Tea

I was watching a Hallmark movie. There was a cute female character, sweater pulled over her knuckles, sipping a cup of tea with the string dangling out.  It made me wonder: in real life does anyone drink tea with the bag in?

I certainly don't. I set the timer for four minutes and when it dings that bag is out.  Otherwise you have bitter stewed tea, right? Why keep the bag in? To remind yourself you're drinking tea?

Someone out there must do this, or know someone who does. What's the appeal of having a sloppy teabag thwack you in the face when you get down to the last drop?

Tell me. I promise I won't judge. Much.

Comments

[Beth]

My husband leaves the teabag in for maximum caffeination and lets it cool down to baby bath water temperature before drinking it. He’s a pretty good guy other than those psychopathic tendencies.

[KC]

I leave herbal tea bags in; they don't care much about brewing time, although you do get different notes out of some of them with different brewing temperatures; so then I just add more water when it gets too strong and call it a day. (I also usually start drinking it before it has really steeped enough; I am not exceedingly patient with my tea.)

Would not do that with real tea, but real tea also has caffeine in it, so I haven't drunk a proper cup of real tea for... a long time. Maybe a decade?

[theQueen]

Beth - But he doesn't leave the actual bag in while he is drinking it - or does he? If so, does the bag adhere to the side of the cup with surface tension? Ir does he have a cup with the built in strainer? How does he navigate the end of the cup and the bag? Or does he just not drink all of it?
KC - They do make decaf black tea, but yes, I can see how green tea wouldn't get bitter and stewed.

[Beth]

He says sometimes he takes the bag out near the end of the cup, but usually he just holds onto the string as he drinks and the bag sticks to the side of the cup. He usually has his tea before I’m wide enough awake to watch him closely. :)

[KC]

Decaf black tea and green tea both still have caffeine in them, and dark chocolate is the only thing worth caffeine to me, basically. :-) I used to drink jasmine tea, and on the occasions I forgot it (I drank primarily herbal tea even before I "had" to) it did sometimes get bitter.

On the other hand, I actually like bitter, so there is that.

(unrelatedly, if you have problems with low or fluctuating blood pressure and drink herb teas, *avoid hibiscus* because it is a delightful fruity herbal tea ingredient with vitamin C... that has clinically-significant effects at lowering your blood pressure. Licorice, too, but I haven't read any quantitative studies on that.)

[Suzanne]

YES, I agree with you completely! Keeping the teabag in just makes the tea bitter! If you want stronger tea, put in more tea bags -- but just for the allotted steeping time.

[theQueen]

Beth - I never would have thought of that option. That seems reasonable. Still overly strong, though.
KC - my brother had high blood pressure and drank a lot of hibiscus tea.
Suzanne - People need to do scientific taste tests. Compare tea stewed four minutes vs tea stewed fourteen. (Also, ice cream eaten with a silver or silver-plated spoon vs ice cream eaten from stainless.)