Recently, I switched how I make my morning tea at the office. I | |
may never go back to my old method again. | |
The impetus of this change came from reading Douglas Adams' guide | |
to tea. | |
Douglas Adams' Guide to Tea | |
Have you read that yet? If not read it now. | |
Have you read it now? Good. | |
A bit of background on the state of things at my office. Most people | |
drink coffee for some reason, which means we have a nigh infinite | |
supply of coffee and coffee-related materials. This includes, but | |
is not limited to, a commercial coffee maker (with a hot water | |
spout) and filters. However, the office is not completely devoid | |
of anything tea-related. There are usually various bags of tea | |
available in a cabinet, and I almost always have some loose-leaf | |
tea at my desk, available to all (including the use of the tea | |
infuser ball I keep at my desk as well). | |
My typical morning tea was usually some of my loose-leaf (preferred: | |
Teavana Earl Grey) brewed in my large mug through the infuser using | |
hot water from the spout on the coffee maker. On lazy days, I'd | |
just grab a bag of whatever is in the cabinet. After reading the | |
tea guide, though, I've upgraded my method. I now keep a small, | |
cheap teapot at my desk just for this purpose. | |
So, without further ado, here's my office tea-making method. | |
Step 1 - Place loose-leaf tea into bottom of the mug. The tea is | |
placed directly into the mug, not contained within an infuser. | |
Step 2 - Poor water from the hot water spout on the coffee maker | |
into the mug directly onto the tea leaves. Let sit for the appropriate | |
amount of time for the tea. | |
Step 3 - Place coffee filter over the open top of the kettle. Poor | |
tea into the kettle through the filter. | |
Step 4 - Clean out the mug to remove any remaining tea leaves. | |
Throw the used filter away. | |
Step 5 - Poor tea into the mug from the kettle and enjoy. | |
That's all there is to it! This is certainly an adapted version of | |
Adams' guide which doesn't require a separate pot or heating source | |
for water. I'm lucky to have the hot water spout to use. At least | |
the coffee-making materials are good for something. | |
Some might wonder why I don't brew the tea in the teapot instead. | |
The teapot's spout is not filtered, so I end up having to filter | |
the tea on the way out of the kettle unless I want leaves in my | |
drink. Since I have to run through a filter anyway, I choose to do | |
so from the mug to the kettle because it is much easier to clean | |
the leftover leaves out of the mug than the kettle, especially any | |
leaves that get stuck inside the kettle's spout. | |
There's also the added benefit that brewing the tea in the mug also | |
warms the mug in the process, preparing it for the final product, | |
which is nice. | |
If I wasn't enough of a "tea snob" before, I certainly am now. I | |
couldn't be happier or more proud. |