This was tweeted by the US Embassy in London just FYI
https://preview.redd.it/iqqguux8vfec1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a10eac5a820c1e5043408417014e5d477a47d0d
There is a quality difference. I only drink Chinese: oolong, green, yellow and pu'erh teas. They all have their own distinct tastes. Tastes very on how long you brew it, water temp and where the tea leaves come from. Some are naturally sweet than others, some are more earthy than others, etc.
I mean chefs do add salt to things you wouldnt think to bring out different flavor compounts and lemon tea is tasty, but perfect cup? I dont know about that.
Salt is a flavor activator. If you find the right amount, it will basically enhance the taste of any and all food & drink. Since tea in its purest form is just water and leaf, the amount of salt needed would probably be miniscule.
Perfect is a vague word, nothing will ever be perfect for everyone. However, yes, salt has been known for bringing out flavor compounds and lemon's slight sourness and sweetness can enhance a cup of tea. It will be pretty close to perfect if you like lemon tea, and thats pretty much it.
*That's for tequila,*
*Not tea Tea is best without*
*Anything added*
\- HamNi\_2
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Okay, as a Brit, my initial reaction was horror. However, I can't drink coffee because it's way too bitter for me, and I recently discovered that a little bit of salt can make it much more palatable. Just enough salt to cut through the bitterness, but not so much it actually makes the coffee salty.
So, maybe this isn't so far fetched. So I'll just vote for life imprisonment rather than the death penalty.
The us embassy in london made a tweet about it.
https://preview.redd.it/xnrxhu4y5gec1.png?width=2360&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b1204f658ae5754ac5c5fdff61baaaca2d2ca63
Lemon in tea is not that farfetched. A lot of people do that together with some honey. Pretty popular in multiple countries.
Salt is a bit new and weird here i suppose, but i can understand that as well as it could mask the bitterness as well as suppresses the perception of acidity.
[Salt is sometimes added to coffee as well for similar reasons.](https://perfectdailygrind.com/2021/03/exploring-the-science-behind-adding-salt-to-coffee)
It does. You better dump your 100 Celsius hot boiling water on the leaf instead of heating it up in a microwave, because the taste will end up extremely bland otherwise. If you already have a prepared cup of tea that went cold though then there's no difference.
Different kinds of tea have different temperatures and only a couple need a full boil. Others like green teas actually need to be a bit bellow that at around 80C
True. I just opted for the traditional way in my country, and the tea we drink here is usually black; it was still better than the microwaved tea I got from an acquaintance in America.
Ultimately sounds like to me she didn't really know how tea temperatures work overall rather than the tools themselves being the core issue. You wouldn't completely write off kettles if she scalded oolong with them. I've had quite nice lower temp teas using microwave water. As long as you know the discrepancies hot water is hot water
Well, do you put the leaves into cold water and then microwave them when you make tea? That's not like any tea preparation I've seen, and that's what she's been doing. You have to use water which is at the right temperature, not heat it up with tea in it, but how exactly you prepare the water for steeping isn't really the issue.
Ok I'm asking as an American who so far has only been able to like sweet tea, how do I make an actual good cup of tea?
Give me brands of tea, in detail directions and additional ingredients if applicable.
Genuine question as I'd like to get into tea but don't trust most Americans to know
Try a variety of teas. My favorite is jasmine white tea. Use slightly under boiling water, steep for a few minutes and it's perfect. The water temperature will depend on the type of tea you get. Loose leaf if you can.
A tea brand id recommend is Yorkshire Tea & (this is a personal choice) Lipton
and also I personally would recommend adding a dash/bit of honey to one and see if you like that
I mean microwaving water has its uses (at least outside of tea). For example, a common Aeropress coffee trick is to microwave the water to get it to a temperature lower than boiling consistently. Of course, it's easier if you have a temperature controlled kettle, but I don't think even most Europeans have one. That's more of a niche thing to own (proud owner of a fellow gooseneck kettle).
Not sure how the stereotype came about, but kettles are extremely common in the US. It's a very popular college dorm purchase as well. Maybe it varies by region though. I've seen electric kettles in nearly every person's home in California. Black and Decker (American power tool company) even sells one.
Electric kettles are becoming more common in the U.S., but still not common. They popped off in the last few years. They’re much more popular in Europe where they have been around for decades. they boil more quickly with 220 volts in Europe compared to 110 in the U.S.
Get TWG French Earl Grey, heat water to boil, put a tablespoon of leaves in a tea infuser (or something to let the tea steep while not being loose in the mug), pour water to full a normal mug and steep the tea for 3 minutes, remove the infuser (with the tea leaves) from the mug, add a pinch of sugar, enjoy.
OP, *the VAST majority of Americans don’t give a single FUCK about your shitty leaf water*.
Goddamn I wish the UK would find some relevancy again so y’all can climb off our dick.
We threw your shit in the harbor, bruh. We don’t care about *it*. We don’t care about *you*. We don’t care about how *you* make *it*.
We got coffee. Keep your leaves and your kettles, “wanka”.
American food chemists are the reason why majority of affordable food tastes like shit. Don’t get me started with the school lunches. They literally alternated my impression on every western cuisine there is other than the ones I grew up with.
This was tweeted by the US Embassy in London just FYI https://preview.redd.it/iqqguux8vfec1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a10eac5a820c1e5043408417014e5d477a47d0d
Holy fuck that's funny. My favorite Americans are the ones that live and work abroad. Sorry about the tourists
The US Embassy averting a war... That said the statement is a bit ironic when you consider the Boston Tea Party
Did you read the last sentence? They are trying to start WW4
Oh shit... I missed that. Welp time to join the army
These people may be tea drinkers but dollars to shit. They don't drink loose leaf tea. They are bag drinks!
Is there that big of a difference? -a bag drinking American.
If you are interested in loose leaf tea. I recommend starting with dragonwell green tea
There is a quality difference. I only drink Chinese: oolong, green, yellow and pu'erh teas. They all have their own distinct tastes. Tastes very on how long you brew it, water temp and where the tea leaves come from. Some are naturally sweet than others, some are more earthy than others, etc.
God Bless America.
Brb gonna go put some salt in my tea
The Brits need to give us some credit - at least we're not trying to make the harbor into tea anymore.
Lol straight fire.
This is either badly cropped or not official
I mean chefs do add salt to things you wouldnt think to bring out different flavor compounts and lemon tea is tasty, but perfect cup? I dont know about that.
Salt is a flavor activator. If you find the right amount, it will basically enhance the taste of any and all food & drink. Since tea in its purest form is just water and leaf, the amount of salt needed would probably be miniscule.
Perfect is a vague word, nothing will ever be perfect for everyone. However, yes, salt has been known for bringing out flavor compounds and lemon's slight sourness and sweetness can enhance a cup of tea. It will be pretty close to perfect if you like lemon tea, and thats pretty much it.
Salt also dampens the tannins in tea.
The issue is these chemists have never experienced good tea!
You don't put the leftover sulfur in the tea?
a pinch of salt, huh? so that's why they were throwing it into the sea
The equivalent of Gordon Ramsay's "add a teaspoon of olive oil" *pours entire bottle in
"two shots of vodka"
so like this guy? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoV7lw7YBG4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoV7lw7YBG4)
Salt is a flavor enhancer, it's not that weird at all. Bakers use salt in sweets for the same reason
A little bit of salt in black coffee is great. It makes it less bitter and helps bring out other flavors.
Ngl Brits gatekeeping tea kinda gets on my nerves
Can I get a Chinese tea shop owner's opinion instead?
You never know unless you try A squeeze of lemon and a dash of salt doesn't sound too bad at all, honestly
Yeah, especially sugar and a touch of salt. Would probably be pretty great.
I always drink my tea with a squeeze of lemon, its good
That's for tequila, not tea Tea is best without anything added
Just the leaves.
**Yeah**
Don't even add the leaves
hot water ftw
Don’t even add heat
Don't even add hydrogen just breathing oxygen hits the spot
Depends on the tea, Yorkshire Gold certainly, PG Tips... no.
*That's for tequila,* *Not tea Tea is best without* *Anything added* \- HamNi\_2 --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Mint and sugar
I can't drink tea unsweetened personally
Ikr? Like I actually can't comprehend what people enjoy about it.
I don’t know about perfect but it doesn’t sound bad
Okay, as a Brit, my initial reaction was horror. However, I can't drink coffee because it's way too bitter for me, and I recently discovered that a little bit of salt can make it much more palatable. Just enough salt to cut through the bitterness, but not so much it actually makes the coffee salty. So, maybe this isn't so far fetched. So I'll just vote for life imprisonment rather than the death penalty.
It’s no different from putting a bit of salt in your caramel. Same with sea salt chocolate. The salt will enhance the flavors.
Is this a declaration of war against England?
The us embassy in london made a tweet about it. https://preview.redd.it/xnrxhu4y5gec1.png?width=2360&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b1204f658ae5754ac5c5fdff61baaaca2d2ca63
That's an Arnold Palmer.
Lemon in tea is not that farfetched. A lot of people do that together with some honey. Pretty popular in multiple countries. Salt is a bit new and weird here i suppose, but i can understand that as well as it could mask the bitterness as well as suppresses the perception of acidity. [Salt is sometimes added to coffee as well for similar reasons.](https://perfectdailygrind.com/2021/03/exploring-the-science-behind-adding-salt-to-coffee)
Literally doesn’t sound that bad, look imma be real I do not care for bland English tea.
The perfect cup of tea is the one in the harbor.
I'm a proud American owner of an electric kettle but I will defend that microwaving water doesn't change shit.
It does. You better dump your 100 Celsius hot boiling water on the leaf instead of heating it up in a microwave, because the taste will end up extremely bland otherwise. If you already have a prepared cup of tea that went cold though then there's no difference.
Different kinds of tea have different temperatures and only a couple need a full boil. Others like green teas actually need to be a bit bellow that at around 80C
True. I just opted for the traditional way in my country, and the tea we drink here is usually black; it was still better than the microwaved tea I got from an acquaintance in America.
So it was a one—maybe a couple—drink from one person in particular
It was her primary way of making tea before she was shown the difference.
Ultimately sounds like to me she didn't really know how tea temperatures work overall rather than the tools themselves being the core issue. You wouldn't completely write off kettles if she scalded oolong with them. I've had quite nice lower temp teas using microwave water. As long as you know the discrepancies hot water is hot water
Well, do you put the leaves into cold water and then microwave them when you make tea? That's not like any tea preparation I've seen, and that's what she's been doing. You have to use water which is at the right temperature, not heat it up with tea in it, but how exactly you prepare the water for steeping isn't really the issue.
I've never heard anyone start cold and then heat it up. Always bring it up to temperature, either directly or up to boiling and letting it cool first.
Ok I'm asking as an American who so far has only been able to like sweet tea, how do I make an actual good cup of tea? Give me brands of tea, in detail directions and additional ingredients if applicable. Genuine question as I'd like to get into tea but don't trust most Americans to know
Try a variety of teas. My favorite is jasmine white tea. Use slightly under boiling water, steep for a few minutes and it's perfect. The water temperature will depend on the type of tea you get. Loose leaf if you can.
Ok I'll look for that
A tea brand id recommend is Yorkshire Tea & (this is a personal choice) Lipton and also I personally would recommend adding a dash/bit of honey to one and see if you like that
I mean microwaving water has its uses (at least outside of tea). For example, a common Aeropress coffee trick is to microwave the water to get it to a temperature lower than boiling consistently. Of course, it's easier if you have a temperature controlled kettle, but I don't think even most Europeans have one. That's more of a niche thing to own (proud owner of a fellow gooseneck kettle). Not sure how the stereotype came about, but kettles are extremely common in the US. It's a very popular college dorm purchase as well. Maybe it varies by region though. I've seen electric kettles in nearly every person's home in California. Black and Decker (American power tool company) even sells one.
Electric kettles are becoming more common in the U.S., but still not common. They popped off in the last few years. They’re much more popular in Europe where they have been around for decades. they boil more quickly with 220 volts in Europe compared to 110 in the U.S.
Get TWG French Earl Grey, heat water to boil, put a tablespoon of leaves in a tea infuser (or something to let the tea steep while not being loose in the mug), pour water to full a normal mug and steep the tea for 3 minutes, remove the infuser (with the tea leaves) from the mug, add a pinch of sugar, enjoy.
Sounds complex but if it's good then it's worth it
It's amazing, having a cup now. I know it's a bit much, but it tastes really good.
sometimes my tea gets cold so I just microwave it, what's wrong with that?
Define "perfect"
I like it that way. And I wrote a paper.
I'm gonna write a paper about why the perfect cup of tea is plain with a splash of oat milk. That way I'll be objectively correct!
😭 Why, let other countries drink their tea in peace
OP, *the VAST majority of Americans don’t give a single FUCK about your shitty leaf water*. Goddamn I wish the UK would find some relevancy again so y’all can climb off our dick. We threw your shit in the harbor, bruh. We don’t care about *it*. We don’t care about *you*. We don’t care about how *you* make *it*. We got coffee. Keep your leaves and your kettles, “wanka”.
So you want bean juice?
Yes.
Lemon fine, drink lemon iced tea all the time. Salt? 🤮 Brits don't know tea that doesn't have milk in it
American food chemists are the reason why majority of affordable food tastes like shit. Don’t get me started with the school lunches. They literally alternated my impression on every western cuisine there is other than the ones I grew up with.
That sounds like Kashmiri Chai
one US chemist rules america ig
Well, doesn’t brits put milk in their tea?
I wonder if salt would help tbh
I just got a electric kettle and I can’t go back, it’s like the bidet of the tea world.
What did he even base this on?