There is tea, and then there is tea. And the difference how to drink it is very important to ensure your cuppa has just the prefect texture and taste. So, the question is what is this all about?
Well, there are significant differences between the Asian and British tea culture, by which British popular tea providers like Twinings or Yorkshire Tea suggest to drink tea with as hot water as possible, the Asian tea culture is much milder and smoother. Especially green tea has gained an indisputable reputation which has swept over to Europe and is celebrated as the ultimate detox and weight-loss support. Even though black tea is still the main choice among British people, green tea sales have definitely rocketed. And who can wonder when it is repeatedly claimed that drinking green tea while working out (not meaning doing it simultaneously - that's just spilled tea) actually covers a wide range of positive effects on your body, including raising metabolic rate, increase fat oxidation as well as healthy nutrients such as anti-oxidants and caffeine. But in order to make your green tea the health-booster you are looking for, there are some things to consider, so here is how to make the perfect green tea. 1) Opt for high-quality tea If you drink green tea which includes flavours or sweeteners, and your green tea should be free of all of those. Good brands include Yogi Pure Green Tea, Rishi Organic Green Tea or Matcha Tea. If you want the real Asian tea experience, also rather go for loose leaf tea than teabags. 2) Don't pour boiling hot water on the delicate leaves For British black tea it is recommended by most that the water be really hot and well-boiled; however, green tea is very tender and boiled water can destroy the delicate catechins, which is a kind of antioxidant and flavonoid, making the taste as well as the detox magic work. So it is ideal to boil the water and let it cool down for five to ten minutes before pouring it over the tea leaves. 3) Don't let the tea steep for too long Asian tea culture likes their tea soft and weak and the taste of green teas is pretty strong by itself, so don't let it steep for the usual five minutes, but rather opt for 2-3 minutes. Also, don't press the leaves but let them dissolve their taste slowly and evenly. 4) Don't drink green tea on an empty stomach As green tea has many acids, it doesn't go well on an empty stomach which can actually go as far as harming your liver, but may definitely give you a stomach ache. Ideally, it is taken two hours before or after a meal (but still not on an entirely empty stomach). Also, as it contains caffeine, you should drink your last cup at least two hours before bedtime, or it may keep you awake (same goes for black tea, of course). 5) A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down This is a personal tip from my side that I learnt from my tea lady (yes, I have a tea lady). I complained to her that green tea always gives me a stomach ache and she recommended adding a pinch of sugar to it. As mentioned already, green tea is full of acids, which are also reason for the health benefits of it; however, for people with a slightly weaker belly, they may be too much. A pinch of sugar helps because a chemical reaction takes place (don't ask me which, I was never good in science), which reduces the acids and makes the tea more digestible for bellies. It really doesn't have to be much (definitely not a spoonful), but a pinch may help you.
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No teatime tray would be complete without a delicious selection of traditional scones. Scones breathe life into the teatime experience and, more importantly, they are absolutely mouth-watering.
Scones have always raised the debate of when to put the jam and the clotted cream, and even though both ways have their upsides, I prefer the jam first, then clotted cream type of scone than the one the other way around. Either way, this recipe will guarantee you fluffy and delicious scones which will blow your tea party away. Scones Makes 10 to 12 scones. You will need: 500g self-raising flour plus a little bit for dusting (if you don't have self-raising flour, add two tsps of baking powder to plain flour) ½ tsps salt 4 spoonful butter 2 spoonful sugar 250 ml milk plus 3 spoonfuls to coat the scones strawberry jam clotted cream or whipped cream Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Put the self-raising flour and salt into a bowl and rub the butter in until you have a crumbly mix. Add the sugar. Press a dent into the dough and pour in the milk. Blend everything until it is smooth and creamy. (You can add raisins at this point, if that is your cup of tea, but it is certainly not mine). Roll out the dough on a dusted surface until it has a 1 cm thickness but don't press it out to much, as you want your scones to be fluffy. Take a 6 cm diameter cutter and cut out the scones. Coat them with milk and bake for 10-12 minutes until they have assumed a golden hue and have risen. Let them cool down and serve with jam and clotted cream. Yummy... Cupcakes are among the most popular teatime delicacies and it isn't hard to understand why. Not only do they have the puffy, fluffy base of a muffin, but also the buttery, creamy deliciousness on top which makes it floating down your throat so much easier (and tastier).
With cupcakes, creativity meets no limits but in this post I am presenting you with a basic batter and a cutter cream icing, to perfect this teatime of yours. So let's start. First of all, preheat the oven to 180 degree (Celsius) and put cupcake cases into the moulds of a muffin tray (you may grease it alternatively if you don't have the paper cases). You will need: 115g softened butter 115g sugar 2 eggs 1 sachet of vanilla sugar 115g self-raising flour (or plain flour with 1 sachet of baking powder added) 1 spoonful milk Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and whisk until you have a fluffy, creamy texture. One by one, add the two eggs and blend in thoroughly. Add the vanilla sugar and finally the flour. Fold in the flour gently until everything is smooth and blended. Add the milk and fold in, too. With a spoon, put the mix carefully into the cases (after sneaking a taste, obviously) and make sure the mix is spread evenly. Put the tray in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. When the cupcakes are baked, ensure they have cooled off completely before putting the icing on. Butter cream icing 150g softened butter vanilla sugar 280g icing sugar 1-2 spoonfuls milk Whisk the butter and vanilla sugar. Slowly, add the icing sugar and fold in thoroughly until your icing is sticky, stiff and creamy. If you want you can add food colouring to make your cupcakes look extra delicious. Victoria Sponge Cake is a classic for any teatime lovers, but the little brother of the British traditional cake, is, of course, Edwardian Sponge Cake. This smaller version offers itself perfectly well for teatimes. For creative heads, you may even use a souffle dish to create tiny sponges. Another difference is that I used strawberries, but you may also take raspberries instead, if that is more your cup of tea.
For this version, you will need: 2x 20cm tins which should be either greased or lined with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Ingredients 200g unsalted, softened butter 200g caster sugar half a sachet of vanilla sugar 4 eggs 200g self-raising flour strawberries raspberry jam 250ml whipped double cream 1 sachet of cream stiffener 3 spoons of sugar icing sugar, for dusting Put the butter, sugar and vanilla sugar into a bowl and whisk until creamy. Then beat the eggs in slowly, one by one, and fold in the flour carefully until you have a creamy and smooth mixture. Divide the mixture between the tins and put them into the oven. Let them bake for about 20 minutes (check in between, but don't open the oven door to let steam escape. The cakes should have risen nicely). As it is a sponge, you can test if it's ready by pushing gently into the middle which should spring back into its form. Let the cake cool for about five minutes before removing the tins. Let it cool completely before putting the icing on. While the cake is cooling, beat the double cream and add the stiffener to ensure it won't fold. Lastly add three spoons of sugar Insert the strawberries and blend together. Put the mix in the fridge if the cake hasn't cooled down yet. When the cake has cooled completely, spread a layer of raspberry jam on the bottom half and add the strawberry cream. Put the top sponge on and spread the same layers on top. You can use some strawberries to decorate your cake. And lastly, enjoy! If I say tea, you say...CAKE!
Obviously any good afternoon tea also includes an array of fresh sandwiches and some deliciously sweet bonne bouches. Among the most popular are cupcakes, shortbread and, of course, scones with jam and clotted cream; however, the tea-lover's palate has adopted a wider range of cakes and sweets to go with his or her favourite time of day and the delicious choice of tea chosen, including cake pops, a selection of cakes and brownies. Personally, I love brownies and they are definitely among my favourites of all desserts. I also often use them as a base for cakes and, as you can see in the picture, for little souffles with chocolate ganache which will simply melt on your tongue. However, for the more traditional brownie, I am giving you my favourite recipe and if you want to try the souffles just divide the ingredients by six. Brownies Ingredients 250g unsalted butter 250g chocolate (dairy or dark for brownies; white for blondies) 350g caster sugar 6 eggs 200g plain flour Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and grease a baking dish (approx. 20x30 cm) In a pot melt the chocolate and butter on low heat and stir regularly to avoid clumps. In the meantime, blend the sugar and eggs until creamy and well-mixed. Pour the melted chocolate and butter mixture into the bowl with the sugar and eggs (the chocolate blend can still be warm) and blend together with a mixer. When everything has blended magnificently, add the flour and fold it in gently until you get a smooth, creamy texture which slowly drips off the spoon (sounds pretty yummy, doesn't it?) After stealing a fingerful of mixture, pour it into the baking dish and make sure it spreads evenly. Tap the dish once or twice to make sure all bubbles in the batter dissolve. Put the dish into the oven and let it bake for approximately 20-30 minutes. To ensure you've got the right consistency, take a spatula and make the batter test (which means sticking in the spatula and if it comes out clean, you're brownies are ready). However, bear in mind that brownies are supposed to be slightly soggy in the core, so don't overbake it. Let the brownies cool - or even better, gobble them up there and then! Tea lovers know what a serious matter dunking is and how the right biscuit can perfect that cuppa or ruin the whole experience. Obviously, there are preferences regarding various ranges of biscuits and whereas some of us prefer the traditional dry bickie with their afternoon tea, others prefer a more sophisticated choice including a thin layer of chocolate or even whole nuts with their tea. Whichever you prefer, there are some features your bickie should bring into the relationship to ensure a smooth and successful dipping. First and foremost, it shouldn't crumble too easily, as you hardly want these little crumbs drowning in your tea, remaining as soggy blobs on the bottom of your tea cup, refusing to blend or to dissolve. However, a cookie too soft may also not be the best choice as it not only dissolves into your tea (at least you won't have the problem given above), but it also is usually a cookie delicious enough to be enjoyed tea-less (yes, apparently there is such a thing). Also, it is rumoured that a good dunking biscuit has to withstand up to fourteen dips without dissolving... Bear in mind, tea biscuits are called so because tea transforms a rather boring and bland biscuit into a mouth-watering and new experience in which tea and biscuit enter a romantic dance which culminates in the perfect soggy crunch every tea lover is striving for. So which are the best biscuits to go for? Well, below you will find a list of the tea biscuits to use for dunking, as well as a recipe I recently used to make my own tea treats. Obviously, these are my recommendation and they are not in hierarchical order , so if you disagree or want to comment, please do so. 1) Hobnobs British people love their hobnobs, regardless if without or with chocolate, and they are still widely used for dunking. They are pretty bland without tea, which makes them perfect for tea-dipping as they don't mess with the taste of the tea itself. According to a study conducted by Wren Kitchens found out that they sustain 14 seconds in hot tea before crumbling. 2) Rich Tea Even the name denotes how perfect this biscuit is for dunking. Rich tea are plain and light biscuits which are pretty dry - but added to tea, they become the perfect companion and with nearly a minute of dunking time (see Wren Kitchens again), they outperform the Hobnob by far regarding endurance. 3) Custard Cream Belonging to the fancier category of biscuits, the custard cream cannot be omitted from this list due to its creaminess and delicious custard flavour, which, upon being dunked into the tea, will slowly dissolve and add this bit of sweetness to your tea you've been looking for. For obvious reasons, the custard creams appeal very much to children and some, it is rumoured, have even been spotted nibbling on a biscuit without having it dunked yet! 4) Shortbread Among the winners of the Wren Kitchens dunking challenge with 1 minute and 20 seconds, the good old shortbread proves its sturdiness and reliability when it comes to dunking. Probably rather outdated in the heads of some, it is still one of the number one choices when it comes to dunking choices because it combines the buttery taste with sugar sweetness and its brick-like form reduces extensive crumbling. In short, one of the best choices you could make for your dunking experience. 5) (Chocolate) Digestive Very similar to the Rich Tea biscuit, this cookie can be enjoyed with or without chocolate and is equally delicious in tea. Whether you prefer the plainer version which softly crumbles into your cuppa or the added sensation of chocolate mingling with the milk and sugar (I have my tea with milk and sugar), Digestive provides the right choice for you. Obviously there are many more biscuits to dunk and love, but the ones given above are my all time favourites. Now, recently I decided to bake my own dunkers and even though quite crumbly, they were delicious in tea, so enjoy these Homemade Chocolate Cookies. For the biscuits you will need: 135g softened butter 130g sugar ½ tsp vanilla sugar 2 eggs 210g self-raising flower 1 pinch of salt 60g chopped white chocolate 90g chocolate drops Preheat oven to 180 degrees (Celsius). Line a tray with baking paper. Put the butter, sugar, vanilla sugar in a bowl and mix until fluffy. Add the eggs one by one and blend in well. Add the flour and salt. Finally, put in the chopped chocolate and the drops and blend everything together until you have a smooth texture. Spoon the mix onto the baking tray and flatten the heaps with a spoon or a flour-dusted hand (so it doesn't keep sticking). Make sure there is enough distance between the cookies, as they will rise while baking. Bake the cookies for 10-20 minutes, take them out and let them cool. Put the second batch in the oven while the first one is cooling (and make sure to nibble at one of them while still warm). These cookies will hold for over three weeks if put into a cookie jar, so your dunking needs should be covered for a while... If you have been following my Instagram feed, you might have noticed that I am a tea addict. Having been raised in a predominantly coffee-obsessed country, I therefore struggle regularly with other people's oblivion (or ignorance) to how to make a decent cup of tea.
As an English tea drinker, I obviously mean black tea, primarily, when I talk about tea, even though I also love green tea, white tea and herbal tea (pretty much anything that's not fruit tea because that isn't even real tea, if you ask me). Living in Vienna now, it has come to my attention that in Austria barely anybody drinks tea, let alone black tea with milk. For them, putting milk into tea is a perversion as is drinking fake fruit tea for me. Now you can imagine that, apart from when I am at home, I barely get to drink a decent cup of tea because every coffeehouse - and alleged tea house - manages to fuck up making a good cup of tea to the point where I want to rip out my hair. After I lived in England - where much more people know how to drink tea properly - I was terribly disappointed when I came back to Austria and realised I couldn't expect to find someone here to understand the art of making tea (apart from my family and my good friend, Lilo, of course - who is a tea mastermind). It started when I visited my best friend and she offered me tea - of course no black tea. When she attempted to pour the hot water into my cup without the tea bag being inside yet, I yelped in horror, reprimanding her instantly that one couldn't possibly go with water first, then tea bag. Only a psychopath would do such a thing. Or a coffee-drinker, so fair enough. When I am in Austria, I cannot drink tea in a café because they exclusively mess it up. They bring you a cup with lukewarm water, which definitely didn't come from a kettle, and a teabag ON THE SIDE! Who does such things, please? It's called "brewing tea" for a reason. Usually, I am a really nice person who doesn't complain in restaurants or has some perverse, extra requests for the food, but I do become such a bitch when it comes to drinking tea. I cannot recall how often I have told confused waiters that their tea-making habits are all wrong, and would they please relate that to the manager. I will sit in an alleged "tea house", asking how they prepare their tea, only to derisively snort and order hot chocolate, letting them know they shouldn't be called a tea house. I know, this doesn't sound at all like me, but, you see, I am on a mission. Others want to end world hunger or own a yacht one day, my mission is to educate people on how to drink tea and science actually agrees with me. The University of Northumbria did extensive research on what is the best method to drink tea and you can read their instructions by clicking here. Also, the website of Yorkshire tea tells you how to prepare their tea, you can read it here. I will give you my recipe, which is strikingly similar to the scientific way and the Yorkshire (a real Yorkshire girl I am) or Twinings way. The perfect cup of tea (for a mug, but it's basically the same for a pot, only the waiting time is longer): 1. Put FRESH water in a kettle (and only a kettle, don't even think of using the hot water option from a coffee maker). Why should it be fresh? Well, each time you boil water, it loses oxygen, which will result in your tea tasting hard and metallic. Also the tea can release its taste best with fresh water. 2. While the water is boiling, prepare a mug with a teabag in it (or tea leaves, if you want to do it the super-right way; one spoonful per person) and put next to the kettle. 3. Pour the water over the teabag in the mug. Now, there is some disagreement whether the water should be boiling hot when pouring over the tea or not. Science suggests it should be because the tea leaves dissolve best; however, Twinings insists boiling hot water burns the tea leaves, preventing them from releasing all their toxins and tannins, etc. Personally, I don't really care. When I am nearby, I will pour it immediately, otherwise, the water goes in slightly cooled down already. 4. Let it brew. Now, especially with black tea, this is also a question of taste. Some like their tea strong, others prefer it weaker. The ideal time, apparently, is 2-3 minutes, which I do too, then I slightly squeeze the tea bag to get the last leaves to release their taste too and put the bag in the bin. NEVER REUSE A TEABAG!!!! 5. Add milk and sugar according to your taste. I always add milk until the tea is a beige tone and enough sugar to make it taste a little sweet. 6. Sit back and enjoy your lovely cup of tea. Black tea, by the way, is the only tea I drink with sugar. All others I don't; however, I add a fingertip of sugar to every tea and you should too. Tea, especially green tea, has acids in it which can make your tummy ache when you drink too much of it, but a pinch of sugar will set off a chemical reaction which will reduce the acids and, even though you cannot even taste the sugar, your tummy will thank you. Other tea-related trivia: Asians often put the tea leaves into the water after it was poured, but this is also because they drink rather jasmine or white teas than black teas and they prefer their teas much weaker. It is rumoured that, regarding black tea, if you leave the teabag in for under five minutes, it will give you a good kick-start into the day; if you leave it longer than five minutes, it will make you tired (and you will have a disgustingly strong black tea). Did you know that the British drink over 60 billion cups of tea each year? Annually, each British person, on average, drinks 213 litres of tea. In Austria it's only 32 litres of tea per person. Did you know, Britain only comes third in the ranking of most tea drinkers? Number two is Ireland and number one is Turkey. Per second, about 15.000 cups of tea are being drunk worldwide. Did you know that herbal and fruit teas aren't real teas (as if I haven't tried to tell you) because they don't come from a tea shrub nor have they caffeine in them. "Real" teas are black, green and white teas. |