Can we talk about tea?

I use a metal tea kettle.While the water is heating,I sing to the cats.I use tea bags but need to get a good infuser.I make teapots as I am a potter,but do use the metal one almost every time.
I do however have a favorite tea cup that I made.It is a celadon and white matte glazed porcelain cup with a leaf on the handle and matching saucer.I drink tea often but not every day.Chamomile is a favorite and I have tried to grow it last year but failed.I will try again this spring.
You just made me go start a cup :))

Kettle? Cup? Boil?

I make tea in three-quart jars with hot tap water and Lipton tea bags (one bag per quart of water). After a day or so of steeping I toss it in the fridge and drink it with lemon and cranberry juice: about 6 tablespoons of lemon, three cups of cranberry juice to three quarts of tea. No sweetener. Delicious. I drink about a gallon a day.

I take two cups of water, pop it in the microwave for 2¼ minutes, pour it over two bags, steep for 5 minutes, remove, and add milk and sugar. To make up for the lack of etiquette here, I like to call this style American tea.

@lucillelucillelucille : I hope you’re enjoying your cup. :)

And thanks for bringing up tea cups. I completely left that out of my litany.

What kind of cup do you use?

I lived with a Japanese family for 6 weeks in Hiroshima one summer back in high school. I acquired a taste for green tea (also for good sushi). It’s not something I drink all that regularly, but it’s wonderful when I do have it.

I generally use a Bodum teapot to brew four cups at a time. I’ve been thinking recently about how nice it would be to acquire a ceramic tea set, but have yet to do so. I drink primarily black teas from loose leaf—usually flavored (Earl Grey and Mango are my favorites).

I generally putter about my kitchen cleaning things that are obviously out of order while my electric kettle heats up.

I take my tea with both milk and sugar usually, but recently it’s been leaving an unfavorable taste in my mouth, so I’ve been drinking it plain more often.

I wouldn’t go so far as saying tea is a way of life, but it’s definitely more than a drink for me. It’s a meditative ritual, a bonding experience, and a productive but stress-free way to pass the time and do something with my hands.

What kind of kettle do you use? I use an electric one.
A traditional kettle that boils on a stove and whistles [but a tony MOMA looking one]

What do you do while waiting for the kettle to boil? I ponder my navel.
Go about my business until the kettle calls

Do you use tea in bags or loose leaf? Loose leaf for me, please.
Both, either—I have a tea ball for loose leaf

If you make just one cup, what kind of infuser do you use? I have several, but I favor the mesh ball.
If a bag I just plop it in the cup and pull it when ready so I can have another cup. If a teaball, I use a pot. Anything left over is iced tea.

Tell us about your tea pots. I have two. One is traditional, but the one I use more often is a modern one by Bodum.
I have one nice traditional English/Japanese plain white pot that originally had a woven reed handle. When the handle broke I searched for a similar replacement and bought a handle in Chinatown that was not quite right [reed or fake reed wrapped around metal] and replaced the handle. Simplicity. Clean lines.

Finally, is tea just a drink for you, or is it a way of life?
It is one of many drinks, a soothing, comforting one. Given my druthers in most situations, I pick alcoholic drinks.

I have a metal kettle that whistles merrily when it boils. I love teapots. At present I’m using a lovely white one with gold trim. I always have something to clean in my kitchen while I wait or I watch tv. I use bags and loose, I like black, green, white, herbal- almost every kind. I have a tiny pot that mashes my loose tea to give me 1 cup and I have mesh and strainer type. I like the strainer best. Red Clover tea is one of my favorites.

I use an electric jug in summer and a steel kettle on the wood burner in winter. Oh and a steel billy on the fire in the bush or on the ocean rocks.
At home if Im having a pot, its in a silver tea pot with loose leaf. Either formosan, regular english crap or tasty russian caravan. Mmm I love the taste of caravan..
Waiting? well that sucks but you gota do it, so yeah.. pull some nipple hairs, extract some navel lint or whatever…
I don’t know about way of life as such, but theres definitely a way i like it done.
Oh yeah, a dash of milk and a tiny pinch of sugar if at all.
And in the great out doors its all done in the billy.

Tea is something I switch to when I’ve drunk too much coffee! Coffee is more than a way of life; it is a religion.

@hawaii_jake—Thank you! I did!
The cup is one I made from porcelain and it’s shape is similar to a tea bowl-with a handle.I carved a leaf that I affixed to the thumb rest area and it works well as the ridges in the leaf keep my thumb from slipping off.
The glazes I made as well.I first covered it in a titanium white matte glaze with an overlay about halfway down of a green celedon glaze.It is very soft looking.
The recipe for the celedon glaze was given to me by a teacher who had studied ceramics for over 40 years.He told me to keep it secret,and I do.:)

It is a very,very secret glaze as celadon is spelled with an A. XD

Hi Jake

I am the only person in my house that drinks tea. When I grew up (I’m English but live in Australia) nobody in my family drank coffee. I only really started drinking coffee when I left home. It seemed more sophisticated to drink coffee but now I am older, I find I usually drink tea when at home. Tea drinking and making carries memories for me. I do think tea drinking can actually be rather spiritual. I think it has to do with the ritual.

What kind of kettle do you use? I use an electric one.
I have an electric kettle, but I desire a whistling kettle. I should buy one. I fancy a red one.

What do you do while waiting for the kettle to boil? I ponder my navel.
I often put the kettle on as I go off to get the mail from the mailbox or before I put a load of washing on or sometimes I stare out at the garden and just enjoy the view.

Do you use tea in bags or loose leaf? Loose leaf for me, please.
Both. Tea bags are convenient but loose leaf takes me back to my childhood so it is a little more special.

If you make just one cup, what kind of infuser do you use? I have several, but I favor the mesh ball.

I have a mesh ball but I also have a two cup teapot with an infuser in the middle. I love teapots though. I think I would like to collect them. Somehow, and I know this sounds crazy, I want a brown teapot. My nanna always used a big brown teapot and it just seems right to use a brown, earthenware teapot.

Tell us about your tea pots. I have two. One is traditional, but the one I use more often is a modern one by Bodum.

Well I already did that but I have the urge to buy more teapots (along with the kettle). Seems a little bit silly since I am the only tea drinker but I think I will anyway. Something very special.

My father would never, ever drink tea made from teabags. He felt they contained the dregs. He was very serious about how the tea should be made too. Warm the pot, how many teaspoons of tea, letting it brew not stew…

Great question Jake.

Liz
Finally, is tea just a drink for you, or is it a way of life?

I missed your final question but I think I answered it anyway.

@Mz_Lizzy : Excellent answer. You’ll get no disagreement from me that there is something a bit spiritual about tea making; I lived in Japan for 4 years where it really is spiritual. There’s something special about going through the motions of making a cup of tea. Drawing the water, putting the kettle on, measuring the tea, and meditating while it steeps.

I understand your father, too. I don’t, but I always think what my grandmother used to say, “Temp the pot before you add the tea and the water.” By “temp”, she meant to warm it with a bit of the boiling water first.

Anyway, I love tea. I drink two cups of coffee in the morning, but then I drink tea the rest of the day.

What kind of kettle do you use?
In my apartment here I also have an electric pot.

What do you do while waiting for the kettle to boil?
I try to decide what flavor from my vast and ancient collection of leaves I’m going to imbibe today.

Do you use tea in bags or loose leaf?
Ever since I got hooked on loose leaf, bagged teas just taste bland. I have a small assortment of sieves depending on the cup and/or situation.

If you make just one cup, what kind of infuser do you use?
Even from my lightest teas, I squeeze at least two infusions out of it.

Tell us about your tea pots.
I wish I had a pot of my own, but being a erratically moving college student, I don’t have the place or money for one. When I get a place of my own, that’s when I’ll start collecting…

Finally, is tea just a drink for you, or is it a way of life?
It really more of a set piece of the ambiance I’m trying to create. Getting up and running out the door? Black or Oolong in a to-go mug. Sitting around on a rainy day? Greens and Herbals teas, no contest. Enjoying some time with a lady friend? Her choice, naturally ; )