Liquid Jade, browsing in a bookstore
At Landmark, Nungambakkam, Liquid Jade: The Story of Tea from East to West is displayed prominently in the new arrivals section. I remembered reading about it somewhere, either in the Sunday book reviews or in one of the litblogs. I picked it up for a quick skim and what caught my eye was an entire chapter on 'Milk in First?'. Long ago, I'd posted on what your tea says about you, and recently, a friend I met mentioned this post when talking about our blogs. Amazing how such little things strike a chord and become part of the pattern of memory of a person. Anyway, talking about Milk in First, people are so divided on the topic that there are even acronyms for the groups - TIF for Tea in First and MIF for Milk in First!
I prefer MIF ever since I tried it out a couple of years ago and found that the tea tasted much better than when TIF. A couple of weeks ago, at the Brio Cafe in Crosswords, I met some new people. I ordered Assam Tea and a pot of the liquid arrived along with a small beaker of milk. I set my cup in front of me and poured the milk in first and in that split second, the eyes of the distinguished man sitting across me flickered in surprise. Along with the many labels that his first impression of me must contain, I am sure MIF is neatly tucked in somewhere.
Lastly, in that same MIF chapter in Liquid Jade, the author mentions an English writer who was a TIF and who wrote about it in an essay in 1846. I can't recall who that is now. If you've read the book, let me know. My head is in a whirl trying to remember the man.
an interesting post, lavanya. i wonder which tastes good. having last made tea two years back, i cant really tell.
Posted by
Nandhu |
2:18 AM, February 19, 2007
Hi Nandhu, welcome back!
and
>>I wonder which tastes good
It is MIF, MIF, MIF!
Posted by
Echo/Lavanya |
5:54 PM, February 19, 2007
Heres what an accomplished tea maker says:
For greatly memorable teas, it’s the balance-- divde the milk into 30 and 70 percent
70 milk first and then a bit 30milk at last.
Just perfect, get an anthology and mcvities or crumpets and hope it rains.
Posted by
Ubermensch |
9:46 AM, February 20, 2007
hey Uber - that is a useful tip. A balance between the TIF & MIF. Will try it asap.
Posted by
Echo/Lavanya |
5:48 PM, February 20, 2007