Southern Sweet Tea: Shocking The Tea

Q) Does the temperature of the water you pour your steeped tea into make a difference in the flavor of the tea?

A) No. While it does make a difference for dissolving the sugar, the flavor or bitterness of the tea itself will not be affected if you pour it over hot, cold water or even ice. Tea pedants will disagree with me but I have empirical evidence on my side (keep reading).

Background:

Why does anyone care? Firstly, you must understand that to make Southern Sweet Tea you must first steep your tea in one part boiling water for five minutes. You then pour your steeped tea into three parts water of some specified temperature. The temperature of the water your pour your steeped tea into is a point of contention and sometimes bloodshed between hard core Southern Sweet Tea aficionados. One camp says that steeped tea should be poured into hot water to avoid “shocking” the tea, others say that it should be poured into cold water to halt the steeping process and avoid bitterness.

In this experiment, to find out which is right, I do a side by side test of pouring steeped tea into hot water, cool water and ice water.

Experimental Setup:

  • 3.2 cups of boiling water.
  • 3 clean, glass measuring cups.
  • One small, clean, stainless steel bowl containing three family-size bags of Luzianne tea. (this would normally contain sugar but we’re leaving the sugar out entirely for control purposes)
  • One clean stainless steel bowl containing 3 cups of hot (steaming) water
  • One clean stainless steel bowl containing 3 cups cool water.
  • One clean stainless steel bowl containing 709.7 grams of ice, the melted volume of which is exactly 3 cups.
  • 3 clean shot glasses

Experiment:

  • Washed containers of any contaminants prior to beginning the experiment.
  • Boil just over 3 cups of water.
  • Begin 5 minute steeping timer.
  • Pour boiling water over tea bags.
  • Steep 5 minutes exactly without agitation.
  • Remove tea bags without draining or squeezing.
  • Measure 1 cup steeped tea into each of 3 glass measuring cups.
  • Simultaneously pour respective steeped tea cups into hot, cool and iced water respectively.
  • Remove 1 cup samples from each tea mixture for refrigeration.
  • Allow remaining tea to cool at room temperature.
  • Sample periodically using separate shot glasses to avoid cross-contamination.

Results:

As someone with highly discriminating taste in Sweet Tea, I was unable to discern any noteworthy difference between the three besides temperature. The tea that was hotter was minusculely more flavorful while the tea that was colder was almost imperceptibly less bitter. I attribute this to variances in perception due to temperature rather than any actually difference in the tea.

Does it make a difference? Not as far as the tea itself is concerned. Pouring into hot water will help to dissolve the sugar, however, which will improve the taste of the beverage.

Discussion:

A noteworthy question to come out of this is: if mixing temperature has no effect on bitterness, what does cause bitterness in the tea? The sole culprit appears to be agitation of the tea bags. If the tea bags are stirred, pressed or, heaven forbid, drained and squeezed the tea will become very bitter. The most critically important thing to do while steeping tea is to do nothing at all.

Future Work:

Compare 1:3 steep/mix vs. steep all at once vs. mechanical steeping.

When and how is it best to add the sugar?

How sensitive is Luzianne tea to steep time?

How sensitive is Lipton tea to steep time?

Luzianne vs. Lipton showdown.

 

 

 

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That vs. Which vs. Who

Rule 1: Who is used for people whereas that and which are used for things.

Larry is the Stooge who plays the violin.

Stradivarius is the type of violin that Larry plays.

Rule 2: That is used for restrictive clauses whereas which is used for non-restrictive clauses.

The 1968 Mustang is the model car that I want. (restrictive: only the 1968 Mustang will do)

I highly desire 1968 Mustangs, which are beautiful. (non-restrictive: all 1968 Mustangs are beautiful)

Rule 3: If this, that, these, or those has already introduced an essential clause, you may use which to introduce the next clause, whether it is essential or nonessential.

That 1968 Mustang is a car which I want.

Rule 3a: It is better to do without the which in those situations, if possible.

I want that 1968 Mustang.

 

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Natty Greens: Southern Pale Ale

I drank a flight of five, how did I not take notes on this one?

Do over :)

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Skull Coast: Maelstrom

Out of LoneRider, Natty Greens, Green Man, Highland and Skull Coast, this one was the most bite-you-in-the-rear, kick-you-in-the-groin IPA. In other words it was perfect.

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LoneRider: Peacemaker Pale Ale

Among a flight of five NC IPAs (Green Man, Skull Coast, Highland, Natty Green, LoneRider), the take away on this one was that it was the most non-IPA IPA of the bunch.

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Green Man: IPA

Good IPA. Just to make it a bit more interesting it has a nutty flavor.

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Highland: Kashmir IPA

The beer was nice and smooth… just like Kashmir… but that’s not what I want from an IPA. I want an IPA that is so bitter and alcoholic that it challenges my very manhood to drink it.

Now if Kashmir was the name of a hefeweizen, that would be different…. 60 Grit would be a better name for an IPA.

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Entry Zero: Purpose

Though I am generally in favor of adding blogging as a criteria of malignant narcissism for the DSM V, I am creating a blog. I find myself needing to write down my thoughts where I can efficiently recover them at a later time. Being of a technical mind, a blog seems the perfect medium less the fact that the whole world can see it. I am not the type to deem my thoughts and opinions needing publication so, for the most part, I will not make what I write available for public consumption unless I am too lazy or forgetful to revoke visibility or unless what I write can be of some practical use for others.

I am also hoping that writing frequently in this blog will help me become a better communicator. I have found that my mind does not think verbally, but in visualization and physical models. Where this trait renders me generally more adept at understanding and visualizing physical phenomenon, it renders me less adept at translating that understanding into a comprehensible verbal or written form. Let’s hope this blog helps.

These are the purposes in creating this blog.

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