Chai there! - a tea thread

[Senseye]

Isn't that mate stuff you Argentines are so fond of basically tea? Caffeine bearing leaves soaked in hot water by any other name, is tea.

[SomeInternetBloke]

I visited a *gibberish* site and shamefully had to cancel my debit card to avoid asininely high reoccurring charges. Once this mutant variant of corona virus has run its course I'm so making a new friend. Like seriously lonely over here... Anyway, once my card comes in the mail I plan to record myself taste testing all of these teas ASMR style. Also, *raises a cup of earl grey* here's to you Ferrus.

[Limey]

My grandfather used to say tea is for sick people. He gave me some of his coffee with cream when I was a kid and I was fascinated.

I do drink tea with lemon and honey when I'm feeling unwell.

To be honest, I probably drink as much coffee as tea.

My long term go-to coffee (having tried most of what''s commercially available (thanks meal expenses!) -is Starbucks Caffe Verona.
But recently, I've been cheating on it with Indian Monsooned Malabar, which is a non-acidic spicy-nutty-toffee delight.

Wiki pasta:

"Monsooned Malabar, also known as Monsoon Malabar, is a process applied to coffee beans. The harvested coffee seeds are exposed to the monsoon rain and winds for a period of about three to four months, causing the beans to swell and lose the original acidity, resulting in a flavor profile with a practically neutral pH balance. The coffee is unique to the Malabar Coast of Karnataka, Kerala and the Nilgri mountains of Tamil Nadu and has protected status under India's Geographical Indications of Goods Act. The name Monsoon Malabar is derived from exposure to the monsoon winds of the Malabar coast.

The brew is heavy bodied, pungent, and considered to be dry with a musty, chocolatey aroma and notes of spice and nuts"

[Madrigal]

Isn't that mate stuff you Argentines are so fond of basically tea? Caffeine bearing leaves soaked in hot water by any other name, is tea.

Yes, and I describe it that way in translations a lot, ha. My grandfather was Spanish though and didn't care for it.

I myself have lost the habit, I need a new straw because my old one rusted.

Wiki pasta:

"Monsooned Malabar, also known as Monsoon Malabar, is a process applied to coffee beans. The harvested coffee seeds are exposed to the monsoon rain and winds for a period of about three to four months, causing the beans to swell and lose the original acidity, resulting in a flavor profile with a practically neutral pH balance. The coffee is unique to the Malabar Coast of Karnataka, Kerala and the Nilgri mountains of Tamil Nadu and has protected status under India's Geographical Indications of Goods Act. The name Monsoon Malabar is derived from exposure to the monsoon winds of the Malabar coast.

The brew is heavy bodied, pungent, and considered to be dry with a musty, chocolatey aroma and notes of spice and nuts"

Sounds nice. Nowadays I'm drinking nice coffee from my dolce gusto machine in the morning, but since I drink industrial quantities of coffee (sometimes for something as ordinary as staying warm), I drink the stir-in stuff the rest of the day.

The coffee maker I used in Bs As was this Italian kind:



I would get it again but I'm not in a rush.

[Ferrus]

I have never really like coffee - and coffee in Spain is god-awful in the 90% of bars that insist on buying Spanish coffee made using the torrefacto method: https://spainrevealed.com/blog/the-curi ... orrefacto/

Still recently I got a nespresso machine for my wife and I am starting to get used to strong coffees - which I never thought I would, I used to only be able to drink it by drowning it in half a cup of milk - and I'll admit it does have its benefits in terms of caffeine content vs tea for an early morning wake up. The process of acclimisation seems similar to acquiring the taste for strong hoppy ales, stouts and bitters, slowly innuring your taste buds to the bitterness by the frequent application thereof.

Another thing I find funny in Spanish speaking countries is the dogged insistence by some people (and I have had arguments on this point) that there are a distinct chemicals called "teína", "cafeína" and "mateína" when they are all caffeine.

[Senseye]

Sounds nice. Nowadays I'm drinking nice coffee from my dolce gusto machine in the morning, but since I drink industrial quantities of coffee (sometimes for something as ordinary as staying warm), I drink the stir-in stuff the rest of the day.

Stir in stuff? Do you mean instant? Good lord! That stuff should only be used in desperate circumstances (like camping) or (per Ferrus) avoiding some of that black tar rotgut Euro's like to pass off as coffee.

Get yourself a basic drip coffee maker and upgrade your life. I'm guess that dolce gusto thing is some sort of overpriced pod using machine and that is why aren't using it all day.

[Madrigal]

Stir in stuff? Do you mean instant? Good lord! That stuff should only be used in desperate circumstances (like camping) or (per Ferrus) avoiding some of that black tar rotgut Euro's like to pass off as coffee.

Get yourself a basic drip coffee maker and upgrade your life. I'm guess that dolce gusto thing is some sort of overpriced pod using machine and that is why aren't using it all day.

Yeah, instant, that's what I drink most of the day. But I don't like drip coffee. Amazingly, even though I will drink instant coffee, there are some methods of making coffee that I will not bother with again. Drip is one of them. The french press is another. I can't explain why but I absolutely hate it.

And anything involving ground coffee beans is also going to be too pricey to drink industrial quantities of, so I'm sticking with the instant, lol.

[djm]

Sounds nice. Nowadays I'm drinking nice coffee from my dolce gusto machine in the morning, but since I drink industrial quantities of coffee (sometimes for something as ordinary as staying warm), I drink the stir-in stuff the rest of the day.

Stir in stuff? Do you mean instant? Good lord! That stuff should only be used in desperate circumstances (like camping) or (per Ferrus) avoiding some of that black tar rotgut Euro's like to pass off as coffee.

Get yourself a basic drip coffee maker and upgrade your life. I'm guess that dolce gusto thing is some sort of overpriced pod using machine and that is why aren't using it all day.

I only drink the 'black rotgut'. I have a minimum 10 espressos a day else I cease being able to function. I also like Turkish coffee, and prefer it so the sludge at the bottom if left undisturbed could hold the spoon up. I miss having my greek assistant, he used to make them for me. Arabs make good coffee too, with chicory in and very strong.

instant is for children ugh.

Also like tea, but then I come from a generation that was given it in a baby bottle as a nipper. Once every five years or so I come off caffeine for a month, honestly think it would be easier to give up crack. Time before last I travelled through China I could not get coffee for love nor money for three weeks. All I had was ghastly cans of Nescafe with sugary condensed milk in As soon as I got to Hong Kong I had to have about five espressos in the airport. Last time there Starbucks had appeared, but only sold nasty instant. Luckin coffee was better even if its accounting practices would make the European Union blush.

[Ferrus]

Time before last I travelled through China I could not get coffee for love nor money for three weeks.

When I was in China I had tea all the time, I must admit partially because of the delicate constitution of my stomach and the thought that at least it was boiled was a relief given the dubious hygiene standards in many places I ate at. (The same could not be said for the Peking duck and its consequences.) The Chinese seem obsessed with tea, even more than in Britain. Some of it was very good though, especially the white and oolong teas, refreshing without being overpowering. There was something pleasant about having the teas made by steeping the leaves directly instead of putting them in bags.

[Madrigal]

instant is for children ugh.

Drinking instant is the true measure of a coffee drinker. As an incorrigible coffee drinker, I will have any kind of coffee, not just the nice kind.

(you could probably compare this to alcoholism...)