Galore

Sally Olsen · Post by **Sally Olsen** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 6:31 pm

My Mom will be glad to crochet you one Larry. They are a fitted cover for the coffee or tea pot or over the egg which is usually in the egg cup. They are very effective in keeping things warm if they are made well and my Mom will even put on butterflies or flowers made of wool. She is on her 14th at the moment.

LarryLatham · Post by **LarryLatham** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:23 pm

Thanks for the offer, Sally. Your mom must be truly talented with those crochet thingamabobs. (Needles??)

Coffee cozys! Never heard of 'em before. I guess that may be because I've spent most of my life in warm weather country (although I did go to school in Michigan, and worked for 6 years in Wisconsin and Minnesota--I guess those places would qualify as 'Coffee Cozy Territory'). At any rate, thanks for filling me in on what they are. I get the mental image of a "nice warm wool hat for coffee pots or teapots or egg cups or whatever cups".

I really have led a sheltered life!!

Larry Latham

Andrew Patterson · Post by **Andrew Patterson** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:29 pm

Great Sally! Larry can enjoy a nice hot cup of tea!

By the way, as tea preparation is prepared in different ways all over the world, you can use tea preparation to get students talking.

In Poland in restaurants, the teapot is often kept warm on a stand over a nightlight. One restaurant uses cosies, though. You can also get green white and red teas which are not easily available in the UK.

In Turkey the teapot is placed over the kettle and (for the tourists only) poured from a height.

Arab countries always seem to pour it from a height.

Then of course there is the Japanese tea ceremony...

LarryLatham · Post by **LarryLatham** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:52 pm

Not to mention Chinese 'Pao\ Cha/.' There is quite a ritual to making tea properly the Chinese way. Water temperature is important (not quite boiling, but very close), as is the water's mineral makeup . Then there is the tea itself along with where it is grown and how it is harvested and processed, which is a subject that can fill a large book. And how many pots of tea can be made from the same leaves. Then the tea-making equipment, which, again, can get very technical if one wants to really get into it deeply, and how to select and "season" and care for it. And finally the steeping procedure, pre-heating the equipment and the cups, and then, of course, the right way to drink (sip, actually) tea for greatest enrichment of the flavor and enhanced enjoyment.

The uninitiated, who simply pour boiling water over a cheap teabag in a cup, haven't a clue, according to some Chinese tea connoisseurs I've met.

Larry Latham

Sally Olsen · Post by **Sally Olsen** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 5:23 pm

My Mom will send anyone a tea cosy on request so you can all have a great second cup of tea. Just send me an address.

How about how you hold your pinky while you drink tea? Then there is the elaborate tea ceremony in Japan as mentioned with sugar flower treats. I really miss that. In Canada there is even a commerical with a mother waiting for a very late teenager with a cup of tea on the stairs and she manages to be reasonable when the teenager arrives.

I always found it funny in Japan that they drank English tea and raved about its cancer curing powers and that we drink Green tea for its cancer curing powers in Canada.

Andrew Patterson · Post by **Andrew Patterson** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 10:42 am

Sally wrote:

My Mom will send anyone a tea cosy on request so you can all have a great second cup of tea. Just send me an address.

Where I'm from, it is used so that the first cup is hotter too. The pot has to stand for ten mins for a really good cuppa.

How about how you hold your pinky while you drink tea?

In the UK, sticking your little finger streight out is considered an affectation and is usually perceived as being as camp as a girl guide's outing, sorry Sally.

Then there is the elaborate tea ceremony in Japan as mentioned with sugar flower treats. I really miss that.

Sounds nice.

In Canada there is even a commerical with a mother waiting for a very late teenager with a cup of tea on the stairs and she manages to be reasonable when the teenager arrives.

Mmm, adverts never reflect reality, do they.

I always found it funny in Japan that they drank English tea and raved about its cancer curing powers and that we drink Green tea for its cancer curing powers in Canada.

Drugs are found in all foods, but I want to know what I'm getting. Until trials are done it is foolish talk. I drink tea mearly cos I like it.