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Sunday, April 23, 2006
Study Break
I just finished a 600+ page book and have several hundred more pages to read before I go to bed tonight. While 600 pages seemed rather daunting at first, I found the book to be extremely well written. Perhaps someday when I am not a student and do not have deadlines I will go back and actually read it. Graduate students in history do not actually read their textbooks - we skim, reading enough to grasp the author's argument. It is normal to have around 1000 pages due each week in all classes combined. We're supposed to research and write papers in addition to that. It's more than a full time job! With all of the work I have left to do tonight and with the sound of the rain and thunder outside it was definitely time to take a break and brew some tea. Uh-oh. Decision time. I have over 30 varieties of tea in my pantry. I am obsessed, I confess. I have black tea, green tea, red tea, white tea and herbal tea, each in a variety of flavors. I took up tea when I gave up caffeine a couple of years ago (I highly recommend removing caffeine from diets - I used to get headaches all the time and my body generally did not respond well to stress, but now I get very few headaches and can physically handle stress much better) because there is a very good selection of decaffeinated tea on the market. Tonight's selection, however, is not decaffeinated. In honor of the late night I foresee for myself I chose plain white tea. White tea comes from the same plant as green and black tea. The color of the tea is based on how long the tea is processed. The darker the tea the longer processing time and the more caffeine it will have. White tea is thus a very lightly processed tea and has about 15% of the caffeine of coffee. The tea leaves are only picked two days out of the year, so it is minimally more expensive than most other teas, but still quite affordable. It is to be brewed in hot water, just short of boiling, for 30-60 seconds. The taste is light and pleasant. (Red tea, for the uninitiated, is specific type of herbal tea, made from the African Rooibos herb. I really only like flavored varieties of red tea and have a very delightful red chai tea among my collection.) I find that my cup is now empty. Time for another cup and another decision!
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7 comments:
I drink tea much more than coffee when I am at home.
Here in the UK, we never identify teas by colour, but by name- Earl Grey, Kenyan, China, Jasmine. The only exception is Green tea.
Every Blessing in Christ
Matthew
When I was in Costa Rica I met a young lady from England. She had never heard of white tea. I had some of mine with me so I joined her for afternoon tea and shared my tea with her (it was the orange blossom variety). Her comment was that the Americans finally did something right. I get the impression that Americans are much more experimental with their tea. For an idea of what I mean, check out www.republicoftea.com. It's where I get most of mine.
If you said 'white tea' over here, you would get tea with milk.
We can be experimental with teas, but it appears we use different terminology.
Are you having pubishing problems like I am and a lot of other people?
God Bless
Matthew
Herbal and fruit teas are popular, despite not tasting all that nice.
Yes, I am having publishing problems. I wrote two posts that I can't publish. I sent an e-mail to the blogger folks to tell them that there are problems. I have all comments on my blogs e-mailed to me and have not gotten the e-mails, either. Grrrr! Oh, wait, the e-mails just came! Maybe they fixed it...
I like some herbal and fruit teas better than others. The best herbal teas are the ones made to sooth sore throats and other such specific uses. I only like green tea if it is made by someone who knows what they are going. Making it from a tea bag isn't so great. Adding fruit flavor to it doesn't help any. Generally speaking "black" teas are my favorite, and I do like some of the flavors, but cut black or orange pekoe (generic black tea, in other words) is always a safe bet. Many Americans think that cream should be used in tea instead of milk, as though there is no distinction between tea and coffee. I hear that cream tends to mask the flavor of the tea. I usually drink mine without milk or sugar (if I sweeten it is usually with honey) and not brewed too long.
I would not like cream in tea.
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