tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post8385451706969668229..comments2024-03-16T00:21:43.240+00:00Comments on Separated by a Common Language: milk and tealynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-54000968000057571302023-04-17T22:51:07.726+01:002023-04-17T22:51:07.726+01:00It's on YouTube here: https://m.youtube.com/wa...It's on YouTube here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aEsTuhPocrw<br />The music sounds terrible to me - I'm not an enthisiast for jazz! I am, however, an enthusiast for a decent cup of tea, and the advice offered in the lyrics is spot on.Grhmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-40350925052192536102023-04-17T17:29:05.939+01:002023-04-17T17:29:05.939+01:00The only way to make properly is, tea 1st boiling ...The only way to make properly is, tea 1st boiling water 2nd < it must be boiling and not from a coffee machine,then remove the tea bag if made in a cup then add milk . But still never mix the milk with tea before the boiling water. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-62451359127492606082021-02-13T06:39:11.877+00:002021-02-13T06:39:11.877+00:00My mum(from southend area)did the same, It wasn...My mum(from southend area)did the same, It wasn't until I was married that I discovered french toast involved eggs.whiteturbohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10957949882006396756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-83642143034277078032019-04-23T19:54:50.565+01:002019-04-23T19:54:50.565+01:00Here, I think, an Americano is what the French cal...Here, I think, an Americano is what the French call a "Café allongé"; an espresso with hot water added to dilute it down a bit. The term merely distinguishes it from filter coffee - and either coffee may or may not have milk added to it according to taste, usually cold milk (whereas your cappucinos and flat whites and so on are made with hot milk).Mrs Redboots (Annabel Smyth)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11270027663691257254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-71390954306266088772019-04-23T12:57:22.635+01:002019-04-23T12:57:22.635+01:00BrE, Scot, mid 60s. Coming to this post very late,...BrE, Scot, mid 60s. Coming to this post very late, I wonder if Lynne feels that an update is due, Or perhaps a new post. With all the new fashionable ways of buying coffee, try just asking for a black or white coffee in the U.K. these days. I have even asked for a black Americanso, and been asked if I wanted milk with it. I was lead to believe that an Americano was a term used in most of Europe to distinguish from the very small espresso, and was automatically served without milk. Apparently not so in today’s U.K.Shy-replyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01891566073375322808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-37113329286177507512018-06-20T20:52:17.711+01:002018-06-20T20:52:17.711+01:00This is many years later (I forget what I came to ...This is many years later (I forget what I came to look up on this blog but, as usual, one post led to another), but I notice, reading through the comments, that nobody has mentioned one very important feature of tea as it is drunk in Britain and Ireland (and, quite probably, many Commonwealth countries) and that is caffeine! Tea contains nearly as much caffeine as coffee, but I very seldom hear people comment on this.<br /><br />As for drinking milk, it is, I think, now known that about <a href="http://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/vegdiets/what-is-lactose-intolerance" rel="nofollow">75% the global population don't have the gene to permit digestion of lactose once past weaning</a>, so don't use milk and milk products a great deal.<br /><br />I don't bake a great deal at home, but it's certainly not unknown, and like to have a 1kg bag of granulated sugar - most recently for making a <a href="http://mrsredbootsfood.blogspot.com/search?q=summer+pudding" rel="nofollow">summer pudding</a>, which you can scarcely describe as baking! However, we had run out of it, and I visited two local supermarkets and in neither could I get hold of a 1kg bag of gran - in the end my husband scored one in a third supermarket, but really! Mrs Redboots (Annabel Smyth)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11270027663691257254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-57903835105089499852017-09-30T22:42:35.301+01:002017-09-30T22:42:35.301+01:00US house. Not a speck of sugar (white, brown, powd...US house. Not a speck of sugar (white, brown, powdered, etc.), ever. Good luck guests who want some in their tea, and guests who want coffee are stuck with the instant variety I keep in the back of the spice cupboard specifically for this purpose, though I've never been asked twice by the same person. I will happily supply some stevia, though. We have both powdered and liquid.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-71856802867102941832017-02-07T03:45:07.442+00:002017-02-07T03:45:07.442+00:00In Canada, the full-featured milk is referred to a...In Canada, the full-featured milk is referred to as "homogenized milk" (some people call it homo milk for short), but in my experience nobody chooses to drink it except small children (who need the full nutrients) or those who need it for health reasons. Most people drink 1% or 2%, or *maybe* skim, and everyone has a strong opinion about which is best based on which they Grey up with! (I'm a one-percenter -- skim is too watery, and even 2% feels like drinking table cream to me!)<br /><br />Also, our milk comes in cartons and jugs, but in some parts of Canada (not most, as is the common misconception)... in bags! Here in Ontario, we can buy 4 1-litre bags of milk. These come packaged in a disposable bag that contains all 4 packs, but once you open it up, there are individually packaged clear bags of milk. The bag gets placed in a plastic milk jug, the top front corner is snipped off the bag, and then it's pourable. It took some getting used to when I came from a province without bagged milk (and you can still by milk in other forms here) but it's a lot cheaper to get it in bags. Lauranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-76637426317239742962017-02-07T03:32:25.279+00:002017-02-07T03:32:25.279+00:00I know it's been 9 years, but just thought I&#...I know it's been 9 years, but just thought I'd jump in with an anecdote that many people I know do drink milk with dinner, but mainly if it's a family dinner. When we had guests, or if we go for a fancy meal like thanksgiving with family, it's water, but unless the adults were drinking alcohol with dinner, both my parents and my in laws would have milk. And it was always milk for the kids.Also Canadiannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-62151928734746192852017-01-26T21:02:01.032+00:002017-01-26T21:02:01.032+00:00Nine years is a long time to wait for a response, ...Nine years is a long time to wait for a response, but here goes.<br /><br />You're a Brit who's pretty much American by now, right? Carton in BrE just refers to a cardboard pack, not to a size. It's an uncommon word over here anyway.<br /><br />Googling for "cigarette carton" and "cigarette cartons" on UK sites I found: an on-line wholesaler who always specified that a carton was "of ten packs of 20"; a Metro newspaper article that said "One of the most high-profile changes comes in the form of new standardised packaging – which will see all cigarette cartons be the same drab green colour", referring to individual packs of 20; and a Daily Mail on-line webpage on the same topic with 'carton' in the URL but not in the article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3632794/Opache-couch-mix-green-brown-designed-cigarette-cartons-voted-world-s-worst-colour-think.html.<br /><br />Clearly in Britain a 'carton' is no more a specific size for cigarette packs than a 'stick' is for butter. We do understand "the concept of 200 cigarettes" though; we just use the same phrase for the thing and the concept.KeithDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10451059429340892054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-43229601041168277102015-10-23T20:00:14.084+01:002015-10-23T20:00:14.084+01:00For the last year or two, in the UK, you've be...For the last year or two, in the UK, you've been able to get 1% milk as well as skimmed, semi-skimmed and full-cream / full-fat. If semi-skimmed is about 1.8%, maybe 1% was introduced as an approximate halfway house between the first two - a gap that had never been filled in the UK before.Damien Hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05197935248553594880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-69626671409094567572015-06-20T23:26:00.313+01:002015-06-20T23:26:00.313+01:00On another thread, Anonymous said
My Chinese gra...On another thread, Anonymous said<br /><br /><i> My Chinese grandfather taught me to make tea with water that was just shy of the boil because boiled water loses oxygen and tends to taste flat. Similarly, he found the British habit of drinking tea with milk and sugar "ridiculous." Just because the British drink a lot of tea doesn't mean they are the authorities on what is "proper," it's just a way to prepare a beverage and preferences are just that...</i><br /><br />British tea drinkers never discovered the merit of adding water <b>before</b> it boiled. However, we did discover long ago the demerits of adding water <b>after</b> it's gone off the boil. That's why we used to insist on carrying the pot to the kettle, never vice versa. I think it dates from when there would be a kettle gently boiling on the hob over the fire. Not nearly as good as your grandfather's tea, but still much, much preferable to the stuff they make in Europe with water that's no longer really hot.<br /><br />We don't insist that tea with milk and sugar is 'proper' — just that it's the taste that we grew up with. The classic way to serve tea is from a pot and two jugs — of milk and hot water — and a bowl of sugar. You <b>choose</b> your strength, and whether to have milk and/or sugar. As in some other culture, one person is nominated to mix the drink as requested. You offer to be that person by saying <br /><br /><i>Shall I be mother?</i>David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-81370152483264229792014-04-10T20:59:20.567+01:002014-04-10T20:59:20.567+01:00Massachusetts, aged 25, eccentric-
Even herbal te...Massachusetts, aged 25, eccentric-<br /><br />Even herbal tea is too bitter for my taste. At least a steaming cup of mint tea smells pleasant. Coffee turns my nose at 10 paces!<br /><br /><br />Regarding American style pancakes, butter is optional, syrup is required, and if you're in the northeast, maple syrup is the one true syrup.<br /><br />I have enough of a sweet tooth that I will use imitation syrup if maple isn't available, but when I do, I know I'm committing sacrilege.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02138260302522477243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-67731230278642730252013-10-18T12:10:23.420+01:002013-10-18T12:10:23.420+01:00Fnarf
it's virtually impossible to get a cup...Fnarf<br /><br /><i> it's virtually impossible to get a cup of tea in an American restaurant where the WATER IS BOILING. Nothing else matters anywhere near so much as this detail. </i><br /><br />The jazz musician Django Bates expressed the British credo beautifully in this song:<br /><br /><i><b>The Importance Of Boiling Water</b><br /><br />(infusion music).<br /><br />It's the best drink of the day,<br />Whether Assam or Darjeeling or Earl Grey, so<br />If you like great tea<br />Listen carefully: <br /><br />Please put some tealeaves in a pot.<br />Don't use a teabag, please do not.<br />Boil some water, but you ought ta<br />Make sure it's scorching and seething and scalding. <br /><br />Now pour the water over the leaves (watch them dancing).<br />See what a spell hot water weaves: (taste enhancing).<br />But it must be one hundred degrees. <br /><br />Now put some milk into a cup (or some lemon),<br />Don't fret your tea is coming up (let me demon-<br />strate), Give it time: four minutes should be fine. <br /><br />Now pour the tea through a strainer.<br />Please heed my words, you'll be the gainer.<br />Lift the cup to your lips and take three sips... <br /><br />It's good, it's good, it's goo---d, it's<br />Good (is it not)? And there's more in the pot, yes it's<br />Great to drink tea that tastes this good, 'cos it's the<br />Best drink of the day so, <br /><br />If you want tea that tastes this good, we say the<br />Water must be boiling:<br />Take it from us it really should. </i><br /><br />You used to be able to stream it from Django's website. Now you'll have to pay to download it from iTunes or Amazon or wherever, but I do recommend it.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-74726600812192238702013-10-18T03:42:51.075+01:002013-10-18T03:42:51.075+01:00I've lived in the US for the last 16 years, an...I've lived in the US for the last 16 years, and the only American adult I've ever seen drink milk is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._A._Baracus" rel="nofollow">B. A. Baracus</a>.vphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16647609487352038948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-22221264803411323902012-09-24T03:06:19.841+01:002012-09-24T03:06:19.841+01:00I'm a 40-something American living in southwes...I'm a 40-something American living in southwestern Ohio and I love a cold glass of milk once in a while. As a matter of fact I had one with my dinner tonight. I don't drink milk every day or even every week, but I do buy milk every time I go to the grocery, and sometimes after I've put away the groceries I'll drink a glass of milk straight away.<br /><br />And a favorite thing to settle a queasy stomach or to cure a bout of insomnia is a glass of milk with some <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Carnation-Malted-Milk-Original-13-Ounce/dp/B001EQ4HVC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348452292&sr=8-2&keywords=malted+milk" title="This isn't where I'd buy it, in case some folks wonder what I'm talking about, this is it" rel="nofollow">malted milk</a> mixed in.David Laurihttp://www.davidlauri.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-15835598169425582002012-06-15T22:37:10.002+01:002012-06-15T22:37:10.002+01:00Absolutely true. Thanks for the correction!Absolutely true. Thanks for the correction!lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-39832822112594500702012-06-15T20:09:38.399+01:002012-06-15T20:09:38.399+01:00Lynne, there aren't 13 US states that used to ...Lynne, there aren't 13 US states that used to be colonies, but 16. Maine was part of Massachusetts in 1776; West Virginia was still part of Virginia, and Vermont was disputed territory on the border between New Hampshire and New York.<br /><br />Many other states - Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi were (wholly or largely) nominally claimed by Britain until 1783, but they were never under the practical control of the British. A small fraction of Minnesota falls into this category too.<br /><br />Washington and Oregon were also disputed until 1846, but there's no reasonable way to describe them as British colonies at any time.Richard Gadsdenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10545595590359552775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-12622389535662417352011-10-27T00:54:44.597+01:002011-10-27T00:54:44.597+01:00A few comments on comments, so late that they shou...A few comments on comments, so late that they should probably be time-barred:<br /><br />First, to the_sybil: As an American, I'm not surprised that you were offered something other than Camellia sinensis. I am surprised, though, that you'd be offered anything while going round someone's house. (I would probably say "around" there, but I'm from New York and regional usage may differ.) If I were visiting friends, I wouldn't expect them to offer me anything until I came inside, or at least sat down on the porch.<br /><br />But I agree that "herbal tea" is either a tautology or a contradiction, depending on whether you classify C. sinensis as an herb, and in either case is lexically (as well as, in many of its American variants, gastronomically) horrible. I don't know why the French "infusion," which is perfect in this context, hasn't made inroads into English.<br /><br />Also, I wanted to reassure Matt that, in my experience (which I admit is limited almost entirely to southern Ontario), Canadians universally and non-judg(e)mentally refer to non-skim milk as homo milk.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-45829525039155217062009-01-02T22:58:00.000+00:002009-01-02T22:58:00.000+00:00This is totally late, but I'm from central Texas, ...This is totally late, but I'm from central Texas, and I don't know ANYONE who regularly drinks milk with meals any more. Kids might, but that's it. I remember a few families who did growing up, but most of us thought they were weird (I'm 32).<BR/><BR/>This may be due to the prevalence of iced tea here. I usually drink water at home with meals, but my family always had iced tea. They put loads of artificial sweetener in it, but I can't stand the stuff because I like to TASTE the tea. <BR/><BR/>Presweetened tea in restaurants is a rather new thing in this area, and it annoys me because people tend to assume you want the sweet.<BR/><BR/>I lived in Europe for five years (Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic), and I agree that the super sweet stuff called iced tea that people are starting to drink there is NASTY.<BR/><BR/>Finally, I don't usually drink hot tea (I'm not much on hot drinks in general except when it's really cold, so that leaves out any time around here!), but when I do, I drink it black. I was traveling with my English friend through Europe this summer and he consistently bitched, especially in France, about the tea being terrible because it wasn't hot enough.Jsemlesliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10344840446411397478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-30189403384312569022008-11-04T14:44:00.000+00:002008-11-04T14:44:00.000+00:00Americans drink far more milk per head of populati...Americans drink far more milk per head of population than any other country. Even more so when children are taken out of the equation. Most western countries agree that children should have milk, but it's not generally seen as a suitable drink for adults.<BR/><BR/>Milk in bottles from your milkman comes in pints (for those few who still have milkmen). More often nowadays in the UK milk comes in litre TetraPak cartons, or two-litre plastic jugs.<BR/><BR/>There's a standard colour code for milk and cream packaging in the UK. I thought it was a pan-European thing, but apparently not.<BR/>Red = Skimmed milk (and single cream)<BR/>Green = Semi-skimmed milk (and whipping cream)<BR/>Blue = Full fat milk (and double cream)<BR/>There is also "gold top" milk from the Channel Islands, with its extra-rich creaminess.<BR/><BR/>We usually have Assam tea in this house -- good and strong without being bitter. I prefer it with lemon rather than milk, but part of the reason might be that I'm marginally lactose intolerant.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-4916424201859598292008-10-14T19:01:00.000+01:002008-10-14T19:01:00.000+01:00Hmmm... As an Irishman, I rarely put myself in the...Hmmm... As an Irishman, I rarely put myself in the position of defending British customs, but I am going to make an exception. The Irish way of tea drinking is inherited from the British for obvious reasons. We like strong black tea, with fresh full fat Irish milk, sometimes with sugar sometimes without (without for me please). A pleasant warm energy drink for farmers and laborers alike back "in the day".<BR/><BR/>It has stayed that way, unsophisticated, but unbeatable. I detest the horrible warmish stuff I get served in NY and never ever order tea there anymore. I much prefer coffee than that.<BR/><BR/>I use loose tea, but I have absolutely no problem drinking a cup of Lyons' or Barry's (tea bags). I grew up on tea bags so I like them almost the same as loose tea. I agree with the earlier point regarding the HOT water...just off the boil, straight into the pot (or mug), leave it alone for a while, and then add a drop of milk.<BR/>A lovely cup of tea.Dennishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10138195897075916670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-79267541303316391202008-05-15T15:57:00.000+01:002008-05-15T15:57:00.000+01:00JohnB writes of builders' tea and how it has two s...JohnB writes of builders' tea and how it has two sugars. He surely jests. Six sugars more like. Builders' tea inevitably leads to builders' cleavage.Paul Danonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04816761952837296368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-6123322045197119032008-05-15T10:31:00.000+01:002008-05-15T10:31:00.000+01:00White coffee is not 100% unfamiliar in the US, I t...<I>White coffee</I> is not 100% unfamiliar in the US, I think, since I've been using <I>black coffee/white coffee</I> as an example of opposites in my work for years...I'd have to check whether this example is in my (AmE) dissertation/(BrE) thesis (finished in 1993), but it was only more recently that I discovered that not every American understands it.<BR/><BR/>I think these days people would think you meant a special kind of coffee--like <I>white tea</I> can be another kind of tea on a par with <I>green tea</I> or <I>black tea</I> (i.e. referring to the kind of leaves it's made from, rather than what's done with it once it's brewed. But the other difference is that in America you're rarely handed a cup of coffee that already has the milk (or in the US, cream--see the previous discussion of cream) in it--you're left to put it in yourself, which means that you're often expected to drink stuff from those little sealed white plastic cups, which I've only seen in hotel rooms (where you're making your own coffee) in the UK, not anywhere where you're served fresh coffee.<BR/><BR/>(Of course, you are served coffee with milk if you order a caffe latte or cappuccino--but you know what I mean.)<BR/><BR/>Americans who like black coffee have to learn in the UK to order "black coffee", otherwise it often comes with milk that you've not asked for.lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-78270763420875897842008-05-15T05:55:00.000+01:002008-05-15T05:55:00.000+01:00One dialectal issue I don't think you've covered o...One dialectal issue I don't think you've covered on this blog yet is the fact that British and Australian people planning to visit America are often warned not to order a white coffee from a black waiter. Apparently, the term "white coffee" being unfamiliar to Americans (who would say "coffee with milk"), it is sometimes misconstrued as "coffee good enough for white people". I don't know how common such misunderstandings really are, but it's commonly reported as a potential hazard.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com