randomWalks

'Obviously, it would be a very pompous and pretentious thing to say "the days of irony are here, irony and deception" and say it in such a way that the reader was obliged to sit there and say "o yes" like "the time of the tiger is upon us".'

Thanks for posting this! The water has to be boiling if you're using black tea which is, of course, the only option. And put the milk in first. Sorry vegans, soya milk is out of the question. Bring on the full fat. And the biscuits.

I was hoping you'd like this, gwen. I figured the boiling-or-not issue must have something to do with black vs. other kinds of tea -- Thai Nguyen green tea, from Teaism in D.C., asks for 180-degree water, whereas Lapsang Souchong likes boiling.

I also like his crusading against sugar. That should go for coffee, too, but I realize we have a long way to go on that one.

excellent quote, though I guess as a vegetarian I'd have to visit Welwyn Garden City (once I figure out where it is).

three points need to be made here, and I think, they need to be made in all seriousness:

1. Irony. Does irony have to be funny? Is irony only irony if it is funny, or is it only literary irony if it is funny? Because, I think that a man railing against tea who spills his tea on his lap, of course, that wuold be an irony.

2. Tea. Tea is made from leaves, non? And these leaves are picked by severely underpaid tea leaf pulling workers in Indonesia, Sumatra, Borneo, India, and all those places. Is it true that Orwell likes tea, or is he just suggesting tes should be made properly to make those tea workers feel like they are getting their desserts.

3. Orwell. Or Well. A British person. I seem to remember Karl Marx said once that the British drank tea the same way the Russians drank vodka. Now, the irony here would be that Karl Marx spent a lot of tiem in England. How does he know what Russians drank?

And personally, I would take the Szechuan Pearls tea with the tapioca bubbles.

Thumbs up to bubble tea.

As for irony, I don't often find irony funny, though I appreciate it. But a man spilling tea in his lap as he rails against tea is not ironic, is it? It's more like rain on your wedding day.

I'm glad you posted something on Orwell. I've been reading a buttload about him lately. I think the Left really needs to work on reclaiming Orwell's legacy from the Right.

(That quote I posted, btw, was from a Kenneth Koch interview. I was hoping to prove ned wrong about the poem; I should have known better.)

Heh heh. I Googled and found the same quote, and knew where it was from as well!

I wish that poem were online. It is one of my favorites. And Plagiarist.com is on the fritz.

I don't think that the Right has claimed Orwell. I think they use the Orwell to show how the Left does not think as much as they react and try to slurp everything into a pan-optic worldview of shiny happy puppies.

And irony, I'm pretty sure, can be painful, like a black fly, you know, in your Chardonnay. You've waited your whole damn life.....etc.

Perhaps not entirely. He's definitely claimed by the former-leftists-turned-rightists like Chris Hitchens and Norman Podhoretz.

But Orwell was a complicated fellow.

i love this thread!

i once made the mistake of pouring hot water over black tea bags before it had reached boiling point. this icky white froth gathered at the top. my mother and her godson looked at me and sighed, "you didn't let it boil, right?" i felt like such a moron.

i also discovered that this happens with coffee. let the water boil!

How were you making coffee that you discovered this -- with a French press?

I should add that I once had the honor of interviewing Sam Twinings, scion of the Twinings Tea family. If you want to tick him off, use the misnomer "herbal tea" in his presence.

What happens? Does he turn into the Hulk?

I once had the pleasure of sitting in the middle of Tariq Ali and Christopher Hitchins at a dinner in Georgetown after a fairly contentious debate at the university.

It was clear, or at least, after two bottles of wine between Hitchins and I, and two hours of discussion, that Ali was terrified of the warmongering America (who wouldn't be), and that he was so terrified that everythign red white and blue carried with it the stain of insanity. Hitchens, on the other hand, was insane anyway, and wants some kind of America Brittania. Which makes me question, "How come most of Britain don't want that?"

I think that he drinks too much, and he has more of a schtick than a point to make. As for Ali, he's smart, but a little reactionary, kind of like Naderites. But he has a point worth listening to.

his point: Tea is better boiled, then cooled. Not cooled then boiled.

You know, I work on 16th street, in a fairly urban area of hot apartment buildings and sooty roads, and it is surreal to look up at the President's helicopter as it slices over the street.

O yes, the time of the tiger is upon us. Dude, where's your paypal link so we can buy you a teapot?

Black tea is made with boiling water, green tea is not. Various other stuff is not tea (see anything filed under the name 'Lipton'). That frothy scum on the top is your enemy, as is ice tea. YUCK. Herbal tea is indeed a misnomer. Although rosehip tea made with dried flowers is delicious, as is mint tea with sugar and pine nuts. Very good tea can be had in San Francisco, as certain rWers can verify. And Orwell was ahead of his time.

/obnoxious remarks

What is a French press?

And what is bubble tea? I already know I don't like it.

And what's worse, America Brittania or Brittania Americana?

A French press. A fine way to make coffee.

Bubble tea. Tasty, novel and trendy if the press is to be believed, but high-calorie if that kind of thing worries you.

Is it possible to find rosehip tea in the U.S.? I never have, but then I haven't looked all that far and wide. The rosehip tea I drank in London was great.

How were you making coffee that you discovered this -- with a French press?

i just boiled water and poured it into a white cup (white cups make the tea taste better).

gwen, bubble tea is awesome. it's kind of creamy and tastes best with tapioca balls, which i love slurping through a straw.

and this is a french press.

:P

How is bubble tea bubble tea without the tapioca balls (the bubbles)?

"Bubble tea refers to the genre of frothy and refreshing concoctions, usually of tea and a myriad combination of other flavours, served with or without milk or cream, with or without tapioca pearls. Because tapioca pearls seem to be the common denominator among all these various beverages, the term "bubble" in "bubble tea" has now come to refer to the tapioca pearls. Originally, however, the term "bubble" indicates the froth or head created by the vigorous shaking method of preparation - a unique way of preparing a unique drink." via bubble tea store

i may not be a tea connoisseur, but i know how to google.

We call French presses cafetieres.

I'm sure you'd be able to get rosehip tea, in Brooklyn, at Sahadi's, an awesome shop, or your nearest Middle Eastern deli.

And yeah, what is it with the white cups? They make all the difference.

I don't think bubble tea would take off in the UK. Even if it doesn't go well with biscuits/cigarettes/Marmite on toast, I'd give it a whirl.

marmite in a white cup, mmmm.

gwen, get in touch with this guy and you may be in business.

if i recall correctly, nigella lawson (whom i believe sashayed her saucy way round the states not so long ago) once wrote that soup should be drunk from low, square, white bowls. i don't own anything like that, but when i'm too rich to care any more i think i might. she might have a point. but i don't think miso soup or noodle soups would be good from square white bowls.

A tea cozy will allow you to enjoy your well-made brew in a leisurely fashion.

Square white bowls? How odd.

And don't get me started on Nigella. Oh man. Be still my heart.

I think she meant square with rounded edges. With white linen napkins, that shit. I don't know why she has this effect on people. Her cookery programme on UK TV was hilarious. But absolutely seductive at the same time. To be filed under anonymous quotes:

Men want to fuck her, women want to be her.

A difficult balance to achieve.

I once heard her refer to some bit of bread as 'toothsome'. This must be her secret. I will try it out and report back.

A German friend once asked me, 'What does posh totty mean? Is it like Nigella?'

from tea to nigella: this is now the greatest thread in the world.

nedlog: she was on charlie rose a couple of months back.

this morning, while reading some orwell essays over at www.k-1.com, i stumbled across this picture of http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/index.cgi/about/pictures.html?expand=23#image" rel="nofollow">orwell drinking (tea?) from a white cup.

Posh totty? Perhaps you could explain.

I once wrote a poem about a man who drank tea from a white cup. Now I can't remember how it went, but the opening was something like "He drank tea from a white cup / to see what its true colors were ..." etc. It was partly inspired by Wallace Stevens and partly by my drinking tea from a white cup for the first time and, in fact, noticing what color the tea was.

Last night I sampled jasmine tea sorbet at the Del Ray Dreamery. It was so good. I can't say enough good things about the Dreamery. Somehow they get their sorbet as "creamy" as ice cream.

My, that Guardian article needs about three pages of footnotes. Nigella is posh totty, Posh Spice AKA Victoria Beckham is not. I can't think of any American posh totty right now. But I can recommend The Chap for all things posh and totty-related.

I can't believe there were 36 comments on a tea thread and no one mentioned PG Tips. Oh, sure, Gwen might be used to it and think nothing more of it than if it were Lipton's, but to those of us in the US who just want a hearty cup of English Breakfast tea with a little depth to it, PG Tips is nirvana.

My greatest tea pet peeve - when you go to an expensive restaurant and they serve Tazo or Stash or some shit like that. They would never dream of finishing off a mean with Folger's, why do the tea equivalent?

I actually like Tazo's Zen (though I object to any use of "Zen" as a brand name). I haven't liked the Stash I've tried. For teabags, my favorites are the Choice green teas.

my pet peeve is when one tea packet is served in a huge cup. this is particularly annoying when the tea in question is tazo because it already tends to be flavorless.

dj once looked on aghast as i dumped half the contents of my carry-out tea into a trash bin. i just think watery tea is gross. i can't handle it. the tea experience should be brief and intense. almost like a good espresso.

This can be blamed on Starbucks and other similar establishments, for being unable to serve anything approaching a "small."

Actually, Starbuck's has a secret "small" size that they just don't advertise. If you ask for a "Short" you get a human-sized cup of coffee/tea. They had a story about it in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago. I learned about it watching Inside the Papers on NY1.

*makes coffee*

1984

Toast for Morons. I am going to post this everywhere.

Rumour has it that our Nigella is going to cook for the Shrub when he arrives on these shores.

"On President Bush's recent visit to Thailand, 10 mice were assigned the task of tasting the president's food first for poisoning. Whether such security measures apply in the UK is unknown."

Hello tea fans. Again. Tea keeps your brain healthy. '"If this works in the body like it does in the lab, anything like five to 10 cups of tea a day would help the levels of acetylcholine if you have too little," said Dr Okello.' I don't know what acetylcholine is, but I know I want more!