Steeping this tea now, with an English muffin—that just popped from the toaster.
Mmm, English muffins…
Anyways, I picked this up at Murchie’s yesterday, which is so small and quaint, and when I entered the store, I immediately wished I had brought a book. I’m sure I will return—they have all sorts of little cakes, and I love the whole tea experience of getting a pot on a silver platter. It was very nice.
I decided to try making tea another way today; you see, the pot I have is very old, the outside paint turned brown from use. I read that filtered water is better to use over tap water (I don’t see why I had to read this—it makes obvious sense, after all), and I thought perhaps to try that. However, I assume the inside of my kettle is probably coated with enough lime scale and the sort that poring filtered water into it would negate the idea of using filtered water complete. So instead I put a mug of it into the microwave. I realized there was really no way to decide if the temperature was anywhere near where I wanted it to be, and so I used the Five Second Finger Test. How long does the water take to scald your finger? I waited until it did it instantly, and then hoped for the best (that puts it somewhere over 60c, at least [140F]). It took slightly longer for the nice rich tea colour to come out, so I can only assume the water wasn’t QUITE hot enough. I would buy my own personal kettle for tea use, but I’m sure everyone in my house would think me crazy.
I opened the tin of bags and the wondrous tea smell was nice, and strong and I took a few sniffs. On that note, the tin is PERFECT for loose leaf, so I have no idea why they decided to package their bagged teas this way. Not only does it have a tight fitting lid, but just under the lid is a SECOND lid that pushes INSIDE the tin, for extra freshness. And since the “Uva Ceylon” is just a sticker, I think I’m going to keep this tin and reuse it for loose leaf afterwards. Definitely.
The tea smells nice, and brings back memories of my great grandma. It’s odd, because it almost seems like I can smell a bit of honey. But I think it’s just the normal smell of the tea reminding me OF honey. The wet bag smells a little earthy as well.
Tea’s still a little too hot to taste much. But first sip I tasted something somewhat green. Or well, leafy. Second sip, and it tastes a little sour.
Aah, perfect, no bitterness. Joy! Although it feels a bit weak. Most likely due to too low of a temperature, I’m sure. I still think I’m getting that metallicy water taste. Maybe I should try bottled water instead of my filtered stuff. I don’t know when the last time was that that filter was changed.
A bit of honey to see what it does to the taste… I can barely taste the honey, but I think it brought out the tea flavour more. Mm. Maybe I’ll try two teabags next time. I think I like it. Heck, maybe I’ll pack a few bags to bring to work and drink on my break.
Bit of milk… Removes the metallic taste, which brings the teaness forward. Tasty.
