79
drank Blood Orange by Zen Tea
2291 tasting notes

I’m having this iced today. Brewed double strength then poured over ice. It’s pretty good with a little honey, although I forgot my bit of baking soda so it is a little bitter.

I don’t think I’ll get this one again, but it does make a pretty good iced tea. The blood orange is coming across a little like orange cleaner, but I still have that horrible metallic-ness in my mouth which is probably changing the flavour a lot.

Oh well. Breathing is important, so I’ll keep using the inhaler.

gmathis

I keep forgetting the baking soda trick for iced tea. May have to write it on my hand.

Sil

baking soda trick??

gmathis

Pinch of baking soda in refrigerated teas for smoothness. I just googled it and it shows up chiefly in reference to sweet tea.

Sil

oh nice!

JustJames

@gmathis seriously? why?…… must go data mine now. (i like to know why, lol)

gmathis

Spoken like a true tea geek :)

OMGsrsly

Something to do with the basic nature of the baking soda neutralizing the acidic nature of the tannins in teas. I prefer to do this with my black teas, even when just pouring over ice, because I do not like that flavour.

JustJames

yes, right! as drs google and wikipedia also told me…. again down to HOW though, lol. so i continued to dig. appafently it’s because baking soda is an amphoteric which equates to a molecule that goes both ways and react with acids (ie the vinegar/baking soda volcano) and bases both. so, depending on its pairing mate it will either borrow or lend a molecule (cool— and i learned a new word!)

it’s even used in IVs in an instance of extreme acidosis of the blood, to reduce the acidity of soil and is used to stop the spread of phosphorus inside soldier’s wounds from an incendiary bullet (OMG i didn’t even know there was such a thing!)

it’s kept by chemists in the lab because it can be used to neutralize both acids and bases and has virtually zero reactivity and has no risk of using too much.

well thank you for prompting my research OMGsrsly. i have a chemical explanation and stretched my brain today!

gmathis

…and with a little vinegar, de-stinks the kitchen drain quite nicely. (Sorry, I’m also chemically challenged!) Intend to try it with my next cheap fridge steep of grocery store brand.

JustJames

it also doubles as a rinse aid in the dishwasher that costs SO much less and if you let it sit in the toilet and then dump baking soda on your scrub brush you have a sparkling toilet bowl! (see? i pinch pennies so i can em’ on tea!)

ashmanra

My mom taught me the baking soda in tea trick when I was a wee little lass. She tossed it in and said it kept it from being cloudy and would soothe an overstepped tea.

JustJames

argh, i am so behind! guess i’ll have to buy more tea to catch up! lol.

OMGsrsly

Keep a spray bottle of vinegar and a spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide in the kitchen for disinfecting counters. Just make sure you don’t mix them in one container (mixing on the counter is fine) because they create peracetic acid which is not really useful.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

People who liked this

Comments

gmathis

I keep forgetting the baking soda trick for iced tea. May have to write it on my hand.

Sil

baking soda trick??

gmathis

Pinch of baking soda in refrigerated teas for smoothness. I just googled it and it shows up chiefly in reference to sweet tea.

Sil

oh nice!

JustJames

@gmathis seriously? why?…… must go data mine now. (i like to know why, lol)

gmathis

Spoken like a true tea geek :)

OMGsrsly

Something to do with the basic nature of the baking soda neutralizing the acidic nature of the tannins in teas. I prefer to do this with my black teas, even when just pouring over ice, because I do not like that flavour.

JustJames

yes, right! as drs google and wikipedia also told me…. again down to HOW though, lol. so i continued to dig. appafently it’s because baking soda is an amphoteric which equates to a molecule that goes both ways and react with acids (ie the vinegar/baking soda volcano) and bases both. so, depending on its pairing mate it will either borrow or lend a molecule (cool— and i learned a new word!)

it’s even used in IVs in an instance of extreme acidosis of the blood, to reduce the acidity of soil and is used to stop the spread of phosphorus inside soldier’s wounds from an incendiary bullet (OMG i didn’t even know there was such a thing!)

it’s kept by chemists in the lab because it can be used to neutralize both acids and bases and has virtually zero reactivity and has no risk of using too much.

well thank you for prompting my research OMGsrsly. i have a chemical explanation and stretched my brain today!

gmathis

…and with a little vinegar, de-stinks the kitchen drain quite nicely. (Sorry, I’m also chemically challenged!) Intend to try it with my next cheap fridge steep of grocery store brand.

JustJames

it also doubles as a rinse aid in the dishwasher that costs SO much less and if you let it sit in the toilet and then dump baking soda on your scrub brush you have a sparkling toilet bowl! (see? i pinch pennies so i can em’ on tea!)

ashmanra

My mom taught me the baking soda in tea trick when I was a wee little lass. She tossed it in and said it kept it from being cloudy and would soothe an overstepped tea.

JustJames

argh, i am so behind! guess i’ll have to buy more tea to catch up! lol.

OMGsrsly

Keep a spray bottle of vinegar and a spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide in the kitchen for disinfecting counters. Just make sure you don’t mix them in one container (mixing on the counter is fine) because they create peracetic acid which is not really useful.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I mostly drink black tea.

Also: A map of tea places in Vancouver. I’ve been to some of them, but not a lot. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!
http://goo.gl/maps/gXsKK

Location

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Website

http://goo.gl/maps/gXsKK

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer