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American seeking to write woman from Yorkshire better

HordHolm said:
I am finally getting the chance to introduce the ever dependable Builders' Tea into something I've just started. So proud.
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I'm trying to write a somewhat emotional story for Xmas. So far the characters have had about five cups of tea, quite a bit of alcohol, and no sex. I can't write emotional conversations without tea or booze (them and me). I keep adding a couple sentences and clicking onto something else. I may give up on Christmas and go back to a nice happy story with a traumatised fireman, as you do.

Is it builders' tea if it has less than two heaped teaspoons of sugar, though? Some would say the spoon needs to stand upright.
 
joy_of_cooking said:
I went to a place once that did something they called "high tea." They brought out what looked like a gallon of tea, all in one pot, with the leaves in and no strainer. I asked how they kept it from over-steeping and the waiter said they didn't. She offered to add more water if it became too bitter, though.

Of course, I've done worse at home plenty of times, but I was simply gobsmacked to see it at a place that claimed to be charging me for the tea. (And dearly too, at least by my fairly modest standards. No idea what patrons of Betty's would say.)

I was used to a tea tradition where Serious Tea was all about multiple quick steeps, to capture narrow slices of the evolution of the leaves.

The little cakes were neat, though. They came very prettily arranged on this multi-tiered rack the waiter lifted onto our table.
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Afternoon tea is a small meal with tea to drink, dainty sandwiches, small cakes and possibly a scone.

High tea is an early evening meal, typically as above only not dainty, and with the addition of leftover carved meat. Was common among farmers who would eat early and then have a snack 'supper' before bed.

Tea is the name of the evening meal, for half the country. Calling it dinner or supper marks you as Southern and/or posh (and some claim all Southerners are posh, because they clearly haven't been to Croydon...)

Classic British tea can't really oversteep. I'm not unusual in making mine by chucking a teabag in a mug, add boiling water, add milk, and go drink, removing the teabag half an hour later to drink the last mouthful. Delicate jasmine blossoms it ain't.
 
Question … if a character is from Sheffield, how quickly will they mention that United and Wednesday are rubbish?
 
stickygirl said:
Green tea's good, but I struggle to find one that isn't bitter
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Not sure if you're looking for help, but how hot is your water? The usual advice is to steep green tea in cooler water than black. You can look up temperature charts, or learn to eyeball it from the bubbles. It would be pretty easy to get bitterness with a rolling boil.

Kumquatqueen said:
Afternoon tea is a small meal with tea to drink, dainty sandwiches, small cakes and possibly a scone.

High tea is an early evening meal, typically as above only not dainty, and with the addition of leftover carved meat.
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Ah, I forgot to mention that this tea place was in Georgia, USA. I take it US and UK tea cultures have diverged?

(ducks)
Kumquatqueen said:
Classic British tea can't really oversteep. I'm not unusual in making mine by chucking a teabag in a mug, add boiling water, add milk
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Maybe it's the milk that cuts the bitterness and astringency? That mostly comes from the tannins, which (IIRC) bind proteins pretty indiscriminately. So maybe if you dump a bunch of milk proteins in, it precipitates out the tannins and leaves you a nice non-bitter brew? Sometimes to try next time I forget the tea.

The things I learn while talking about porn!
 
Kumquatqueen said:
I'm trying to write a somewhat emotional story for Xmas. So far the characters have had about five cups of tea, quite a bit of alcohol, and no sex. I can't write emotional conversations without tea or booze (them and me). I keep adding a couple sentences and clicking onto something else. I may give up on Christmas and go back to a nice happy story with a traumatised fireman, as you do.

Is it builders' tea if it has less than two heaped teaspoons of sugar, though? Some would say the spoon needs to stand upright.
Click to expand...
Yep - two heaped spoons and the spoon stands up in it.
 
onehitwanda said:
Croydon's getting posh, as is Brixton. Even Southwark is poshifying...

you've got to head all the way to Lewisham these days.
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Croydon!! It's a total dump. There's bits south of it that start getting 'nice', but the place itself... Lewisham has it's nice bits as well, and Southwark has got some right old skanky bits: the Walworth Road is a discount shop tip and I should know - I used to live next to Carter St nick.
 
joy_of_cooking said:
Ah, I forgot to mention that this tea place was in Georgia, USA. I take it US and UK tea cultures have diverged?

(ducks)
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What's the difference between the UK, Georgia USA, and yoghurt?
The UK and yoghurt have culture... 😋

More relevantly, while shops try to promote bottles of sweetened iced tea each summer, it just doesn't catch on here. Iced tea does exist, but it's literally just tea with ice.

MajorRewrite said:
Question … if a character is from Sheffield, how quickly will they mention that United and Wednesday are rubbish?
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Likely that one or the other is rubbish. Possibly depending on which stadium they live near. I made the mistake of driving past Hillsborough a few months ago, on a day Wednesday were playing at home...

onehitwanda said:
Croydon's getting posh, as is Brixton. Even Southwark is poshifying...

you've got to head all the way to Lewisham these days.
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Brixton and Southwark, sure, but where in Croydon is gentrifying? You've got to go south practically to Purley for that. Thornton Heath and Croydon North is apparently the only still-affordable area in London. Regular punch-ups on buses round West Croydon, not to mention the horrific murder last week. It's at least on a par with Lewisham.
 
Leave it to Brits to turn every topic into a tea discussion... Thank god we don't have many German folks, otherwise it would be all about sausages... 😬
 
HordHolm said:
Yep - two heaped spoons and the spoon stands up in it.
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Brahms famously insisted his coffee should be thick enough to stand a teaspoon in and smoked cigars... or so a music teacher told me. Got to love a bit of Brahms

M486631_Johannes-Brahms-beginning-his-day-with-a-morning-cup-of-coffee.jpg
 
But actually, I feel very guilty. A fellow author came to the forum in all humility hoping for us to aid her in a noble ambition - to portray the idiosyncrasies of the oft put-upon women of Deira in a clear and unambiguous light. And all we have done is argue about tea and gentrification. I, for one, am ashamed. I hang my head and hope to do better next time.
 
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