Cup of char...?

Nigella’s Madeira cake is baking in the oven, and I’m looking forward to a slice with a cup of tea. I'm not going to write about Nigella now; I will save that for later, when I can post photos of her party popcorn here. This blog is about tea…

I’ve come to the conclusion that as we get older, we take more pleasure from the simple things in life. These are often the least expensive things, too. Tea isn’t free, of course, but it feels that way to me at the moment because the last time I was over in the UK I brought three huge cartons of Twinings Assam tea back with me, and am slowly working my way through them. It’s possible to buy Assam tea here in Edmonton, but not in tea bags: you have to go to one of the city’s fancy tea shops and buy it loose – for a pretty penny, too.

Talking of loose tea, my friend recently introduced me to Oghab tea, which is similar in taste to Assam although not as "malty." I’ve no idea what Oghab actually means – if it’s place or name of a tea company. I searched online but the results were in Persian and I didn’t glean a great deal from them. My friend is Iranian, and when we drink this tea in her house, she serves it in pretty glass cups – without milk. I don’t usually drink tea without milk but I’m content to do so in S’s house as when she hands me the tea, there miraculously appears small trays of delicacies to be eaten with our tea, which more than makes up for any absence of milk. And anyway, adding milk to the tea would mean I wouldn’t get to see the lovely dark amber liquid twinkling through the cut glass of the cup. The delicacies S serves up include a sort of Iranian trail mix. There are none of the rubbishy bits you get in the average trail mix such as Smarties and chocolate chips (nor are the nuts coated in salt); in this trail mix there are pistachios and these lovely soft berries that have a hint of caramel to them. Delicious.

The Oghab tea is loose tea and I’ve discovered that there’s no need for a tea strainer or to place the tea in one of those charming looking infusers when you make it. Just pour a couple of teaspoons in the pot and away you go. The leaves settle on the bottom of the teapot which means that you’re not forever having to pick them off your tongue.

Few people actually know how to make a decent cup of tea. I’ve even heard some people talk about using a microwave in which to “boil” the water. There was mention of this method on englishteastore.com’s website, but so was the word “inferior” in the same sentence, so let’s move on.

I’m not convinced that you can make a good cup of tea without boiling water. I tend to steer clear of tea that’s made with hot water from an urn. Water boils at around 210 degrees Fahrenheit and I’m pretty sure that hot water in an urn is kept at around the 190-degrees-Fahrenheit mark. Not a lot in it maybe, and not enough to deter someone who’s desperate for a cup of tea in Starbuck’s or wherever. But if you can boil the water, then it’s best to do so.

It’s claimed that loose tea makes a better tasting cup of tea, but I won’t hear a bad word said about the tea bag. Convenient, clean, and compostable. If you do use loose tea, the teapot should be warmed beforehand as this helps to maintain the brewing temperature thus extracting more flavor from the tea during the brewing process. Regardless of whether you use loose tea or a tea bag, it’s important to let the tea actually brew. Some people’s idea of making tea is to wave the tea bag in front of the boiling water and have done with it. You need to leave the tea to brew for at least three minutes. And there’s no need to fuss with it during this time; don’t keep squeezing the tea bag or stirring the pot. Go away and do something less boring instead. Like slice the cake…