
ISO 3103: an international standard for brewing tea - henning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3103
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mynameishere
_The water must not be hard._

Well, you're going to get 2nd-rate tea then.

Here's the standard for brewing tea in American restaurants:

    
    
      Pour coffee water into the funny little tea carafe.
      Put a low-end (ex: Liptons) tea bag beside the carafe.
      Allow an indeterminate amount of time to pass while other items are being prepared.
      Carry everything to the customer.
      Allow customer to add bag to water.
      Charge him 1.25 for the experience.
    

Coffeehouse version:

    
    
      Pour coffee water directly into cup.
      Use TAZO instead of Lipton.
      Add bag to water for the customer.
      Charge him 1.75 for the benefit.
    

I was surprised that even San Francisco coffeehouses seemed to always use the
above method.

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mattmaroon
Coffee drinkers/baristas have little sympathy or understanding for tea fans.

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mattmaroon
It is surprisingly hard to get a properly brewed cup of tea in this country.
This place <http://www.teavana.com/> is about the only I've found. I'm
skeptical about their chance of success though, even though I like them.

~~~
Alex3917
I followed rec.food.drink.tea for a while and also teamail. I think the
consensus was that the best two websites were specialteas.com and
uptontea.com. Of those two I personally prefer specialteas, with the exception
of their Pu Erh and black chai (their green chai is incredible when consumed
fresh and brewed properly).

I'm sure you've probably already found teamap.com. (And obviously the Ito En
stuff that comes in bottles.)

~~~
mattmaroon
I mostly use adagio, but will check those out.

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euccastro
So disappointing that the ISO number doesn't have 734 on it..

