PG Tips is my fave, and yes, water boiling - very important.

I love coffee, I love tea. I love bour-bon whiiiiskey!

i'm drinking the 1st cup of tea using chapter two's method outlined above..

s'wonderful..

the ratty electric kettle worked like a charm.

my question involves loose tea...

will the ball suffice..?

it tastes like it does..

but...ignorant american you see..

and Builder's tea?

r0ck1r0ck2 wrote:i'm drinking the 1st cup of tea using chapter two's method outlined above..

s'wonderful..

Hooray!

my question involves loose tea...

will the ball suffice..?

I'm a bit lost when it comes to loose tea, my friend. Been using bags since I was a nipper, being common and northern and all that. But some people will only use loose tea, so it's probably better really. I have no idea about the ball of which you speak.

and Builder's tea?

Builder's tea is very very strong tea. Strong enough to take the enamel off your teeth. That's what builders like, apparently.

i would use the ball method like, lets say myrrh in a church.

swing it in the cup of hot water.

ah..

the update.

i'm thinking loose is cheaper..

and i swing it like myrrh in church in the pot..

hate waking up without it now...

completely addicted.

I make my tea one cup at a time, and I let it steep--covered--for 4-5 minutes.

I guess this makes me a builder.

like you had any doubt.

A teabag will do if you're in a hurry, but it isn't a real cup of tea. Loose tea is cheaper, by the way.

I'm not British but my gramma (who raised me) was. Irish to be exact. She had tea and cakes ready for me when I got home from school everyday.

Here is how she made it. I don't know if this is a "traditional" way to make tea I just know she was really fussy about her tea and wouldn't drink it any other way.

You have to have a tea pot for this method. Gramma didn't brew a cup at a time and I have never had a single cup of tea brewed on its own that tasted this good.

Boil water in a kettle, put about 6 (twinnings) tea bags in a tea pot, pour the boiling water over the bags, steep for 2 to 3 minutes.

Take the tea bags out with a ladel or big spoon. While the bags are in the ladel wrap the strings around them and pull the ends tight. (This part is hard to put in words. Its sort of like wringing out a spounge without touching it) Then throw the tea bags away.

Mix milk and sugar in the bottom of a tea cup (if you take it) and pour the hot tea over the milk sugar mix. This is important, it doesn't taste the same if you put the tea in the cup first. I think the stupidos at dunkin doughnuts heard about this but got it asssbackward somehow. They put the teabag and the milk and the sugar in the cup before they even put hot water on the bag. The tea must be brewed first, then the milk and sugar go in the cup, then the tea is poured over it. Got it?

On holidays, when there was company and she new there would be a lot of people drinking tea over a long period of time, she would do the exact same thing except with more tea bags. And instead of using a tea pot she would make the tea in a clean (never used for coffe) coffe pot. After she took the tea bags out, she would put the pot on our extra coffe machine so it would stay hot. Mind you, she never used the coffe machine to brew the tea, just to keep it hot.

Two beautiful words - BARRY'S TEA

Mind you, it'll probably mean a trip to Ireland. Which, I'll point out to you Bramble, is NOT a British country! A free state since 1922! And proud!