A poll for the tea drinkers

[karohemd]

[Poll #1583229]

*assuming a common square teabag

ETA: Interesting. I must be a heathen because I use a bag usually twice because I find there's still enough flavour in it.

Comments

[the-lady-lily.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what has prompted this poll, and I am fairly sure that I do not wish to know.

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Not that I actually drink the stuff; I just make it for other people...

[technotom.livejournal.com]

I once tried to make a tea with a used teabag.

It's nice if you like drinking weak tea-flavoured liquid though a cardboard box with an old jumper inside.

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

Is this a Yorkshire thing?

[mr-malk.livejournal.com]

That sir, is fighting talk!

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

*adopts a horrible accent*

"Each bag makes two cups!"

You can't deny it, its on the box!

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I think that's supposed to be in parallel, not serially!

[briggsy.livejournal.com]

At the dizzying heights of 2 or 3 pence per tea bag, this shouldn't ever need to be asked.

[mr-malk.livejournal.com]

In fairness, I should point out that I am constitutionally opposed to making tea in a mug (it should brew in a teapot), but it is true that one tea bag can (in a pot) make 2 or 3 mugs of tea (there are caveats to this, but it's basically true).

Norma Major, wife of the former PM once said in an interview that she dried out teabags and reused them, perhaps in a misguided attempt to make her seem like a normal person who had to consider frugality as much as any other normal housewife. The result was (resoundingly) "Bloody Hell! I wouldn't want to go to tea at their house!

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

yeah... that whole tea pot thing is actually true. But thats because it sits and brews for longer and you don't want it to stew.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Serious question: at which point turns brewing into stewing?
It seems I am extremely ignorant in the science of making tea.

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

IMO When it starts taking on a harsh, bitter flavour, but your mileage may vary.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Proper tea making aside, of course.

When I make a mug from loose tea (with one of those sieve infusers), I tend to use less than is in a bag.

[ebb.livejournal.com]

You see, if you're doing it for a taste point of view, rather than a frugality point of view, I can't see the problem in re-using a bag. But if you're offering tea to others, it should be from the pot and using fresh bags... or frest loose tea.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Oh absolutely, I'm talking about the standard tea you make for yourself several times a day.
I wouldn't dream of doing it if I served tea to others.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Sainsbury's have recently started selling 'one-cup' teabags, which have about 2/3 the tea of a normal one. These are about right for me (and for most normal people).

But I wouldn't dream of re-using -- the fresh notes that are the first to come out are what I like about tea, I don't like the later stewed tannins.

[pmoodie.livejournal.com]

Only once. And sometimes, that tea-bag is not enough and I put another in the same mug, to create what I call Power Tea. :)

[emperor]

[x] curiously-named sexual practices offended my grandparents, you insensitive clod!

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

*grins*

[oh-kimberley.livejournal.com]

My Nan and Grandad used to hang tea-bags on their washing line to dry out and re-use (!) but, in all honesty, I only use a tea-bag once because I can taste the reduction in flavour.

[devalmont.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but you are the TeaMonster.

[oh-kimberley.livejournal.com]

I am, yes.

ALL YOUR TEA ARE BELONG TO US.

[fearmeforiampink]

How strong do you like your tea? That may be a correlating factor.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Flavour over strength, certainly.

[doki-chan.livejournal.com]

I have an oversize cup so I only use one

I remember that my mum used to do tea for herself and her mum (my grandma) using only one bag but dipping it back and forth between both cups... when cups were smaller

no-one seems to do it now as I'm sure the bags are smaller...

so, I guess it depends on the size of "cup". a teacup is small, and you can get 2 cups out of those "pot for one" teas you buy out at a cafe or somesuch. A mug probably needs mor ethan that, so you use a full bag, maybe brewing it for a variable amount of time depending on taste...

[gbsteve.livejournal.com]

The only time I use a bag for more than one cup is when I'm either making a pot (and I'd rather use loose leaf for that anyway) or a cup for my father-in-law. For him I put the tea bag in the cup, put the water in, take the tea bag out straight away and put it in my cup to make a proper cup of tea. The result, for him, is something that looks pretty bad before the milk is added and terrible afterwards. It's basically off white warm watered down milk.

[dougs.livejournal.com]

In common with certain other commenters, I hold that tea is made in a pot and not in a mug.

Tea is not re-used.

[mr-malk.livejournal.com]

I feel that this thread deserves a mention of the tea-making antics of the legendarily eccentric England Wicket-keeper "Jack" Russell. To quote Wikipedia:
"Some of his more notable oddities included a diet to supplement his extreme fitness regime, which consisted largely of tea, biscuits and baked beans. Like his mentor Alan Knott, a mad tea drinker, Russell would get through 20 cups a day. He used to dip the tea bag in once, add plenty of milk, then hang it on a nail ready for subsequent use. In the final Test of the 1989 Ashes series (against Australia) at the Oval, Derek Randall counted that he used the same bag for all five days, which roughly equates to 100 cups."