The Way You Sip Your Tea

There's a joke that back in the day parishioners would dry out their used tea bags to send to missionaries overseas as part of their effort to support them. But reusing teabags is something no one seems to understand or do except me.

I was drinking a cup of tea the other day and thought that I might try reusing the tea bag, because my tea was very strong, and the bag looked like it still had some life in it. So I made another cup and it was a perfectly fine cup of tea. The third wasn't too great though, it tasted like milky water, which is, I suppose, what it is to a lot of people.

But the art in reusing a tea bag is in drying it out. I left a tea bag to dry instead of reusing it straightaway, and the second (and third) cup was as strong as the first. Unfortunately, the tea bag got thrown out by someone in the family because it ain't a good look to have a collection of labelled tea bags when people are about to be visiting you ("and this one is from last week, Earl Grey..."). So while I think it could have done a fourth cup, I have yet to been able to try it.

Another thing which is a big no-no is leaving the bag in when milk is added. The government departments in NZ advocate putting in the milk before adding the hot water, but when you do that, the tea bag gets milk in it. And you don't want to leave a milky tea bag around to dry because you'd be starting a science project if you do it. And when you put in milk before the hot water, it will automatically cool the hot water, meaning the tea will not be as hot and will take longer to infuse.

So take out the tea bag before putting in the milk. And when the tea bag does get really ick, you can just throw it into the compost bin (it's just leaves after all). My mum does this part, but she takes the bag out after milk, so technically it's not just vegetation that's going into the bin.

But digressing onto other matters, nothing much has happened in the last couple of weeks that is worth saying. I injured my knee again (it's an old sports injury), so have been sitting around studying because there's not much else to do during study week and you're immobile. In a way it's a blessing in disguise. But other than that, not much...