Kid-friendly Proper Tea Recipe - Sticky Fingers Cooking
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Recipe: Proper Tea

Recipe: Proper Tea

Proper Tea

by Erin Fletter
Photo by Quayside/Shutterstock.com
prep time
40 minutes
cook time
makes
4-6 servings

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

  • steep :

    to soak a food, like tea, in water or other liquid so as to bring out its flavor.

Equipment Checklist

scale
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Ingredients

Proper Tea

  • 3 T sugar/maple syrup/honey
  • 3 bags decaf black tea
  • 1/2 C whole milk

Instructions

Proper Tea

1.
boil + add + steep + pour!

Boil 3 cups of water in a saucepan. Add 3 tablespoons of sugar and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat, add 3 bags of decaf black tea, and steep for 3 to 5 minutes. Then add 1/2 cup of whole milk, pour, and enjoy!

Surprise Ingredient: Tea!

back to recipe
Photo by Sun Shock/Shutterstock.com

Hi, I'm Tea!

"I'm a drink made from plant parts, like leaves and flowers. I like to think I'm sweet enough, but some tea drinkers like to add honey or sugar to me, and some add milk to black tea to cool it down. You can drink tea hot or iced!"

History

  • The history of tea began in China as far back as 5,000 years ago. 
  • An old Chinese legend says a man was out walking one day when he accidentally tasted the juices from a tea plant leaf. He thought it tasted great and felt the tea had unique medicinal properties.
  • Another legend suggests it was a mythical emperor called Shennong who discovered tea when a tea blossom fell into a cup of hot water he was drinking.
  • At that time, tea was drunk fresh with the new leaves being mixed with hot water. In those days, the tea leaves were not allowed to oxidize (to combine with oxygen, causing darker leaves), so the leaves remained green. It was only later that oolong and black or red teas were developed. Black tea is fully oxidized, and oolong is semi-oxidized. 
  • Tea drinking grew in popularity and became a pastime for the rich. Fine teas were only available to those who could afford them, and green teas were even used as currency. 
  • Elaborate tea ceremonies developed involving large sets of tea-making equipment. Tea houses sprung up, and tea connoisseurs prided themselves on the quality of their leaves and their tea-making skills.
  • In the 1600s, merchants brought tea to Europe and the United States. Since then, tea drinking has blossomed. 
  • Tea is the most-consumed beverage on the planet, other than water. It is even more popular than coffee and cola! 
  • China is the largest producer of tea, followed by India and Kenya. 

Anatomy & Etymology

  • Tea comes from the cured or fresh leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, an evergreen growing mainly in warmer and humid climates. 
  • Although the plants can grow up to 52 feet, they are usually kept no higher than waist level to make picking the tender leaves at the top easier.
  • Tea should be kept dry and stored in an airtight container, away from light and heat if possible. Black teas last longer than green teas. Teas made from flowers have an even shorter shelf life. 
  • The word "tea" comes from the mid-17th century Malay "teh" or the Chinese (Min) "te." 

How to Buy & Use

  • Tea can be purchased in various forms. Tea bags are often used today; however, you can still buy loose tea. Cans and bottles of brewed tea, sweetened or unsweetened, are also available, with fruit flavors sometimes added to the tea. 
  • Crushed tea leaves and brewed tea can be used in savory and sweet recipes. 
  • Herbal teas are made from the various parts of edible plants, including fresh or dried flowers, fruit, roots, or seeds.  

Nutrition

  • Teas from the Camellia sinensis plant (white, green, oolong, and black) have high levels of antioxidants which help prevent cancer. Flavonoids in tea help heart health by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. Another health benefit of tea is improving gut health by promoting good bacteria and inhibiting harmful bacteria. 
  • Teas from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant contain varying amounts of caffeine. Black tea has the most, followed by oolong, green, and white.  
  • Most herbal teas do not contain caffeine; however, they are not necessarily more healthy than black tea. Always check for plant allergies and herb and drug interactions before ingesting herbal teas.

History of High Tea!

Photo by CA Eccles/Shutterstock.com
  • Tea in Great Britain is a way of life. Even though afternoon tea has been a quintessential daily ritual for the British since the mid-1800s, drinking tea this way was not the norm for every household. High tea, in particular, was not a delicate affair like the early afternoon tea of the upper social classes.
  • People who worked manual labor jobs couldn’t take time out to be served a cup of afternoon tea and biscuits. Their tea break was later and included hearty, substantial food. It came at the end of a long workday and was more like supper.
  • They called it “high,” probably because they sat at higher kitchen tables rather than the low tables and comfortable chairs of the upper class.

Let's learn about England!

Photo by Tomsickova Tatyana/Shutterstock.com
  • England is ruled by a Monarch, a Prime Minister, and a Parliament. Windsor Castle is the oldest royal castle in the world that is still being used by the royal family.
  • England is on the island of Great Britain, along with Wales and Scotland. It is also part of the United Kingdom, which consists of those three countries and Northern Ireland. 
  • Did you know that there's no place in the UK that is more than 70 miles from the sea?! 
  • Stonehenge is a construction of immense stones that the early inhabitants of what's now Wiltshire, England, began building around 3100 BCE. The final sections were completed around 1600 BCE. Scientists are still not sure how or why they built it. One theory for its purpose is an astronomical observatory. It is very popular with tourists.
  • Other popular tourist spots in England include the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Parliament (Palace of Westminster), the Roman Baths and the city of Bath, and the Lake District.  
  • London, the capital city, wasn't always called that. In the past, its name was Londonium.
  • England took part in the briefest war in history. They fought Zanzibar in 1896, and Zanzibar surrendered after just 38 minutes!
  • There have been several influential English authors, but perhaps the most well-known is William Shakespeare, who wrote classics such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet.
  • English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the World Wide Web.
  • The British really like their sandwiches—they eat almost 11.5 billion a year!

What's It Like to Be a Kid in England?

  • Most schools in England require students to wear a school uniform. 
  • Sports kids play include football (soccer), cricket, rugby, tennis, netball (similar to basketball), and rounders (similar to baseball). They also play video games, watch the telly, and ride bikes or skateboards.
  • Boxing Day is a unique holiday kids celebrate in England the day after Christmas, December 26. The official public holiday is the first weekday after Christmas if Boxing Day falls on a weekend. When the English created the holiday, it was the day to share the contents of alms boxes with the poor. Today, it is mostly a day off from school and work, although some small gifts may be given out to family and employees, or collected to give to the poor.
  • English kids may have different names for everyday items also found in the United States. For example, a kid will call his mom "mum." Their backyard is a "garden." A big truck is called a "lorry," and the trunk of a car is a "boot." Biscuits in the US are closest to the British "scones," and cookies in England are "biscuits." A TV is usually called a "telly." Bags of chips are referred to as bags of "crisps." French fries, like those from a fast-food hamburger place, might be called "fries," but if they are thicker, like the ones typically served with batter-fried fish, they're called "chips" (fish and chips). Finally, kids call the fish sticks they might have for lunch "fish fingers.

Lettuce Joke Around

What do teapots wear to a tea party? 

T-shirts!

Lettuce Joke Around

Why must you be careful of tea at night? 

Because it might mug you.

Lettuce Joke Around

"Knock, knock!"

"Who’s there?"

"Chai."

"Chai who?" 

"Don’t be Chai (shy). Open the door and have some tea with me!"

Lettuce Joke Around

What is the Alphabet’s favorite drink? 

T, of course!

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