Song of the Week 1/1/99 ~ "Crazy Arms"


Recipe of the Week ~ "Brewing In This Pot of Mine ~ Perfectly Brewed Tea "

Blue's not the word for the way that I feel if I don't have a nice, hot cup of tea brewing in this pot of mine first thing every morning. And with " storms brewing " this time of year, tea is a nice cozy way to treat yourself and your guests, particularly when it's done properly. No one makes tea better than the English, so in honor of Patsy Cline's English heritage why not serve a perfect pot of tea to your friends using the method presented here. It comes from Loris Wilson's Afternoon Tea For Two If you love tea as much as I do, you will enjoy visiting Loris' site, and if you have a website, you may even want to join her new Tea WebRing or her Yummy Recipe Ring.

A Perfect Pot Of Tea

How To Make A Perfect Pot Of Tea.
How To Brew And Not To Stew.
How Silly You Say, Anyone Can Boil
Water And Use A Tea Bag. Wrong!..

Empty your kettle, then fill it with freshly- drawn water from the cold tap.
Put the kettle on and, just before it comes to the boil, pour a generous dash of the hot water into your teapot (glazed china or earthenware for preference), swirling it round and round inside the pot before pouring it away. (Warning the pot is not a meaningless ritual, but ensures that the water stays at boiling point when it hits the tea, encouraging the proper opening of the leaves.)

Dole out one heaped teaspoon of tea leaves for each person and one for the pot, straight into the warmed teapot. The kettle will have reached a galloping boil by this time, so pour the water over the tea. Take care that the water is not long boiling; over boiled water loses its oxygen and results in bitter muddy brew of tea.

Allow the tea to stand and brew for three to six minutes according to the leaf size (less time for small leaves, more for large ones). Smaller grades (known as Broken Pekoes and Fannings) Larger leafed teas (technically termed Orange Pekoes or Pekoes).

Give the tea a good stir and pour it, using a strainer to catch leaves. If you take your tea with milk, you should add it to the cup, cold and fresh, before pouring the tea.

The first cup is perfect, but while that is being drunk, the rest of the pot stews and is tainted by tannin. To solve this, it is reccomended that you use a tea-ball infuser, removing it after the requisite number of minutes.

Tea bags are never a good idea. The tea they produce is simply not the same. However, if you choose to use tea bags make sure you remove them as well. If you make sure that the tea leaves are removed after the right time, you can then safely employ a tea cosy to keep the rest hot, and each cup will be as bright and fresh and steaming as the first.

A message from SueBee: Tea stains, so be sure to take care when drinking from, or holding your tea cup! 1