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Monthly Archives: February 2011

Make It Hot

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Jezebel contributor Jenna Sauers deflates the “rah-rah Rule Britannia stuff” of the Adams, Orwell, and Hitchens essays, strips out the ceremony, and explains the essentials of making tea: The main thing — and the most obvious area of commonality between Hitchens, Orwell, and Adams — is that everything used in the making of tea must [...]

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Don’t Boil the Leaves

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

From Arthur’s Home Magazine, Vol. LIV No. 6, June 1886: The Scotch do not say “make tea,” but “infuse tea,” which is more correct. Good tea is an infusion, not a decoction. By boiling the leaves, you get a bitter principle and drive off the delicate perfume of the tea. For this reason, the tea-pot [...]

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Qianlong on Making Tea

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Multiple sources attribute this to Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong, though I haven’t located the original source: Set an old three-legged teapot over a slow fire. Fill it with water of melted snow. Boil it just as long as is necessary to turn fish white, or lobsters red. Pour it on the leaves of choice in [...]

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How To Make Tea Links

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

The start of a collection of How to Make Tea essays. Douglas Adams: There is a very simple principle to the making of tea and it’s this – to get the proper flavour of tea, the water has to be boiling (not boiled) when it hits the tea leaves. Christopher Hitchens (after Orwell): If you [...]

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