When in doubt, shock or trouble, we put the kettle on. Unfortunately, making tea is a tradition in tatters, and I blame the government, the economy, corporate greed, the education system and the housing market.
In the UK we drink in the region of 165 million cups daily. Almost all of those are made from tea bags, which is bad enough, but many people even dispose of that most quintessential accessory, the teapot. I bet today’s youth haven’t even heard of a tea strainer.
A good reason to avoid teabags, other than taste and decency, is that most contain chlorine, whose purpose is to bleach the bag and disinfect it to prevent bacterial decay. In doing so, it leaves a chemical residue. Not all do, but that’s not the point. A bag of dusty tea can never replace the real thing – loose leaf, stored in a tin caddy.
By switching to loose leaf, and therefore properly brewed tea, you are joining a revolution which is taking place all over the world. It is a quiet revolution, and rather, well, slow. The Slow Food movement began in Italy in 1986 as a protest against the opening of a branch of McDonalds at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome, and now has over 100,000 members in 150 countries. It is ostensibly concerned with the rejection of a pervasive fast food culture and the promotion of real, sustainable food. But on another level it is much more than that. Slow Food is an ideology which gently subverts the culture of ‘consumerism’ which has reduced us to mere economic units, too busy to stand and stare, or to eat properly, or engage with the process of making a proper cup of tea. Instead, the focus of consumerism is speed and quick fixes. New homes are built with tiny kitchens, the idea being that spatial economy can maximise value. How can we be happy with nowhere to store a teapot?
Some things are best done at a snail’s pace, like eating slowly, chewing each morsel thoroughly and thoughtfully. Similarly, we need to adopt a Zen-like approach to tea making. The pleasure is not only in the drinking but in the preparation. The Japanese art of tea-making exemplifies this philosophy; each step is a choreographed ritual culminating in the most simple of pleasures, performed with reverence for the tea, the giver and the receiver.
So, how to make a decent brew? I’m not keen on builder’s but like a nice pot of green or herbal tea. When I say herbal, I don’t mean those pleasant-smelling but foul-tasting fruit teas. No, I mean loose leaf nettle, perhaps mixed with dandelion leaf or comfrey; that sort of thing. Mint leaves after dinner also go down very well. It is essential to warm the pot before you add the tea, then cover the pot with a well padded cosy. I let the tea draw for around five minutes, then strain. OK, that’s not entirely worthy of a Japanese ceremony but definitely more Zen than a chlorine-dunked bag of dust.
Is that why, when I make a cup of organic peppermint tea, with a teabag, I get a ring of scum around the inside of the cup? (Ugh!)
Normally that would be due to hard water and can be put right by using a water filter jug. But if you find it only happens with teabags, and not loose leaf, perhaps it does have something to do with the bag itself, but I have to say I’m only guessing – try loose leaf and see what happens.