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Your e-Mails

Keith O'Kane	Dear Nicey and the Wife, I notice that there have been a number of comments on your site recently regarding the use of a single tea bag to make two cups of tea. Although social conditioning prevents me from attempting this myself, I can see the merits of this method and would quite happily drink a "secondary" cup of tea, provided that the tea was of a reasonable strength and I had not been witness to the double dip. I think that most objections stem from the fear that a single tea bag is simply not strong enough to make two cups of tea with an acceptable level of flavour.  This surely depends on the type of tea in question. I myself am a recent convert to Tesco Fair Trade tea which, in my opinion, is easily up to the task of providing two full strength mugs of tea from a single bag.  Tesco have very thoughtfully provided a strength indicator on their own brand tea bags which shows the strength on a scale of 1 to 3 with 3 being the strongest.  The bags I use are rated as having a strength level of 2, so with even stronger tea available there should be no reason to stick to the 'one bag per cup' rule (except for the aforementioned social conditioning). I hope this has been of some benefit to those who may be considering double dipping. Keith O'Kane
Emily Hopkins	Hello Nicey, Thought you might be interested in this story about police officers getting free cups of tea from an unnamed motorway service station. What do you reckon, is it outrageous or does it prove that the police are human too? I live in Cheshire, so do you think I should investigate which one it is, and see if they could perhaps extend the service to NCOTAASD 'members' travelling on the M6? Maybe some of those little packets of biscuits too? I had a nice little packet of Fruit Shrewsburys on a course in Liverpool the other day. Emily
	Nicey replies: Well in Balamory PC Plum finishes off a plate of Miss Hoolie's Custard Creams whilst on his rounds, as well as a cuppa. This evidently means he is a bad-un, on the take and up there with the likes of Don Beeche of the Bill (although he seems to be in Eastenders now).
Frances Dunlop	Dear Nicey and Wifey, I am so grateful to you! I have started reading your book, and already it has been of great help in removing some of the stress from my life. For the first time I now feel able to admit that I am a two-mug-per-bag user. I inherited a thrifty streak from my mother, and also have always found that one bag gives two perfectly good mugfulls. But when I have visitors I try to hide the fact that I am giving the bag a surreptitious second dunk. You have given me the courage to “come out”. Thank you. I am enjoying the book. I look forward to the chapter on Sitting Down. I note that there is a section on sit down technique. This is something I have always felt rather good at, but I hope to learn some hints to improve my technique. Frances
	Nicey replies: That puts me mind of a charming letter I received this week from a gentleman who had been a POW in Italy during WWII. He recounted how his last pinch of precious tea leaves were offered up in an enamel mug to a passing driver of an Italian steam locomotive. The British chaps gestured that would like some hot water in their mugs, with much mutual denouncement of war as a bad thing between both parties. The kind engine driver then used jets of steam to blast out what he took to be bits of old filthy stuff in the bottom of the chaps mug and returned it to him nice and clean and empty. He didn't get another cup of tea for two and a half years.
Junglebongo	Hi, thoroughly enjoying the book, and have just discovered this site!  I just wondered what your thoughts are on decaffinated tea?  I personally think theres something not right about them - just not the same. Mind you, PG tips decaf actually have caffeine in them, only less than normal, and theyre actually quite tasty and still have something of the 'kick' of proper tea. and i like mine relatively weak but theres still a discernible diference. cheers, Junglebongo. P.S. I just had one of those hovis digestives with my PGtips - left over from xmas and still fresh! now thats a damn fine biscuit.
	Nicey replies: I've not actually ventured into decaffeinated tea, and so couldn't say. If its anything like decaf coffee then the solvent based extraction of the caffeine also takes some of the more volatile components of the taste and flavour with it. However, if you need to drink the stuff then its very welcome.
Mark George	Dear Nicey. I received your book at Christmas from my brother and have so far enjoyed reading it. I mainly do so on the toilet! I find the sections just long enough so that I can read one while I do a two. Sorry to be crude but that?s the way it is. There are lots of elements in the book that I strongly agree with and find it reassuring that other people think the same way as myself. However, we certainly do not agree on our tea brewing methods. I can imagine that masses of people have been in touch with you over this issue as it is so controversial. Just in case they haven?t, I feel it is my duty to raise the matter with you. Using one tea bag to brew two cups of tea is utterly ridiculous. I cannot believe that you ?a supposed tea connoisseur, if you will- would stoop to the level of reusing a tea bag. (In these few sentences I will be referring to the brew in the cup method of production) It is a well-known fact that the main infusion takes place in the first few seconds after the boiling water has hit the bag. Trying to achieve this same infusion, in another cup, with the same bag is preposterous. The bag is second hand and should be discarded like a sock with two holes. How can the two cups taste the same? Who gets the secondary cup? What do you do when you are only making tea for yourself? How can you get them finished at the same time? These are all questions that baffle me while I read your book, wondering whether I can trust your opinions on other matters regarding tea. I would have liked this book to be a kind of bible on tea, but I couldn?'t be Christian if I didn'?t agree with God when it comes to his opinion on coveting my neighbours? wife (which I do not covet my neighbours wife but agree with God?s opinion). This may be of no use or interest to you but here it is anyway, my tea brewing method: (for two) Boil thy kettle (freshly drawn water) Place one tea bag in each mug Add water to mugs Let alone for two minutes (no stirring or squeezing), (insure tea spoon is not in mug) Remove the bags with minimal aggravation (I find squeezing causes the tea to taste ?baggy?, as in ?of the bag? Add milk (no sugar) Stir well. Thank you for your time. Hope there are no hard feelings. Mark.
	Nicey replies: As you leave your bag in for two minutes I certainly wouldn't try to make another cup with it. However we only give our bags a matter of 10-15 seconds whilst giving it a bit of a stir, and it works fine for us and a great many others for that matter. As we explained in the book when talking about leaf size in modern tea bags after two minutes a average tea bag in a mug will have begun to stew so unless it is removed exceedingly carefully will release the stewed tea from within, hence the perceived baggy flavour. This is due to the heavier molecular weight tannins which account for this flavour being able to move through the now saturated and hence widely spaced fibers of the cell walls. If the bag were to do this in the context of a teapot then it wouldn't be so much of an issue as it would no doubt be working with more than one mug of boiling water. If somebody were to make a cup of of tea with one of your used two minute bags it would taste awfully stewed, and I certainly wouldn't fancy that. I hope we have arrived at some sort of understanding.
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