/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Many years ago I had a roommate who drank Earl Grey tea with bergamot each morning before he went to work. He got up at around 5 am each morning and put the tea kettle on while he showed and put on his clothes. The water used was filtered tap water. Around this same time I would be wrapping my day and be about to go to bed.

When the tea kettle would whistle he would remove it, and then rip open eight bags of tea and place them in the kettle to steep. I believe he steeped for 5 minutes.

This was done daily for around 2 to 3 years, often multiple times daily. Over time inside of the tea kettle became caked in a thick layer of tea residue. It was possible to make tea in that pot with no bags if you would like.

The tea that I drank on those mornings with him as he was just beginning his day and I was just ending mine was the best tea of my life, by far. I have never had anything that had the body of that tea which was steeped in that kettle the "wrong way". And I have had quite a lot of good teas since.