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New Earl Grey?

madurobob said:
I was going to say "handguns". But, yeah, coffeemaker works, too.

ETA: But, in fact, I use my tea kettle and a press pot. Works nicely.

But, finding a decent kettle here in NC isn't easy. I built my wife a gypsy wagon (vardo) last Spring and it needed a kettle for boiling water over a gas stove. I went to every store within 50 miles that sold kitchen wares and there was not a kettle to be found. I eventually had to buy one online. I was wary, wanting to hold it it my hand before buying, but its turned out to be an excellent kettle.
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This is just sad.

Don't get me wrong, I love Iced Tea, but it has to be made properly. That involves the apparently confusing and complicated method of boiling water and brewing the tea, adding sweetner (I use honey if I want calories and Splenda if I don't), then pouring the brewed tea over ice.

I also like a good hot brewed Earl Grey as well, depending upon whether I am in the mood for something warm and soothing, or brisk and refreshing. Also, thanks to a certain French Starship Captain (who sounds and acts remarkably English), I learned that one can add milk to Tea as we in the States often do with coffee. I tried it and it quickly became my morning wake-up throughout my college years.
 
cwalner said:
I also like a good hot brewed Earl Grey as well, depending upon whether I am in the mood for something warm and soothing, or brisk and refreshing. Also, thanks to a certain French Starship Captain (who sounds and acts remarkably English), I learned that one can add milk to Tea as we in the States often do with coffee. I tried it and it quickly became my morning wake-up throughout my college years.
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Oh, thats dangerous territory! There are those who believe that milk in tea is an abomination that must not be suffered quietly (that, by the way, is how I feel about coffee).

As for me, I agree. Earl Grey can be enhanced with a few drops of milk (soy for me), and thats how I have it every morning. My evening cup is often milk-free, though. Goes better with desert that way.
 
We serve iced tea in the restaurant owned by my BiL, both sweetened and unsweetened. "Sweet tea" is a BIG THING in the South, and we get tons of orders for it here in NY state, to my utter surprise.

Confusing to me are the few people who have actually asked us for the "recipe."

"Um...you fill a pan with water, you bring the water to boiling, and you add the tea bag(s). Then, you set it aside and let it brew, add sugar to the pitcher, then pour the hot tea over the sugar, to dissolve it. Then you add cold water. Et voila! Sweet Tea."

There's actually more to it: at home, we add a pinch of baking soda, to take out the bitterness. We don't do that in the restaurant, but no one's ever told me why not...

..does this really qualify as a 'recipe'?? :boggled:
 
slingblade said:
We serve iced tea in the restaurant owned by my BiL, both sweetened and unsweetened. "Sweet tea" is a BIG THING in the South, and we get tons of orders for it here in NY state, to my utter surprise.

Confusing to me are the few people who have actually asked us for the "recipe."

"Um...you fill a pan with water, you bring the water to boiling, and you add the tea bag(s). Then, you set it aside and let it brew, add sugar to the pitcher, then pour the hot tea over the sugar, to dissolve it. Then you add cold water. Et voila! Sweet Tea."

There's actually more to it: at home, we add a pinch of baking soda, to take out the bitterness. We don't do that in the restaurant, but no one's ever told me why not...

..does this really qualify as a 'recipe'?? :boggled:
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According to America's Test Kitchen, the way to reduce the bitterness is to not bring the water to a complete boil, and to not over-steep the tea.
 
slingblade said:
There's actually more to it: at home, we add a pinch of baking soda, to take out the bitterness. We don't do that in the restaurant, but no one's ever told me why not...

..does this really qualify as a 'recipe'?? :boggled:
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it, I always add several pieces of coarse sea salt to the coffee grounds when I make coffee in the press pot. It accentuates the rich, smooth flavors and lessens the bitterness. I've never heard of using baking soda in tea, but next time I brew up a batch for iced tea I'll give it a try. I think I'll also try the salt trick to see what that does.
 
If you try it, Mad, add the soda while the tea is still in the pot, and hot. Once it cools, the effect seems to diminish. And just a pinch, literally. ;)
 
ZirconBlue said:
According to America's Test Kitchen, the way to reduce the bitterness is to not bring the water to a complete boil, and to not over-steep the tea.
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Black tea definitely needs boiling water to bring out the flavour, other varieties work better at slightly lower temperatures.

Brewing for too long will cause it to become stewed; better to put more tea in at the beginning. I find this rule of thumb quite useful, if you substitute seconds for minutes:

 
The Twinings website has a feedback page for this and it's like 200 people saying the new tea tastes awful. Some are saying it tastes like it has lemon washing up liquid in it! I didn't read them all, but I skimmed through a few screens worth at random and didn't see a single positive message.

Glad I don't drink tea!
 
Seismosaurus said:
The Twinings website has a feedback page for this and it's like 200 people saying the new tea tastes awful. Some are saying it tastes like it has lemon washing up liquid in it! I didn't read them all, but I skimmed through a few screens worth at random and didn't see a single positive message.

Glad I don't drink tea!
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According to their web site, the ingredients are "Black Tea, Bergamot Flavoring"

The standard ingredient for a true Earl Grey is oil of bergamot, not "Bergamot Flavoring". This type of 'flavoring' usually indicates some other, cheaper ingredient, that sort of tastes like what it is replacing. This is why Twinings Earl Grey has never tasted like real earl grey. People may like it (its sort of lemony), but its not really earl grey. I expect this is true on the new recipe too, but am not sure.
 
People actually drink that stuff? I thought it was the leftover wash water from dirty socks.

Can't I just have a nice oolong please?
 
Ysidro said:
People actually drink that stuff? I thought it was the leftover wash water from dirty socks.

Can't I just have a nice oolong please?
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I once said oolong please. Wasn't talking about tea though.
 
Graeme Willy: Whats the matter Clive?
Clive Gollings: There is an alien in the kitchen making bagels and coffee.
Graeme Willy: Did you want tea?
Clive Gollings: No, I don't want tea!
Graeme Willy: Right, because tea is weird in America.
 
A cordless electric kettle is a standard in every British home, used not just for tea but for Ramen noodles, instant mash and couscous etc... however when I first moved to the US in 2003 I had great difficulty finding any store that sold a cordless electric kettle - there were none in Costco, Target, Walmart, Best Buy etc.. and I was stunned. I finally found one in Bed, Bath and Beyond - a Philips - and it was their only one, no choice at all. These days things have changed a lot - Americans have now learnt the love of the electric kettle - you will find loads of different ones on sale in every electrical store.
 
Matty said:
These days things have changed a lot - Americans have now learnt the love of the electric kettle - you will find loads of different ones on sale in every electrical store.
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Yup, I bumped into those everywhere I went this Spring looking for a stove top kettle to use over an open flame in my gypsy wagon. They're especially popular with college kids. The stove top variety - not so much.
 
cwalner said:
This is just sad.

...
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I had a similar quest here near Chicago. Seriously, the only kettle I could find in the stores I went to (Jewel, Walgreens, Target, Meier) was a self-powered one with a cord.

Finally the Ace Hardware had a kettle. (Of all places.)

Kettles are little-used because tea is not a huge thing here and because the microwave does a good job boiling single cups of water. (Makes acceptable tea if you do it right, btw.)

Now with the Keurig being able to make tea (not perfectly) I fear the kettle might soon be as anachronistic as the butter churn.
 
Denver said:
According to their web site, the ingredients are "Black Tea, Bergamot Flavoring"

The standard ingredient for a true Earl Grey is oil of bergamot, not "Bergamot Flavoring". This type of 'flavoring' usually indicates some other, cheaper ingredient, that sort of tastes like what it is replacing. This is why Twinings Earl Grey has never tasted like real earl grey. People may like it (its sort of lemony), but its not really earl grey. I expect this is true on the new recipe too, but am not sure.
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That's interesting, I'd never looked at that, very unlike me. Could explain why it wasn't particularly liked in my household compared to other brands, have to look at what it says on the M&S packet next time I buy a box.
 
We have the old and the new at work, obviously we're in the changeover period, so I tried some, prompted by this thread. The flavour of the new one was very strong, reminiscent of having used lemon washing up liquid and not rinsed the cup properly. I couldn't drink it. The old one was much milder, and OK. (I drink Earl Grey very occasionally; I usually have Assam or English Breakfast.)
 
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