(no subject)

[the_rck]

We still don’t have Comcast internet. As far as Scott can tell, they decided we only wanted TV after all. He had two hours last night, between getting home and having to go to bed, so he really didn’t have time to call them. Tonight and tomorrow will be as bad. He might not have time until next Monday. He thinks that getting together the information necessary for me to call wouldn’t work because I don’t know which bits of hardware are which. So I’m going to have to listen to him rant about it for the next week. I’m not sure he realizes what him being that cranky does to my anxiety.

I wrote about 1500 words yesterday on two fics, mostly on the pinch hit.

I tried coconut oil in coffee yesterday. Maybe it would work better if I’d been able to find our immersion blender than it did with a whisk, but the oil didn’t do anything about the parts of the flavor that bother me. I tried adding stevia on top of that, and the combination was better but still not something that I can drink. It’s not even a question of just getting used to the difference. My body simply announces to me that, If I drink that, it’s coming right back up.

People who know tea— If I make tea with 3/4 of the cup filled for steeping and then add cold water to fill the cup after the steeping’s done, will the resulting tea be weaker than if I did a whole cup of hot water for steeping? Adding the cold water makes a huge difference in how long I have to wait before I can drink, but it’s not something I’ve ever done with tea, just with instant coffee. This morning’s chai took twenty minutes to cool to where I could drink it. My goal is to finish my caffeinated drink within the half hour window after I take my morning medications because I can’t eat during that time and might as well be doing something toward getting ready to face the day.

My first goal for today is a shower. My second is to finish a library book that’s due on, I think, Friday and can’t be renewed. I’m a bit cranky with myself for not having finished it yet because it’s by Donna Andrews, an author I usually really enjoy.

Other things I need to do today— fill and run the dishwasher, gather the trash and get it to the curb. I think everything else is optional, so I’ll see how much energy I have and go from there. I still want to do work in the basement, but in order to do anything down there, I have to do something with the suitcases and boxes Scott has piled down there because I can’t get around them to the bookshelves. I don’t want to just move them because that would mean they would block the path to the laundry. Why is figuring out where things go harder than moving them?

Comments

[adrian_turtle]

Some people add coconut milk to coffee. It's the texture of heavy cream, which is different than coconut oil (which is the texture of melted butter.) They sell half gallon cartons of dilute coconut milk in the refrigerator case next to the soy milk, but many stores also sell pint cartons of the heavy-cream stuff on the shelf with ingredients for making curries. (It's shelf-stable until you open the carton, then you can screw the lid back on and keep it in the refrigerator for a week or two.)

It's hard to predict the strength of tea. Using less water will make it stronger. Many people use stronger-tasting teas, or brew them longer, when they're planning to pour the brewed tea over ice. Are you looking for a strong tea flavor, or not too strong? Or trying to get the same amount of caffeine that you're used to?

[the_rck]

I don't want the flavor to be particularly strong, just as long as it's strong enough to cover the flavor of the stevia. Mainly, I'm wondering if I'll get the same amount of caffeine with 3/4 the amount of water but the same amount of tea. Is it the sort of thing where there's a maximum saturation or something?

I rather suspect that coconut milk wouldn't work given that whole milk didn't and almond milk didn't. I was actually hopeful about the coconut oil because oil is one of the major ingredients in the non-dairy creamer I was using.

[adrian_turtle]

If you are only reducing the volume from 1 cup to 3/4 of a cup, you don't need to worry about maximum saturation. The amount of caffeine should end up being quite similar.

If you're trying to get a consistent amount of caffeine every morning, you should set a timer for steeping the tea--if you just take the tea bag out when it looks right, it ends up being stronger on days you get a little distracted. You'd notice if you left it 20 minutes instead of 3, but you might not notice if you let it go 5 minutes.

[the_rck]

I'm very, very careful about steeping time for black tea of any sort because I literally can't drink it if it has steeped too long. Five minutes is too long. Three is borderline but necessary for chai if I want enough flavor to mask the stevia. Most chai recommends five minutes (some I've tried recommend even longer) of steeping time for the spices to come out, but I can't drink that.

[lunabee34]

I think you'll get the same amount of caffeine. If you're worried, just let it steep for a minute longer than you usually would.

[the_rck]

I would really rather not steep it longer because what I can tolerate in terms of bitterness is, well, it's a low threshold. Steeping black tea five minutes generally renders it utterly undrinkable for me. Three is better but tending toward too much.

[lunabee34]

Ah, ok. Then it might be slightly less caffeine.

[hopeofdawn]

Cold water steeps tea leaves more slowly than hot water--you can also get a more smooth, less bitter flavor by using water that isn't boiling. You may want to try water that's just before boiling--just when it's starting to bubble in the bottom of the pot. Or you can add cold/cool water to hot water before steeping to bring the temperature down--it won't affect the caffeine level so much as the taste.

Caffeine from tea tends to depend on how long you brew the leaves, and how many times they've been brewed. The first couple brews will always be the strongest, with successive brews having less caffeine, even if the taste is still there (for very good leaves). For tea bags or other ground/powdered tea ( like matcha), you pretty much get all the caffeine in one shot. Not sure if that's what you want or not, though ....

Anywho, that's the best advice this resident tea fiend can give ... :)

[the_rck]

Thanks so much! I'm using cheap tea bags because Bigelow's vanilla chai works better for me than the fancier chais I tried. I'm pretty sure that this shows that I have no real taste in tea, but... It's cheaper, at least, and very, very easy to find in the store.

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

I add coconut milk (unsweetened) or half and half to my tea, which cools it down. But I use herbs as well as black tea, so I steep for fifteen minutes. By that time, the tea has cooled anyway.

[the_rck]

Black tea and chai, I can't generally drink if they've steeped more than three minutes. It varies a bit, but three minutes seems to be the way to go. Purely herbal teas, I steep much longer and am less careful about timing for.

[carbonel]

If you use 3/4 of the water for steeping and then add cold water, it will be essentially the same strength as if you start with a full amount and wait for it to cool.

I use the same principle to make iced tea in a hurry. I'll make a quart of very concentrated hot tea, and add three quarts of cold water (or two quarts of cold water and a quart of ice if I'm in a real hurry). Normally (i.e., if I'm not in a hurry), I add 9 or 10 teabags to a quart of water, stick it in the fridge, and leave it overnight.

[the_rck]

Thank you! Good to hear from someone who has actually done it.

[carbonel]

Not that it has any bearing on your query, but I meant to say 9 or 10 teabags to a gallon of water, not a quart, under normal circumstances.