Tea drinkers of Lemmy how do you brew your cuppa?

I make Chai from scratch decently often. I use whole spices, give them a couple cracks with a pestle and add them to a pot of boiling water along with loose leaf black tea. I then let it continue to boil, or just cut the heat for a couple minutes, then add milk. I then bring it back to a boil, and wait for it to try to boil over. When it tries to boil over, you beat back the foam and take it off heat for a little. If you do that over and over, eventually, it won't foam up anymore because those proteins have denatured. That's when the tea gets that nice and silky texture. I'll also throw some honey in there.

I always make a big pot and have plenty of leftovers for cold chai.

I don't really measure anything, even though I should. I also change up ingredients. At a minimum, I always have green cardamom, ginger, and tea, but sometimes I also use black cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, aniseed, nutmeg, black pepper, or vanilla.

1. Heat water to 70 degrees using electric kettle.
2. Put loose leaf green tea in a strainer thingy. Leave room for it to expand 4 times as big
3. Swoosh some of the 70 degree water around a glass kettle to heat it up, pour it out.
4. Put strainer with tea in glass kettle.
5. Pour water over tea.
6. Let sit for a few minutes.
7. Drink.
8. Reuse the same leafs throughout the day using same steps.

I usually use unflavored green tea with decent quality. Very different from tea bags.

Ive been mostly doing western style with an infuser basket and a temperature controlled kettle, but I also have a gaiwan for when I feel like sitting down and doing a gongfu session.

Spring/summer Im mostly drinking chinese greens (longjing and biluochun) and high mountain oolongs (alishan, baozhong, dong ding). Fall/wintee I might still have those occasionally but Ill do more wuyi and dancong oolongs (shuixian, duckshit), and the occasional ripe puer

With bags like a savage usually, no sugar or milk. I'd up my tea game but I'm usually more of a coffee drinker.

Toss a big mug of water in the microwave with like 3 teabags in it. Nuke it for like 2 minutes 30 seconds. Then I add some French vanilla creamer in it and a ice cube to cool it down. Yum yum . If I really need some caffeine I add like 5 tea bags and make sure I squeeze them after microwaving.

As a British person, I want to go mad with the downvotes here.

Usually I drink Yorkshire Gold with sugar and a little evaporated milk.

Depends on tea..

I start with boiling water because I don't have a fancy kettle.

Tea bags? Leave in for a while, sometimes indefinitely, sometimes til the string annoys me. Black unflavored?With a little half and half. Sometimes brown sugar, tannin content depending. Black flavored (like Earl grey)? Plain. Green? A little honey. Most others? Plain

Loose? Timing depends on tea type, and can change based on specific tea and quality. Usually: Black/flavored green/lower quality teas? 3 minutes first brew, 5 till indefinite minutes second brew. Green? 1 minute first brew, 2 minutes second brew, 5 minutes third brew. Oolong/puer? 5 second rinse, toss the rinse, 20 second first brew. Or, without rinse, 30 second first brew. 1 minute second brew, 2 minute third brew, etc.

A lot of loose leaf depends on tea to water ratio too, these work for me. Quality and size of leaf effects how quickly the flavor can get into the water. Sometimes I'll just stand over the brewing tea and sniff the whole time to determine best brew time. I might be a little crazy about it though.

I have a really nice Bodum glass kettle that I use every day. I usually drink it with a bit of honey. For chai, black tea, and other dessert-y teas, I like to add a bit of milk (powdered or almond).

I really like disposable, compostable tea bags. They're made of the same stuff as coffee filters. But tbh I use pre bagged most days because I'm lazy.

On special occasions we bring out the Yixing

Cold brew over night, unsweetened

Electric kettle + Celestial Apple Cinnamon tea in a Yeti thermos. Let brew for 3-4 hours. It is absolutely glorious.

Infuser in hot water for two minutes, add cream and sugar after removing infuser

Three ways, depending on circumstances and need.

First is the fast cup. Nuke a cup with tea bags in for 2 and a half minutes, fuck around while walking when it beeps, mix it up. Drink. It gets the job done fine overall, but you lose spme of the delicate flavors from any tea.

Second is the almost as fast, but better. Nuke the water for three minutes, add preferred tea, wait four minutes and enjoy.

Third is more traditional and gives the best tea. Since I don't have a kettle that will keep hot water ready, I bring the water to a boil in a pot. Loose tea only, no bags, in a steeper in the cup. Pour water over tea, wait four minutes, begin fixing.

I'm a sweet and milky guy. Two sugars, splash of milk for an 8 ounce mug. It's almost always earl grey, though I will do chai. That being said, every now and then I have breakfast tea (English or Irish) with one sugar and lemon.

Iced tea I do southern style. Big pitcher, super strong, lots of sugar. Sometimes lemon, but usually not.

Electric kettle. Boiling water. Infuser basket in tea pot for 3 - 5 minutes depending on the type of tea. Drink pot and repeat around 1400

Electric kettle and french press.

1. Add sweetener and vanilla extract to mug.
2. Fill and start kettle.
3. Add loose leaf Earl Grey and lavender to french press.
4. Pour boiling water into french press.
5. Steep for 3 minutes.
6. Press and pour the tea into the mug.
7. Add a splash of oat milk.
8. Stir and enjoy.

It’s called a London Fog and it’s delicious.

Hot water, rip off the paper label, leave in and forget

In the beginning of COVID I ran out of tea once and since then I got used to just drink warm water from the tap in most cases. 🚰

Electric kettle + tea berry and a one minute timer. Leave the bag in for extra goodness.

Loose leaf on a cup and some honey, nothing special.

Sometimes I'll make an extra large quantity and store it in the fridge for hot days.

It's been a while since I've had tea and it's not fancy or anything but what I did was I would start off with either an unsweetened green or black tea bag (just whatever I had at the time) and steep it in twice as much water that was recommended on the box. After I removed the tea bag, I would then add a lemonade drink mix and either 1 packet of sugar for green tea or 2 packets of sugar for black tea.

I don't remember any specific combinations of brands but I think I remember sweeter lemonades working better with green tea and tart lemonades working better with black tea. Just avoid True Lemon, I haven't tried their other drink mixes but I remember the regular lemonade drink mix being terrible in tea.

Electric kettle to get the water to the proper temperature, and then I just dump it on a tea bag and add tiny bit of cream, depending on the tea. I leave the tea bag in because I like it strong and bitter

Try (https://kbin.social/m/tea)

I'm not a frequent tea drinker, but when I do:

• Milk in the mug first.
• Tea bag and boiling water.
• Remove bag after 3 minutes. (Give it a squeeze over the mug for extra tea-ness)
• Add a spoonful of sugar and maybe some tea marsala if I feel like it.

A mix of herbal and chai at this point. For herbal I don't add anything, while chai gets a splash of milk and maybe a spoon worth of sugar. The British are right, you've gotta take the bag out.

I have a kettle that can do different temperatures, and it's dope, but annoyingly it doesn't ever turn off on the black setting because of altitude, so I have to go down a peg.

grandpa style, just loose leaf in mug and hot water

Loose jasmine tea in a tea ball, boil water on the stove in a kettle, pour over the tea & steep 3 minutes (more than that and it goes bitter). Remove tea ball, add a small spash of milk & enjoy.

My mum uses tea bags and adds the milk right over the bag as it steeps. For some reason that enrages me, so I turn away when she's up to that nonsense.

I mostly drink Shan tea which has added toasted sticky rice flavour and a very strong black tea with milk and sugar, the way indians introduced back in colonial time.

Shan tea is simple. Just put it in a flask with hot water, wait a bit and drink slowly.

Black tea with milk has to be brewed hard though. Tannins are part of the flavour. I personally brew for about 15 to 30 mins. Actual tea stalls brew much longer, like hours long. Also tea leaves to water ratio is quite low as well. The tea needs to be fairly tart. Then we add evaporated milk and sweetener. A serving should be quite small because the tea is strong. May be around 100-150ml.

Big pinch from a cheap 1 kilo bag of black tea, in a pint glass, strain into other pint glass.

Mostly drink coffee, but some days I want something more relaxing.

We have a hot waterdispenser for tea, we drink tea day and night. It saves electricity over a normal watercooker and it is convenient.

Fresh mint or fennel, ginger, camille, or tea in a baggy, earl grey I like best

American raised in the Southeast checking in: put tea bags in kettle of water on stove, heat until the kettle whistles, pour into 1 gallon container with sugar, mix while still hot, and finally place in refrigerator for storage.

When its 78 in February and won't cool down until November, having a nice, cold glass of sweet tea is lovely.

I've got a four-cup pot (24z) and a deep wire mesh basket for it. I most do looseleaf, but I have a reliable fujian in teabags and a pretty nice chai masala that's also pre-bagged.

Electric gooseneck kettle is also 24z, so it works out perfectly.

For the cup, I've got two sets of handleless teacups, 3z and 4z, and one handmade heavier 5z cup that was a present from my wife. I didn't like it at first because it's so large and the balance is weird, but it's grown on me; the balance is perfect when it's full, and only leans towards the handle when it's empty.

Electric kettle for the water, poured over a bag of strong black tea in a glass, with a bit of sugar. As far as brand goes, I'm not all that picky, just so long as it's black and plain and relatively strong. Mostly it's Tetley or Twining's English Breakfast.

I drank coffee pretty much exclusively for years. I'd drink tea occasionally, and I always liked it well enough, but it just couldn't hold my interest. The thing that made the difference was drinking it out of a glass.

One day, some years ago, I noticed a scene of Russians drinking tea in a restaurant in a movie and started thinking about it. I was aware that they drank hot tea in glasses, but I'd never really considered it before. I had a nice set of institutional quality highball glasses that I'd gotten from a restaurant that went out of business, so I decided to give it a try. And I've never looked back.

As near as I can figure it out, using a glass just made it a complete and satisfying experience. I think that's part of the reason that tea had never held my interest before - I didn't have a satisfying way to drink it, day in and day out. I never liked teacups - they're just too small and dainty to be satisfying. And trying to drink it out of a mug was sort of weird - as if my mouth was expecting coffee and was surprised, and a bit disappointed, to get tea instead. But the glass makes it its own thing, and makes it satisfying in and of itself.

Electric kettle to boil 2 cups of water. 4 twinnings earl Grey to a pitcher Steep tea for about 5 minutes 1 large spoonful of lemon iced tea mix Fill pitcher up to full Chill and serve

Bag of breakfast tea, boiling water, splash of milk

There's no improvement to be made on perfection

Place a green tea bag in a mug of hot water. Cover with a plate and leave it for two minutes. Remove the tea bag. Done.

An electric kettle for the water and loose tea with a strainer. I'll usually make it in a mug, occasionally a small teapot, or a thermos if I'm traveling.

I've adopted my wife's tea. Within 10 seconds of the water going in she adds the milk. Give it a few squeezes and take the bag out.

I know this will upset people but it's just personal preference. I know people who come to visit hate it as it's too weak. I used to have them stronger but actually prefer her weaker ones now.

Kettle, teabag, milk.

Just a green tea bag in a mug with hot water. I leave the tea bag in the whole time. No milk or sugar. Sometimes I’ll drink celestial herbal tea, but it’s very strong if you leave the tea bag in too long.

I boil water in a sauce pot on the stove. Slosh it into my mug. Plunk in a tea bag and set the timer on my microwave for 3:30 so that I don't forget and over-steep it. No milk. No sugar.

Whatever black tea steeped for slightly longer than whatever it says, teaspoon or two of sugar, and a splash of milk. I mostly drink black coffee though.

Water in the microwave. Cheap Lipton tea bag for five mins. A little cashew milk. It's fine.

I basically take everything 'black' with two sugars, I never put milk in my tea. And I'm particularly partial to Earl Grey and peppermint.

Also, Demerara sugar FTW.

How is the iced Grey? Doesn't sound like my cup of tea (tee-hee) but your choice is very intriguing...

I put loose leaf tea (usually a blended black tea such as English breakfast) in a basket in my mug and then pour boiling water from my kettle over it and let it sit for about 3-4 minutes. Remove the tea and add a bit of sugar and milk, stir and enjoy. I've got one of those "smart" mugs so my tea stays hot for the entire time I'm drinking it.

Boiling water. Kettle at home and Kuereg with no pod at work. A half teaspoon of sugar. A bit of soy milk. And usually ice.

Edit: not as common, but 90 seconds in microwave works fine.

Regular tea: Loose green tea steeped with an infuser for longer than recommended, plain

Herbal tea: Tea bag, either plain or with a bit of sweetener and/or lemon

Yerba mate: Out of a low-maintenance stainless steel "gourd"

Also, I use an electric kettle to heat the water, unless I'm camping or road tripping.