Andy Dingley > wrote in message >. ..
> On 30 Dec 2003 11:01:53 -0800, (Matthias Scholz) wrote:
>
> >THE English way is:
> >"What is Darjeeling? I only know some grocery store brands with Earl
> >Grey tea bags, Tetley and PG Tips, and I always take the cheapest!"
>
> I'm surprised that I seem to be the only Brit-resident Brit around
> here. Still, that's not a bad description of the current state of
> British tea drinking 8-)
That's quite shocking!
> British tea is drunk in several styles these days; Locally they're
> known as Builders', Anarchist, ******* and Posh. (I do happen to
> know a posh anarchist ******* carpenter, and they generally drink
> builder's).
>
>
> Builder's Tea is the typical drink of the masses. It's made as
> Matthias describes - bag in the mug, milk added later. The tea is
> cheap nameless dross from the supermarket, but it's usually based on
> Assam, to give a strong brew in no time. Real builders will add the
> regulation four sugars, but most people don't take it.
>
> Despite its proletarian origins, this is a decent brew. It's made
> (unlike American tea) with boiling water and most of our mass-market
> tea (PG, or especially Taylors) is quite drinkable. Happy Shopper
> brands and Tetleys (arguably) border on the undrinkable.
I just tasted PG Tips tea bags and I have to admit, it was very much
better than German tea bag teas, but in contrast to a normal loose
Assam, it was quite disgusting.
[...]
> Posh Tea is the only one brewed in a pot. It's also the only one where
> the ritual still dominates over the beverage - posh tea is as much an
> activity as a drink - _really_ posh tea (like what The Queen drinks)
> is as complex and stylised as anything in Japan.
Well, it seems, that this is e.g. the tea, described in some books
(Ishiguro or also in the Sherlock Holmes Stories -- ok, maybe less
'posh' at all).
[...]
> An affectation for the rituals of Posh does not signify
> any understanding of the culinary aspect.
Hm, but there seems to be an old English (non posh) way of preparing
and drinking tea with loose tea. I looked some further and found some
interesting points (mostly referred to the essay on tea by G. Orwell).
So, the old way was, to take an Indian or Ceylon tea (I suppose,
Indian tea means Assam), put six spoons into a pot, add one litre of
boiling water and ... well, ... as I understand it, don't use a
strainer and just leave the tea there in the pot. So, after some cups,
the tea must be really strong?! Maybe this is much like the Irish tea
you mentioned later?!
I also read about a more Builder's like way: put one or two tea bags
(e.g. PG Tips) in a pot, add one litre boiling water and let the tea
infuse for ten minutes, leave the bag(s) in the pot and add some other
half a litre of boiling water after some time.
[...]
> There's also Irish Tea. Ireland is the last outpost of traditional
> (1950s) English tea-drinking. It's made in a pot, it's usually
> assam-based, it's unfeasibly strong and it's drunk with full-fat milk
> and probably sugar too.
[...]
So, after all that, I think I stay with the "continental way". That
is, drinking loose tea, nearly all of it in a light, often more
half-fermented way, drank without milk and, of course, using a
strainer (after app. three minutes infusion time). Maybe the tea more
likely the English way is, using a good Assam, which is strong enough
to drink with milk.
There are also Twinings and Fortnum & Mason teas to buy here, but as I
remember it (I tasted the Breakfast blends and the Assam blends), they
are high priced and of low quality (compared to loose teas you can buy
at the same price in a real tea shop).
I think the point, that nearly all teas despite of Assam are more
half-fermented and lighter nowadays is a good explanation, why you
can't drink them with milk. And I for myself never saw a full
fermented Darjeeling and also never a Darjeeling BOP, which, I
suppose, would be a good idea to take with some milk.
For that, drinking Assam is the only way to come near to "the English
way", because, there aren't the right teas available here.
Dieter