#291 – Tannin
Posted on January 16, 2012 at 12:00 am by Chris
Chapter: Comic
I don’t drink tea consistently enough to get into the deep well of preparation and flavors. I have friends that scoff at my use of a microwave to heat up the water. They cringe at the “bag of powder” that I use to brew my tea with. They gift me fancy “real” teas that I prepare “correctly” and I enjoy them but when they are gone I just switch back to my generic garbage. In some ways that’s good because I probably couldn’t afford to drink tea anymore if I was at their level.
Today’s Biff is waiting.
Warming water in a microwave is dangerous.
Aunt of mine almost lost half her face doing just that…
Yeah, without some outside agent of agitation, the water will superheat and stay calm. Once you drop some item in, like a spoon or tea bag, then it will almost go straight to steam. I have a small hot pot if I want only enough hot water for tea or instant oatmeal, stuff like that. And even that has a automatic shutoff when the water boils.
Really? I microwave water all the time and nothing has ever happened. Maybe I don’t get it hot enough (in my view, if it’s too hot to drink without blowing on it first, it’s too hot).
I’ve only ever seen that happen with distilled water. The lack of impurities causes it to remain calm, versus tap water which has enough impurities to cause it to bubble. As soon as you add anything to distilled water heated to the boiling point of tap water, it reacts quite violently. I recommend not boiling distilled water.
I guess the problem is rich people boiling bottled water in the microwave? I don’t bother focusing on having super pure water if I’m not going to drink it straight, seriously, why? if you’re just going to purposely add impurities afterwards anyway?
The superheating thing is really only a big issue in a very smooth, unscratched container. If there are scratches or pits on the surface, this won’t be a problem. Likewise, if you drop a wooden chopstick or skewer in the container while heating, the problem goes away. Heat water without a worry.
Lastly, if you’re making tea, go ahead and put the teabag in the cup of water and heat it. Don’t worry about the staple and “metal in the microwave”. The staple is smaller than the wavelength of the microwaves, and won’t arc. The teabag will prevent the superheating quite neatly, and frankly, I can’t tell any difference in the taste vs. pouring the water on the teabag or microwaving it with the water.
Teabags aren’t evil. That instant oatmeal kingklash mentioned, however…*shudders*… I can’t eat instant snot. I buy good steel-cut oats by the case in #10 cans, and take the time to cook it. Not snobbery, I just like my oatmeal to be more than a cup of gelatinized glue and sugar syrup.
is there a joke besides being very, very, weird?
The joke isbeing very,very weird. That and being very,very disturbing
Oh ad generator. Not the right time to advertise tea…
What do you mean not the right time? It is plenty cold in the east coast even without snow.
I think the strip is a commentary on how tea tastes to some people.
I don’t like Spinach canned or frozen, only fresh. I’ve told people before that canned spinach looks like the Jolly Green Giant threw up.
I figured it was a reference to that civet-digested coffee, myself. The one people call “cat poop coffee”.
I’d try it, just for the sake of saying I had. That said, I generally tend to drown my coffee in additives, so maybe I wouldn’t care much for it.
I boil water for my tea just so I can use my pretty red kettle. Turning on the gas and walking away until the kettle sings and watching the cup steam while I pour water over a teaBAG is childlike fun for me.
Once I tried getting into special blend teas. Too much money and effort. And trying to keep track of the exact blend and exact measurement for the perfect cup that I loved was just tooooooooo complicated.