tea season” begins earlier in Berkeley.
I have always loved wintery drinks, but when I began to participate in NaNoWriMo, my holiday favorites acquired an entire new significance dependent solely upon their caffeine content. It’s easy to switch from coffee to espresso, but in the past, the most problematic part of November was the switch from herbal tea to black tea, which I never really liked.
Then I spent last year studying abroad in London, where I was taught (by fellow Wrimos, no less!) how to prepare a proper cup of black tea—and everything changed. Now that caffeinating season has rolled around again, I feel it’s my duty to share my black tea tips with the people who might need them.
1. It really does matter if the water is boiling. I used to get lazy and microwave water for a couple of minutes, but the tea made in this way is never as good as tea made using a kettle. The British are far ahead of the Americans in this aspect; their electric kettles are incredibly efficient, and I invested in one as soon as I got home.
2. Don’t leave your tea bag in your mug! With herbal teas the consequences aren’t as dire, but if you let black tea steep for too long, it becomes bitter and unpalatable. Brew times are different for different teas, but no black tea should be allowed to steep for more than five minutes.
3. Milk and sugar are key. I’d been thinking that, like my herbal teas, black tea should taste delicious on its own. Some of it admittedly does—but it’s the addition of milk and sugar that sends it soaring beyond its herbal brethren and into the realms of caffeinated bliss. For each cup of tea, I add about a tablespoon of sugar (don’t tell my dentist!) and follow it up by adding milk to taste.
Over the past year, I’ve developed something of a tea-making ritual. I plug in my kettle, and while the water’s boiling, I put my teabag and sugar into my mug. I pour the boiling water over both of them and let the tea steep for 4–5 minutes before removing the tea bag and adding milk. And then—here’s the crucial part—I take that mug back from the kitchen into my room, set it down on my desk next to my laptop, and write.
– Candace
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