As an American (and filthy microwaver of tea, though I do have a kettle now) I just stopped scrolling in the hopes of witnessing some rage at the idea, but everyone’s being really reasonable. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.
Dude, I've been experimenting with different mixes of ginger and cinnamon. People obsess about water temperatures. Tea drinkers like nothing but ideas for more posh things to do to their drinks. "Pinch of salt" is just snobby enough that I can't wait to try it and tell it to all my friends next time I'm complaining about a lackluster café order.
The big issue I see, and it's a PR thing, is it coming from the US. That alone may disqualify it. We'll have to see.
Yeah we’re not exactly known for our tea here, unless it’s in a harbor or so full of sugar it’s not even really tea anymore, so I can see it not going over that well. I just made a cup but it’s one of my favorite kinds and I’m too afraid to try the salt in case it ruins it.
I’m an American. I drink a lot of tea throughout the day. Different kinds for breakfast, midmorning, lunch and mid afternoon. I’ve never had a tea I thought would be improved with milk. I just don’t get it.
I don't even know what some people call "tea" in this context sometimes. It could be they're having Ceylon in the morning and Earl Gray in the afternoon, but sometimes what they mean is they're soaking some weeds in the morning and some dry fruits in the afternoon and calling it tea. I lived in a place for a while where all infusions are referred to with the word for "tea", so you'd ask for cup of tea, be given a camomile infusion and be expected not to murder your host.
“Improved” is the wrong word, in my opinion. It’s not that the tea is made better with the addition of milk, it’s just that it’s good in a different way. I drink my tea straight at work, no additions. But on a Saturday morning, with flapjacks and bacon, a lavender earl grey with a hint of sugar and a small splash of cream is just. Mmm. The cream can mute some of the stronger flavor profiles and allow some of the more subtle ones to shine. I love it both ways, neither is better than the other. They’re just different good.
Oh, yeah, I know. Brits will just throw a bag of the crappiest tea they have around in a teapot and move on with their day.
Which is a luxury you can afford when even middling supermarket tea is drinkable. Over where I am if you're doing tea you have an... affectation. Plus even if you don't want to, finding drinkable tea is hard enough that you end up going to the fancy stuff by default.
“Pinch of salt” is just snobby enough that I can’t wait to try it and tell it to all my friends next time I’m complaining about a lackluster café order.
See, this is why I love the internet, it allows me to find my kin. I relish in learning enough about a niche thing that I have enough discernment that I can be a bit of a snob, if I wish.
Hah. This is me respectfully nodding in your general direction.
Although I'll admit that in my case this mostly manifests as me buying literally any food I haven't eaten before and putting super gross stuff in my mouth, no matter how transparent of a marketing scheme it is. I bought that coke they asked ChatGPT to formulate. This is a real problem.
Also, if anybody is curious I put a pinch of salt in my tea today. It was fine, not noticeable. I'll try a bigger pinch next time.
Most Americans don’t get kettles with temp settings because we’re fucking plebs. Ask an American what they think a kettle is and 7 times out of 10 they’ll say it’s a busted, dented piece of metal with a strange flippy lid that their mom used to put on the stovetop for some reason.
I mean, I’m not. I have one with 6 different temps on it. Because tea is serious business. But most Americans, you know. 😂
I’ve read that water oxygenation is affected by microwaving water, so there is some difference to standard boiling. Whether this matters for tea or not is a different question, and I can’t find anything decisive on the matter.
They are pretty common in America, and have been for quite a while. Less so than in the UK (which is probably your point). But still pretty easy to find in my experience.
I got one about 20 years ago from Target - nothing too fancy, just an Oster or something. It finally died a couple of years ago and I got a new one from Amazon, where they had a very wide selection.
No disagreement. They’re available but less common than other heating methods. I feel like stovetop is probably the most common but microwave is certainly in there too.
Well if nobody else is brave enough to try it, I’ll give it a go in the morning and report back. Never let it be said that I shy away from a good bit of sciencing!
I am not a morning person! It takes time for me to wake up and articulate science!
But I have tested this, and have to say it doesn’t really seem to have made any difference? Maybe slightly less bitter, but maybe that’s just placebo. Not that I have a problem with making overly-bitter tea in the first place, maybe this so-called scientist squeezes their teabag like in the photo and that’s why it needed fixing to begin with.
The article is pretty vague on the correct amount to use so it’s also possible I didn’t do it right 🤷♀️
Last Tuesday, a noisy crowd of several hundred people stood in the small main square of Pyin Oo Lwin, a popular Myanmar hill town, to hear a bespectacled monk make a startling suggestion.
The man who led the 2021 coup against the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, provoking a catastrophic civil war, has faced plenty of international censure, and is loathed by much of Myanmar’s population.
Following violent clashes between local Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas in Rakhine State in 2012, one militant monk, Wirathu, helped set up a movement known as Ma Ba Tha, or the Association for Protection of Race and Religion.
One prominent blogger recently called Min Aung Hlaing “incompetent”, saying that under him the country had experienced loss and shame of historic proportions, for which he should pay the price and step down.
The bloody two-year stalemate, between the well-equipped armed forces and the hundreds of volunteer groups which had risen up and joined the ethnic insurgents to fight the junta, appeared to have been broken.
Unable to secure the roads from ambush, the military is relying on its limited number of helicopters to re-supply surrounded bases, and on air strikes to defend them, causing extensive civilian casualties.
The original article contains 1,540 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 87%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
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