There is apparently an international standard way of making a cup of tea. Some people are a little uppity about their tea, and tend to think that they can make the perfect cup of tea that trumps everyone else’s. This is really kind of frustrating to talk about since tea is, for lack of a better explanation, tea. It’s a mixture of water and a ground substance that is added to the water to give it flavor and more of a kick. Yet the explanations and ideas surrounding tea are almost endless as nearly every person that drinks tea thinks that their way is best. Well, to be quite honest it is, for them.
The standard cup of tea, or ISO 3103, involves actually procuring a standard tea set and measuring out a prescribed amount of tea before adding the water to the tea and then allowing it to sit for six minutes. After this time has passed it is then advised to pour the mixture into a bowl-like cup and then taste it to see if it’s right. Well to be quite honest if a person isn’t a tea drinker then it’s going to be much more difficult to tell what ‘right’ is for tea. That’s kind of like asking a person that favors wine to tell which is the most standard way to make beer and how they can tell by taste. They might be able to say that it tastes okay but they won’t be able to tell you if it was made in the standard way. Tea is more or less something that people enjoy when they feel a need for something different, or something lighter, and it is quite refreshing in many ways. But it does tend to make some people think a little too highly of themselves as their opinions seem to rise along with the steam to heights of snobbery concerning their favorite drink.
Thankfully a lot of people don’t ascribe to this, as many that enjoy tea have their own way of making it and don’t tend to force it on others simply because they understand that tea is just like anything else, it’s there to be enjoyed by people in whatever way they see fit. Some like it hot, some like it cold, some like it right now fresh and some like it cold. If you’re a tea lover then great, if not then there are a lot of other things to drink. But the fact that there’s a standard for something as widespread as tea drinking is kind of odd considering that there’s really no ground zero as far as tea goes. The most popular of legends has tea originating in China on accident, and from there it just kind of picked up as time went on. The standards back then were probably just as adaptable as well, so quite honestly if you want to get technical there is no such thing as a standard cup of tea.
Unless of course you’re going by yours or someone else’s standard.
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