Oh don't let a few hundred miles get in your way! And get ready for a very British Gang Show on Saturday...don't forget your tweeds and plus fours....
It's now forming an oily skin on the top. Tastes kind of bitter and sludgey. But I think I'm perking up from the caffeine. Clearly I cannot be responsible for anything else I post this evening as I'm now under the influence. Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only one! If you can't cook (like me), it's dire! TEN HOURS...a ten hour drive. But I'll get there, you just wait. (um, what's a plus four? Is that me plus Bramble, Benson and Casper? Like a plus one at a wedding but with dogs?)
OK, I could have googled it but that spoils all the fun. So now that I have, I see that "tweeds and plus fours" are the English equivalent of German "tracht" (like lederhosen and dirndl). I prefer my Labrador version.
I love it Emily, don't drink that tea. You can get Yorkshire tea in Aldi's. You definitely need to come to Herefordshire, I'm a proper tea pot. I can make you a nice cup of tea. And find you lot's of Labradors.
That looks like ‘builder’s tea’ - too strong and made with unfiltered water. Earl Grey made with boiled filtered water with a slice of lemon is what you need .
Can I come to visit and skip the coffee? I can't even walk past a Starbucks without a rolling wave of nausea. But as I have a good friend who decided to spend two months salary on a Miele coffee maker, I understand the excitement over your new addition, so congrats! Filtered water? Maybe I shouldn't have stuck the tea bag in there for 10 minutes either. When I've tried herbal tea I leave the bag in for 30 minutes, so I figured 10 would be ok for "real" tea. Guess not. Yep, it certainly was. Got most of it down, though, and felt decidedly perkier afterwards! I'm going to have another go today, maybe I'll improve my technique.
Here you go Emily, how to make a good cup of tea. https://www.yorkshiretea.co.uk/our-teas/how-to-make-a-proper-brew
In some areas of the UK, the water is really hard, and so you get that scum on it. It's minging (you'll be hearing a lot of that word in Clevedon, I should think ) and if you're in that sort of area, a water filter is a must!
Mmm...I actually did it correctly except for the "aerating my water" bit. Go figure. I must have just a bad kind of tea in those mystery tea bags. Or... Yep, that could be it as well, because the kettle is full of white deposit. It's a little scary, to be honest - but I figured boiling it would at least kill off the germs. Oh well, I still haven't hit up Aldi, so into the breach with the tea making. Part of my UK cultural experience! (Though in terms of UK cultural experience, I think the Gang Show tomorrow will be much nicer...)
We have hard water here in North Cambridgeshire so I have a water filter. As I drink my tea with no milk, I prefer using filtered water so there’s no scum .
My son is in Bristol and has a water filter, their water is very hard. I had to test the hardness of our water for the new coffee machine and the test strip registered very soft. The first indicator hardly went pink, never mind red .
That’s the limescale from the hard water. Shows the kettle hasn’t been descaled. Owner should do that every now and again when there is a build up. Tea would taste a lot better.
Ugh! I'm a weak tea fanatic - pour boiling water over bag, remove bag immediately, add skimmed milk. Maiden's water as my old Nan used to say.
Emily has already heard this story, but that's how I ended up drinking nothing but hot water. I don't like UHT milk and when I first moved to Andorra, that's all you could get, so I ended up having less and less milk in my tea, until one day I tried it without, and preferred it that way. But, tea can be quite bitter without milk, so I started to have it weaker and weaker - to the point where I would put the boiling water in the mug and literally dunk the teabag in and straight out again. NO squeezing. It was getting a bit mad that even that could be too strong, and I eventually tried the hot water alone. It was by far the best "cup of tea" I'd had in ages, so I stuck with it
At the risk of being considered un-British - have you considered a caffeine alternative? Coffee is the caffeine king.
