Tea O.D.

This post is mainly about tea.

In an attempt to relieve stress and get away from chugging endless amounts of sodas, I've started to drink tea. I had some extra cash, so while grocery shopping, I randomly bought an electric kettle (I actually do own a real tea kettle, but I'm too much of a gadget freak to not own this lovely addition to my kitchen). It's nothing too special. Just a white thing with measurements on the side in liters and cups (in 4 and 8 cup marks). This odd choice of measurement only solidifies why you don't buy appliances from H.E.B. It works fine, at least. It boils water very well. I'll probably replace it when I can start buying nice things.

I started simple enough with bags of green tea, with some decaffeinated to balance things out if I drank before bed. I was annoyed with how the bags would be full of air and float to the top every time. I wasn't sure if they were supposed to do that, but I'm pretty sure they're not. It did strike me funny how they say on the box about how green (environmentally, not flavor) their tea production is, because every tea-bag comes in a small, paper envelope. All of them are wrapped and packaged in a waste of paper. Good job, guys.

It tasted alright, but nothing special, y'know? If you know me, you know that I don't screw around when it comes to food. I take my indulgences seriously. So I decided to get better tea.

Hey, I warned you that this post was about tea.

I had known of loose-leaf tea for ages. A close friend of mine drinks it, and she had given me some that was brewed with the leaves in a tiny metal ball. That was oh-so-long-ago. We were still in high-school, and I doubt she remembers it. I looked around and was able to find one of these balls at, surprise, H.E.B. I decided against it, however. I wanted to do more research before I bought another cheap tool from them. Most places agreed that tea leaves needed room to expand. Made sense. I found that I needed a kettle that had a strainer in it. You pour the hot water in the kettle with the tea, it brews, and then you pour the tea into a glass, while the strainer holds back loose leaves. Logic.

I began my search. Looking around for kettles was annoying, however. I'd like to think that I'm a rather manly man (who is writing about tea) and what I found was... a little off-putting. Tiny, porcelain things that looked like they belonged at a young-girl's party with her stuffed animals, or things that belonged in the collections of uncomfortable old-ladies who collect tiny statues of venomously cute people. This simply would not do. So how would I, a man among men, brew my tea?

I recalled an item I observed while perusing Thinkgeek.com (one of my favorite sites for nerding out). A tea-brewer that was different. No pouring, no spout, no porcelain. A plastic device that worked almost like a portable iced-tea maker that we used to have (where, after it brewed, you had to flip a switch and it would then pour into the pitcher). When the tea was ready, you placed it over a cup and it filled it. I am speaking of the IngenuiTEA. Pulling the trigger, I just bought it (and a cheap sampler from them). It arrived sometime last week, but I only started using on Sunday (also bought a mug that's basically a beaker with a handle: SCIENCE MUG OF SCIENCE).

Wow. There was a difference. Today, I started testing it out, putting it into good use, finding out how long I should brew certain things, if I liked it with sugar, etc. So far, I've been delving into the Earl Grey. Good enough, but I still don't have the measurements right. The first batch was made with too much, which causes extreme bitterness (plus, I'm pretty sure straight tea should be a little bit sea-through and NOT solid brown). With a bit of sugar, though, anything is drinkable. I'll figure it out one of these days, though.

However, all of this testing was done with a small fact omitted from my brain: Tea has caffeine in it. I'm not sure how much, but I've had about 3 or 4 cups starting from about 9 P.M. Which is why I'm still up. And writing a blog post about tea. Because I'm wired.

Should have stuck with the decaf.

Sorry for the post about tea. I'll get back to work on something useful.