I see there's going to be a learning curve

[mangaroo]

I am drinking tea. That I made. For myself

Comments

[spacealien_vamp]

I'm sorry that your first attempt wasn't as good as it could have been. I generally drink herbal teas, which can steep for 20 minutes or more without turning bitter the way real tea-leaf teas do.

On the bright side, you can use the same tea bag to brew more than one cup if you like.

[mvrdrk]

Two minutes. Don't squeeze all the liquid out of it, just gently remove it to a plate or something. The longer it steeps, the more bitter it gets. If you're lamenting your 25¢ you can always come back and use it again to brew a second cup of tea. Rule of thumb: The blacker the tea, the closer the water can be to boiling. The greener the tea, the cooler the water can be.

[wednesday_10_00]

Just want to echo that you can use the bag more than once. (My mom has one of these, which she will leave a bag on until she reuses it, sometimes twice. A small bowl will work just as well, though, obviously.) I don't usually steep tea bags for two whole minutes, either (though I do with loose tea).

On the other hand, I drink just plain hot water, so I may not be the best person to listen to about tea steeping times.

[spacealien_vamp]

I drink just plain hot water, so I may not be the best person to listen to about tea steeping times.

How very Japanese of you.　You know, I really scratched my head the first time I read about a character drinking 白湯 (sayu) instead of tea. I couldn't figure out why someone would go to the trouble of boiling water to drink it without putting any flavor in it.

[wednesday_10_00]

Huh, I've never heard of sayu before! When I was in college, I would make myself really weak tea, because I liked holding a warm mug and drinking a hot liquid more than I actually liked the tea itself, and eventually I just started skipping the tea part. I have since grown to like tea, but when I'm cold at work I get hot water from the water cooler and drink that.