I ran across an article on tea, plus I recall my Mom talking about bubbles in the tea and some superstition involved with that...
Plus I thought of doowopgirl when I read this:
(My Mom was not Irish, but Scottish, but I think most countries in the United Kingdom prefer to drink hot tea.
I know Stephen King likes to drink tea!
Rules of Irish Tea Making:
By the turn of the twentieth century every Irish mother was an expert tea maker. Or perhaps I should say “tay maker”.
In the Irish language the word for tea is “tae”, and is pronounced “tay”, which explains why so many cups of “tay” are poured in Ireland every day.
And believe me, every Irish mother knows exactly how SHE makes her tea.
God forbid you forget to scald the pot before adding the leaves or the tea bags. This scalding process involves adding a small amount of boiling water to the empty pot, swishing it around for at least 10 seconds to remove any residue from previous brews, then discarding the hot water.
When I was a little girl in the 1970’s I only remember tea being made with loose tea leaves. In the 1980’s the popularity of tea bags grew. Irish tea drinkers quickly discovered the ease of clean up with this wonderful invention.
But now, back to the rules …..
Only boiling water is acceptable to “wet the tay.” None of this tepid, warm water found in so many American hotels for dunking tea bags hiding weak, tasteless tea leaves.
A boldly flavored, black leaf is imperative for proper Irish tea.
Irish tea is brewed in a teapot rather than directly in a cup.
This facilitates the process of properly “drawing the tay.” Exactly how long the pot must linger over a low heat to produce the perfect shade of brown varies from family to family, and even from person to person within a family.
And for some Irish mothers, the pot must be swaddled in a homemade, knitted, tea cozy to achieve perfection.
