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I don't really drink ginger tea. If you like spiced tea there's some really nice (imo) pumpkin spice teas that probably have ginger in them.
Teabag in.
(Hot) Water in.
Wait.
Wait a bit later. Until the water is dark.
Remove teabag without scrunching it.
Sugar in. Stirred, not shaken.
Milk (optional).
Enjoy.
Yes, rooibos is fine. I used to drink it a lot around 2012 or so. I've since gone off the taste of it. As far as I know it is still a tea, albeit one that is naturally without caffeine.
Tea without milk is an anathema to me. I personally don't know how anyone can drink tea without milk. I haven't taken sugar in my tea since I was a child though.
Pretty much how I do it although I do scrunch the teabag on the spoon to get the full flavour out and into the cup or mug. I also don't add sugar and milk is mandatory as opposed to being optional. I think we Irish probably drink more tea than even the English do as I believe a recent survey discovered.
Alex in A Clockwork Orange drinks milk. I rest my case.
Well, yes, it's what you're brought up with I suppose and what the particular culture is around about you. Wasn't that Milk Plus that Alex drank in A Clockwork Orange though and not straight up cow's milk? It was milk laced with drugs as I recall. Good for engaging in the old ultraviolence.
It's true...
The internet says
In Goldfinger, working the night shift in the office between assignments, Bond tells a girl from the canteen:“I don’t drink tea. I hate it. It’s mud. Moreover it’s one of the main reasons for the downfall of the British Empire.”
In "Thunderball," Fleming writes, “Bond loathed and despised tea, that flat, soft, time-wasting opium of the masses, but on his empty stomach, and in his febrile state, the sugary brew acted almost as an intoxicant.”
Bond is forced to drink it at a health clinic, but as his appearances in other books and movies have shown, he much prefers coffee to tea.
Japan has a tea culture not unlike that of Britain, and Huffington Post notes that it's the only other place besides that health clinic where Bond drinks tea.
Fleming had a house named Goldeneye on the island of Jamaica, which may be why he has Bond drink Blue Mountain coffee which at one point accompanies Bond’s breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon and assorted tropical fruits. In fact he goes as far as assuring us Blue Mountain is “the most delicious in the world”.
Or perhaps it is more to do with Bond’s parentage. His Scottish roots are well known, but his mother was Swiss. Did James Bond inherit his mother’s dislike of tea?
However, in all the pictures I've seen of Fleming, he is always imbibing something a little stronger...
Yes, he drank moloko plus, but also plain milk in the morning, and added milk to tea. Milk was used as a leitmotiv to illustrate his youth, innocence, but also savagery.
My favourite regular tea was PG Tips too but they've changed the blend and it's not as nice now. It's a real shame as it tasted great as it was. It didn't need to be changed. They also changed the shape of the teabags from triangular ones to square ones. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
I'm back from Yorkshire, where ironically I barely drank Yorkshire tea. At Bettys, I had their own blend which was very nice. I regret not trying again their Blue Saphire tea, which was completely out there and one of the best teas I had in my lifetime.
PG Tips shouldn't have monkeyed around with the flavour of their tea. 🐒
Considering the amount of cigarettes Bond smoked, I am not surprised he only drank coffee, it was probably the only thing he could still vaguely taste. That, and the fact that he used other drugs, alcohol, benzadrine.... Sounds like the perfect mixture to keep 'the empire' alive.
The history of tea is quite interesting, and the different ways it is drunk as well. From very sweet and minty in Marocco, to full of cardamon, milk and sugar in India, to a clear green tea in Japan. I wouldn't say any way is heresy, just different. Personally I like mine made out of loose leaves (they give more taste), not too dark, and properly boiled so there's no bitterness to it. If you leave the leaves in cooling down water, it does get bitter.
When I visited Japan the girl I was staying with took me to a place that served this, but without having to participate in the ceremony
Matcha is a finely ground powder of green tea specially processed from shade-grown tea leaves. Shade growing gives matcha its characteristic bright green color and strong umami flavor.
Matcha originated in China, but the production of the raw material for matcha was banned in China in the 14th century
The traditional Japanese tea ceremony, typically known as chanoyu (茶の湯) or sadō/chadō (茶道), centers on the preparation, serving and drinking of matcha as hot tea, and embodies a meditative and spiritual practice.
The characteristics of matcha are as follows.
Color: bright green, might be dark green depending on which leaves are used
Flavor: strong umami flavor
Aroma: unique ooikou (覆い香), like green laver.
I'm thinking about ordering some.
Yes I experienced that, a long time ago now, and I can't remember what the brand was
It was like they had added a dye. I assumed it was because the the actual tea they were using did not produce a suitable colour
The flavour wasn't much good either...
I got a similar experience about lapsang souchong. Hated it. Too smoky.
I think nowadays the smaller/specialised tea companies are the ones mostly selling loose leaf tea. I remember a time when Twinings was selling boxes of loose leaf tea, which i could easily find in Montreal. I used to buy one blend, try it, finish it, then try another then another... Some of these blends, like Russian Caravan, I can't find anywhere anymore. If it still exists.
Edit: it still exists. https://twinings.co.uk/products/russian-caravan?variant=39600751378630¤cy=GBP&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20847412027&gbraid=0AAAAADyaO0Ri_tMs601TTYysYzSR_SltF&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlrvBBhDnARIsAHEQgOT7rth4H8n2Rt4a863PJR08Z-ZOvx51GDWk74ZIBBVh3DSiroQLVfEaAiQwEALw_wcB
Well, i can imagine smoking tabacco is kind of difficult without the paper around it. allthough a pipe could be used, but I don't know if that's the same tabacco.
Anyway, as a non-smoker, i digress.
Personally I prefer loose tea. The leaves are bigger, which somehow seems to affect the taste as well. I tend to make a pot of tea each morning (and afternoon, and evening), so the loose leaves aren't too much of a hassle. Just put them in an egg or clamp or other metal holding device, leave them for a couple of minutes and bob's your uncle. (if there are any dwarfs here, you can gforget the uncle part).
Reminds me of when I was staying with a friend in Switzerland (where they prefer coffee) and he asked if I'd like a cup of tea. When it arrived I took a sip and thought it tasted nothing like tea, so I had a look at the packet and found it was a brand of herbal "tea" that contained no actual tea leaves among it's ingredients. For my Swiss friends "tea" really just referred to any beverage made using the process that we most commonly associate with making tea i.e immersing plant matter in hot water in order to draw out the flavour.
I like ginger so I would probably like a beverage based on it, whether or not there were any actual tea leaves involved. I would probably refer to it as "ginger tea" in the same way I refer to "ginger ale" or "ginger beer", which may or may not be prepared using the same process as beer for all I know
But if I want to drink actual tea I think I would always prefer to have it for itself with no additional ingredients. I enjoy it with or without a dash of milk, but never with sugar since I was a kid.