Thursday, August 5, 2010

Cuppa

I love my cuppas.

I have been drinking Dilmah for a long time at home as it goes well with the water. At work, I try to find whatever brand, whether Dilmah or Twinings or whatever, which tastes good with the water.

Recently I noticed that Dilmah wasn't tasting so nice at home, but tasted OK at work. I had to find other decaf types of teabags to use - because of my SVT I've developed a supersensitivity to caffeine, and I like to drink a LOT of tea when I am in the mood or have visitors. I bought Liptons decaf for home because the Dilmah wasn't so good any more. I took all the Dilmah to work. I ran out of Liptons at home and sometimes it's hard to get decaf tea from the supermarket... I found Tetley I could get 100 bags for a little more than they sold the boxes of 50 of the other two.

Last night I made gravy using the boiling water/gravox/microwave method. The water had bits in it. The old kettle, which is really old, has a coating of gunk in it from the water, and it's all discoloured. The plastic of the kettle itself is brittle and you can scrape it away in places... I decided that it was time to buy a new kettle very soon.

At lunchtime today I had my pilgrimage to Aldi, and lo, 1.5L electric kettle autoboil/cutoff for only $15. Yes please.

Tetley teabags which tasted OK a week go have suddenly taken on a yuk taste. I suspect that it's the lack of added flavour from the gunk in the old kettle and the decaying plastic. The new stainless one has left the water tasting as it usually does.

So, I'll have to break out the other teabags and see how they go. Shame really, there are plenty of the Tetley ones left.

*sigh*

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you are looking for a good decaf T I have been drinking Madura since about 1996. They make 50 t bag packs and leaf t. They also make english brekky in same. Max 3% caffine and are made in Northern New South Wales. I find them affordable given they are made in Oz. I doubt they are sold at Aldi but are available at Coles and Woolies.
Regards,
Jenny

kae said...

Hi Jenny
I've tried the Aussie teas and unfortunately they don't go well with my water.
I will have a look in Coles and Woolies for their decaf ones and give them a try with my new kettle...
I just made a Liptons cuppa and it's better than the Tetley. But only marginally!

And the fresh milk has gone to God, too. So I've had to use the longlife skim. (I like skim in tea and full cream in coffee, I don't have sugar, but occasionally I have the syrups in the coffee, but about 1/3 strength!)

kc said...

We got our first electric kettle last spring. Paid a bit more than you, it's got auto shut-off & the electric plate is separate from the kettle. I LOVE it. But we have hard water, so I have to clean with vinegar regularly. Water from the tap usually has a bit of a clorine hint, sometimes VERY strong. Ick. I don't drink water, I drink Coke, Squirt, coffee and tea. For some reason I have a HALF GALLON of whipping cream in my fridge, wish I could freeze it. Better start drinking it in my coffee AND tea! Brand of tea? I think I have Twinings English Breakfast...with sugar and cream, I can't tell if the water's hinky.

Merilyn said...

Dilmah tea drinker here, plus Green Tea of an afternoon, we use tank water, as the water [used to be straight from the River, and "dirty" was not the best], we now have pipe water with everything in it, but it still tastes like River water.
Thanks for the tip about the vinegar, will try that for our kettle.

Anonymous said...

I would rather eat broken glass than put long life milk in my t.

Must be all those years in the bush when fresh milk was a treat on holidays in the big smoke.

Now I am a spoiled, city slicker, latte, fresh full cream milk type that will go without rather than put long life milk in my T.

It gets worse-I only use filtered water in my kettle. Pathetic, I know.

I will be in trouble if I lose my cushy life and have to tough it out in the real, world wont I!

All the best with the new kettle.

Regards,
Jenny

kae said...

Hi Jen
I can't drink tea or coffee without milk, and I need to have long life in the cupboard because sometimes the milk goes off and I don't realise that it has... like last night! Also, some days I don't feel like driving down to the small local supermarkets to pay over the odds for fresh milk which has a soon approaching use-by date when for $1 I can put a longlife skim in the pantry and it will tide me over until I can get fresh. Just really can't drink tea or coffee without milk - and that coffee whitener is yuk!
The longlife has got better, and skim doesn't have that fake cream taste of the full cream milk.