How do you drink your tea?

[Pamela]

I am not an ardent tea lover, but if I drink tea, it is black or green without sugar

[Skrej]

I drink my tea with ice.

But then, I'm American. However, since I'm not Southern, hold the lemon, hold the sugar. Heavy on the mint, though, is good.

I will drink hot tea, always herbal, usually in the winter. Then of course, it simply must have honey (but never sugar).

Since it's summer now, I'm back to making sun tea, for which I use green tea bags (or better yet white tea), and I always mash a bunch of fresh mint (spearmint or peppermint) which I toss in the gallon jar.

Best cold tea, though, bar none, is sassafras tea.
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[Souad]

Hi ,every body,
Here ,in Algeria, we prepare tea with menth and we drink it in the evening.. It is a tradition . And when it is a special occasion like the weddings we serve it with special cakes made of honny.
It gives you the feeling of the east .. of Bagdad and the one thowsand nights..I like this feeling .. It is so romantic.

[NinaZara]

The only tea that I cannot drink in Japan is the sakura tea, it's salty. I know they add salt to it, but I don't know why. I think it's to preserve the colour of the sakura petals, but can't sugar do the same? Too sticky?

[Ralf]

Hi souad,

Do you have your tea with crème de menthe? That sounds like a good idea, actually

Does anyone ever put alcohol in their tea? I think some cultures refine it with rum; not too sure, though.
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[Skrej]

I think souad was just using the French spelling of mint. I'm doubtful the alcohol concept is likely to catch on in Algeria.

I lived in Morocco for a while; their approach to tea is identical to the Algerian one. Tea=hospitality, and hospitality=Moroccan.

You take gunpowder tea (so called because it's processed in small pellets, that do resemble gunpowder grains), brew it with a huge amount of mint (sometimes wormwood in the winter), and the maximum amount of sugar (sold in cones or blocks from which you whack off large chunks) you can possibly get to dissolve.

Then, you pour the tea into tiny shot-glass sized cups, from as high as you can, a minimum of at least 2 feet. The idea is to get a frothy foamy head (desired ascetically, and helps mix the flavors). You fill a few glasses, pour them all back into the teapot (idea here is to completely mix the flavors) and pour again, (if possible, from a greater height).

You repeat this process several times. The final result is a nice frothy foamy head on your small tea. Don't be fooled by the diminutive size of the cup, for tea is a social activity, not to be rushed, and you will be expected to have at least 3 cups before you begin the process of protesting no more. Moroccan teapots are deceptively voluminous; while you'd swear that there could only be maybe a quart of tea in the pot, there's some sort of spacial anomaly that allows the interior to hold gallons.

It's very important that you convey the image that the reason you don't want anymore is because due to the host's generosity, you're filled to bursting. Generally, after the 3rd or 4th glass (you're well on your way to starting your 2nd hour of idle chit-chat by this point), you (under protest) accept one final glass, before it's considered tactful to actually refuse the final cup.

Now, you, as a foreigner are going to be besieged by invitations to have tea. Especially when traveling in smaller villages in the countryside. Every house along your path is going to invite you in. It doesn't matter if they watched you just accept tea from their next door neighbor, as soon as you come out, they're going to try to get you to have "just a quick glass" at their house.

This leads to 2 problems. First, if you stop for tea at every house, you're going to take several days to get across the village. Secondly, you've given prestige to the hosts whose invitations you accept, while possibly slighting those you don't. It's important that you distribute your acceptations to as many households as possible.

If you're living in a village, this is particularly important that you don't been seen as favoring any particular household. It became a social calender issue, keeping track of who's house you should accept tea in on this day....

The problem is that tea can take so long, it's now mealtime, so why not stay for supper, they insist. Then, to help digest the meal, there will of course be tea, while relaxing and digesting. If you need a nap, no problem, it's normal to nod off after a meal, as long as you're not the host.

Tea, in Morocco, as you can see, is really a vicious never ending cycle. It's a lot of work,too. Once, I was given the honor of making the tea, and freakin' hell, I'm here to tell you it's an involved process. The sugar was the worst; being in a solid cone, you just had to whack chunks off with an iron bar, and compacted sugar don't break easily...
_________________
Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow.
***
Did you hear they arrested the Energizer Bunny on battery charges?
***

[NinaZara]

The foamy tea reminds me off "teh tarik" (pulled tea) that we have back in Malaysia. They pull it more than 2 feet and the result is a milky and foamy tea. Malaysians love this tea. But if you are diabetic or watching your diet, you better not have it everyday.

By the way, your story is entertaining.

[Ralf]

Ever heard of bubble tea? Sounds intriguing!
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[NinaZara]

I think I've had that sort of drink, Ralf. It was very nice.

There's a famous small shop selling drinks with tapiocas in Shinjuku.I don't remember the name though, I think it's famous, because I had to queue a long queue every time.

I love tapioca, very chewy.

[Ralf]

Well, I reckon your tea parlours provide multifarious teas in abundance

Here in Germany, you can't get too many fancy types of tea (but maybe I'm just not familiar with the in-places). A typical supermarket tea looks more or less like this.

Of all places, I had this bubble tea in southern Kansas to get an energy boost after having fallen asleep on Highway 54
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[NinaZara]

Well, bubble tea does sound like it can perk you up. And I hope you'd be more careful in the future. Don't sleep and drive, Ralf.

And WOW, there are so many teas to try!

[Ralf]

[Skrej]

[Ralf]

[NinaZara]