One of the things which tea drinkers get to enjoy but which us bean addicts miss out on is all of the paraphenalia and ritual associated with drinking tea properly. There is the tea pot, the strainer, the extra hot water etc etc. Admittedly there is none of that if you are the sort of person who likes their tea in a bag, but when you drink it while out and about there is usually some sort of extra equipment required in order to just drink the stuff. It is probably just to make you feel better for paying three or four bucks for something which you could brew yourself for two cents a teabag...
For us coffee drinkers there is none of that hoopla - you order your flat white and it comes out in a cup and if you are lucky you add sugar - no longer no we have paraphenalia of our own...
I recently read about the supposed phenomenon of Siphon Coffee in the local rag and lo and behold what do I find the next week at a new spot we were trying out for brekkie - but the very equipment on offer. Of course being a long-addict of the bean I had to try it out for myself.
The result was described by the 'barrista' as nutty, honey smoked blah blah blah...
Overall it was an okay cuppa - missing some of the bitterness of expresso and definitely an improvement on that awful stuff that comes from those machines in offices and American cafes.
However I am still ambivalent about whether it is worth all of the time and effort of a small scientific experiment....
No matter how much i am craving a tea i won't pay three bucks for it in a cafe, but i'll drive across town for a decent coffee from a good barista.
ReplyDeleteThat pic looks like it should be in the tent in M*A*S*H*
That's awesome. Doesn't really matter how closely related to the taste of shit something might be, if the gear required looks cool, then its ON.
ReplyDeleteM*A*S*H. Spot on call Beeso.
I thought that you guys would like it.
ReplyDeleteI have just finished reading Musashi and apparently the Japanese tea ceremony is very closely related to swordsmanship - but the green muck that they make in that ceremony tastes pretty terrible.
I forgot to mention how once I was with my sister at a cafe in St Kilda and ordered tea (I went through a no-coffee phase) and when it came out the teabag in the teapot was 'Black and Gold' brand! IT still cost about four bucks. Talk about a mark-up. I think it was just after that I gave up on trying to live in Melbourne and not drink coffee...
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