Drinking tea?

[Silentrunning]

In deference to my dentist and doctor I am giving up my habit of drinking copious amounts of sweet tea. This is iced tea mixed 50/50 with sugar. Not exactly health food for sure. So what do I do with 250 tea bags that I have left? I started drinking some hot tea and found out it is quite enjoyable. Amazing! I tried it with lemon juice but you loose the tea flavor. Same with cream. Sugar is out for health reasons. I guess I will just enjoy it plain for now. It is quite relaxing to take an afternoon tea break but that may change when it is 90 degrees outside. It is odd how life changes as you get older.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Tea is never wrong! Just back off the sugar. The way they serve iced tea here it is a sweet syrup. You might feel right at home here. I am surprised someone has not tried to carbonate the stuff. Its so sweet that I get the impression the unsweetened tea next to it at the restaurants actually absorbs some sugar from the air around it. It must be amazing to make, because it is obviously a black hole for sugar where you just keep pouring the sugar and stirring and the sugar just keeps disappearing into the tea. A little sugar is a good thing. Take the edge off the bite and its good tea for me.

 

[Becky]

I drink lots of tea but never with sugar - I like it strong and milky

If you're looking for something a bit different maybe try brewing up some chai? It's essentially black tea brewed with spices and milk added - very popular in India. You can get separate chai tea bags that you add to your cup of tea (the ones I have just have the spices, so you have to add a black tea bag too), or you could do it on the hob with the proper spices (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and cloves I think). Traditionally you would add sugar too (or any other sweetener) but I find it tastes quite sweet without because of the cinnamon.

 

[CanadianLori]

I enjoy my Tetley tea. I drink about 6 cups a day - 1/2 hot and 1/2 cold--- that is the first half of the cup hot and by the time I'm finishing it, it is cold. I drink it in the summer too.

I don't add milk or sugar or lemon. Never had a bug decide to stop for a drink from my tea either. Guess they don't like tea straight so that is an added bonus.

 

[zigs]

I used to put sugar in until I was skint one day and realised a kilo of sugar would be far better used to make wine rather than put in tea

 

[Colin]

Hi,

As an apprentice I used to take a bottle of cold tea to work for drinking whilst underground it being sweetened with sugar and no milk added. I've never liked cold tea.

Bron and I drink Morrison's decaf tea made in the cup using boiling water from the kettle and pour in some fresh sweetened Soya drink; I'm intolerant of anything dairy but the Soya is a very good and healthier substitute for dairy milk. I shudder at the thought of iced tea given how cold our climate usually is. I think the Soya is sweetened with apple juice?

Bron and I are strictly Teetotal; the only alcohol I have is in the workshop; 5L of 99.99% pure which I use for french polishing. This is simply through choice having lived with my family of drunks before breaking free and marrying my lovely Bron.

We used to enjoy ordinary Tetley Tea Lori until my hands started to shake; switching to decaf completely cured my shaking hands.

To answer your question Silentrunning how about this;

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[alp]

I love tea and love the kick I get from the last mouthful of tea. I like it strong and often leave the teabag in the cup. The last mouthful is usually the best. I have bought teatags everywhere and found out that Aldi £1.26 for 160 black tea the best. No sugar for me. My teeth are endangered because I brushed my teeth straight after meals, which is a stupid thing to do.

 

[zigs]

I leave the tea bag in too

While we'm on the subject, why on glods earth are teabags made of plastic now ?

 

[alp]

I leave the tea bag in too

While we'm on the subject, why on glods earth are teabags made of plastic now ?

Plastic! That's disgusting? Where did you find this?

 

[Daren]

I leave the tea bag in too

While we'm on the subject, why on glods earth are teabags made of plastic now ?

Plastic..................No. I'm Going Back to Lose Tea then

 

[Daren]

In the Summer I love Picking Some Fennel leaves & Spearmint plus Lemon mint & adding hot water and honey then Brewing for a few min's before drinking its refreshing vary good on a hot day.............Rest of the time I Drink tea hot without sugar but a little Milk. But if its a herbal one I Leave out the milk but add a little Honey Now I'm needing a cupper

 

[MaryMary]

@Silentrunning , as long as you are enjoying it plain, I hesitate to suggest this, but hot tea is good with a little honey added in, too. Still has calories, but nowhere near as bad for you as refined sugar.

While we'm on the subject, why on glods earth are teabags made of plastic now ?

Which? Gardening found that the vast majority of teabags contain a plastic called polypropylene. It’s not biodegradable – hence the fine mesh that members have been finding. The plastic is included in order to help heat-seal the teabags during their manufacture. PG Tips told us: ‘Like most of the teabags in the UK, our teabags are made with about 80% paper fibre, which is fully compostable along with the tea leaves contained in the bag. The remaining packaging contains a small amount of plastic which is not fully biodegradable.’

Read more: https://www.which.co.uk/news/2010/07/composting-teabags-218651/ - Which?

The majority of tea bags used in the UK (55 billion a year) are made by adding acrylic polymer emulsions to the plant based materials that the bags are made of and then applying a very thin layer of polypropylene to help heat-seal bags and sachets
http://www.pfree.co.uk/tea-bags-are-made-from-paper-arent-they/

I'm going to have to look at my tea bags now.

Plastic! That's disgusting? Where did you find this?

https://treadingmyownpath.com/2014/07/11/the-scandalous-plastic-in-tea-bags-who-knew/

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2010/07/composting-teabags-218651/

http://www.pfree.co.uk/tea-bags-are-made-from-paper-arent-they/

Plastic..................No. I'm Going Back to Lose Tea then

Daren, I guess there is only one option, if you don't want to go back to loose leaf.

Which? Gardening has found one brand of teabag that is polypropylene free: Jacksons of Piccadilly.

Read more: https://www.which.co.uk/news/2010/07/composting-teabags-218651/ - Which?

 

[Daren]

I'm going to get a Glass Teapot with a built in Infuser ................No More Tea bags until then its back to the old tea strainer

 

[Esther Knapicius]

rarely touch ice tea, and never with sugar. If I drink tea, its hot and it Oolong tea natural. Or use lose leafs and a tea strainer. Coffee is my morning choice, hot tea my afternoon choice. and if I have a cold, only tea will taste good to me. None of which has sugar in it.

 

[alp]

@MaryMary I read with dread this line

It turns out that teabags are actually only 70-80% biodegradable because they also contain polypropylene!

Ooops! Who would have thought!?