[ccmay]

Ah, Darjeeling! I love it, especially the "muscatel" nose.

I think if you get it from a reputable maker like Twinings or Fortnum & Mason, it will be the real thing. Like Kona coffee, it is much more expensive, but worth it.

Here is the canonical recipe for tea making, handed down from my English grandmother:

• You need a tea kettle (for boiling the water), a tea pot (for steeping the tea), a tea cozy (for maintaining a high temperature in the tea pot), and a tea strainer (because we are talking about loose tea here, not wretched tea bags.) Use a real cup-sized tea strainer with a dish that holds it when not in use. A big general-purpose strainer or colander is too clumsy and messy. You can get everything you need at a store like Sur le Table.
• The secret to good tea is keeping the temperature high as it steeps. The first step in this process is to pre-heat the tea pot by filing it with very hot tap water and putting the tea cozy on.
• Put pure well water, or the kind of drinking water you buy at the store, into the tea kettle. Distilled water will do, but lacks minerals that give water and tea a certain savor. Chlorinated tap water is out of the question. You need about one and a half cups for each person, as most of us will surely want seconds.
• Put the tea kettle on high heat and bring it to a full rolling boil.
• While waiting for the boil, put two fingers of whole milk (not skim, not cream) in the bottom of each tea cup. This step is critical, as pouring hot tea into cold milk makes a different and better mouth-feel and taste compared to pouring the cold milk into the hot tea. Apparently the milk emulsifies differently in the solution. This is the main reason tea bags are so worthless.
• When the kettle boils, bring the pot to the kettle, not the other way around, so it does not cool in transit.
• Dump out the pre-heat water from the tea pot, and put in your loose tea. Fortnum & Mason Darjeeling is my favorite, but I also enjoy Twinings Price of Wales (which is part Darjeeling and part Assam, as I recall). You need one heaping teaspoon for each person, and "one for the pot."
• Pour in the still-boiling water from the kettle to the pot, over the leaves you just put in. Close the lid and cover with the tea cozy. Let steep for three and one-half minutes precisely.
• I shouldn't have to mention this, but DO NOT put tea leaves into the pot after the water, and DO NOT boil the tea on the stove in either the pot or kettle after you have put the water onto the tea leaves. That will make it into bitter "sergeant-major's tea", fit only for old soldiers.
• After the tea has steeped, remove the cozy. Put the strainer over each cup in turn, and fill it up with the ambrosial nectar. Don't be afraid to pour out plenty of leaves into the strainer, as you don't want the remainder left in the tea pot to make your second cup too strong. The first cup you pour out will be the best and should be given to your most honored guest.
• Serve with scones, Devonshire cream, and strawberry jam, or Danish butter cookies.

I was summoned for this task by my parents most afternoons after about the age of ten, and am passing it on to my kids. My wife has totally converted to tea and drinks less coffee than I do. There really is no finer or more refreshing non-alcoholic drink in the afternoon, even on a relatively hot day.

[Joya]

Dear ccmay, Thank you for the canonical recipe for tea making, handed down from your English grandmother.

Interesting that it’s better to pour the hot tea into the cold milk than vice versa.

I found this interesting: ‘The first cup you pour out will be the best and should be given to your most honored guest.’

Steep 3.5 minutes? I thought it was supposed to be five minutes.

For folks who want their tea sweetened, what type do you recommend, and at what point should it be added?

I do make my tea by boiling water it in a teakettle on my stove. I changed to green tea about a year ago, but I drink it without milk or any sweetener, just plain: They say green tea’s very good for you.

I drink hot tea year round. (I gave up a 25-year coffee habit a couple years ago.)

Thanks for sharing your expertise with us.

Joya