Some like tea with a spot of milk. Some like it with more milk than water. This concerns both but more so the latter. You see, the tea bag doesn’t do a good job at quickly sinking into the tea cup (it tends to float on top). And it needs to sink so that the ‘pull-up-let-sink’ motion can begin. For those of us in a hurry we could either wait for it to sink once the fluids seep inside or we need to nudge it with the finger. None of which would be needed if the tea bag had a ball (or another object… thingie, whatever) inside so that it would easily sink when placed in the cup. Tea, anyone?-- nomadic_wonderer, Jan 09 2005 Tea in a stick http://www.acharmingchest.com/tea.php [Susan, Jan 12 2005] Sweet tea Sweet_20Tea_20BagsNew feature of a previous idea [DenholmRicshaw, Jan 13 2005] You don't use teaspoons...?
[bristolz: um, no new invention required at all, merely expel the air from the teabag with one of the aforementioned teaspoons, and proceed to bob the now-sunken teabag. Merely sinking an inflated teabag would actually be pointless, since the water would not infuse the bag. There's a wierd effect that keeps the air in and the water out. It also lets people lost at sea inflate their trousers and use them as floats. If you believe what you read in the survival guides.]-- DrCurry, Jan 09 2005 Teaspoons have already been invented. This is a new invention.-- bristolz, Jan 09 2005 I like it.
Tiromancer, the problem Nomadic_wonderer addresses is that, until after the tea bag absorbs enough water to sink, one cannot pull it up and down with it's string and tag. That pull-up-let-sink motion hastens the steeping of the tea into the water. Putting a sinker on the tea bag would allow the pull-up-let-sink motion to be done immediately.
I suggest the idea be renamed Tea Bag Sinkers.-- Mustardface, Jan 09 2005 Would it really help? I say that whatever is keeping the tea bag from absorbing the water quickly (intermolecular forces?) is also going to keep it from steeping, even if you move it up and down. You'll have a bag with dry tea in the middle almost as long as you would otherwise.-- swamilad, Jan 09 2005 [swamilad] by adding something heavy in the tea bag it would sink faster. the tea bag absorbs less when it is floating on top and would absorb more if it is submerged.-- nomadic_wonderer, Jan 09 2005 [Mustardface] done-- nomadic_wonderer, Jan 09 2005 December 16, 1773. Mark for deleted.
Also done by spraying tea bag with a wetting agent, (dilute soap solution) or bubbling excessive methane gas through the liquid as seen in the Burmuda Triangle waters to make things sink.-- mensmaximus, Jan 09 2005 You could have mafia-themed tea bags with little cement blocks tied to their ends.-- jutta, Jan 09 2005 "Da boss sez enuffs enuff" [splash]-- normzone, Jan 10 2005 Modified title now evokes image of little lead (Pb) balls a la fishing. Suggest golf ball sized fishing line sinker with four fish hooks attaching to the four corners of the teabag.
Just hope it stops when it hits the bottom of the cup...-- ConsulFlaminicus, Jan 10 2005 I love this! I wouldn't need a spoon if the dern thing would stay down. (I drink mine plain). Not to mention more times than not, my heavy spoon leaps off the tea cup platter, due to it's weight. (Doesn't happen with hot chocolate, which can hold it's own against any stirring utensil.)
A nice tiny gem, or a very glossy stone would be lovely. After consumption, a prize. I also think it would sell!
Actually one of the better ideas I have seen posted here in quite awile.-- blissmiss, Jan 10 2005 DC, are you saying that sailors' trousers are made of teabag material or they carry teabags in their pockets?-- po, Jan 10 2005 Gems or stones, definitely. Lead is not a good idea, except for weight belts and bullets. And lets include alligator clips [seventies flashback moment......ok, I'm alright now]-- normzone, Jan 10 2005 So, Ian, to gratuitously combine your constant-motion requirements with this idea, a small submarine, clipped to the teabag would drag it under the surface of the tea and then round and round. After a preset time the submarine would surface so you could take it out. Or, if you had set the "I'm making tea on my draining-board" option, the submarine would dive down to the bottom of the cup and then accelarate towards the surface, dolphin-like, leaping out of the tea mug, teabag in tow, landing in a soggy heap on the draining board.By the way, I agree with the adding of milk at the end. I also agree with the eschewtion of teabags but I generally can't be bothered.-- hippo, Jan 10 2005 not sure about a submarine but surely something clockwork with rubber bands would work.-- po, Jan 10 2005 I don't see the fact mentioned here that as soon as water hits tea leaves or coffee grounds, a decomposing process is starting to take place. Coffee is considered 'old', after twenty minutes. One is trying to extract the flavanoids and oils and essences from this organic matter before it imparts a rotting taste to the water. By stirring, the water is hopefully doing this as quickly as possible. How many tea drinkers, who over steep their tea and milk it up, have kidney stones?-- mensmaximus, Jan 10 2005 I don't know about you guys, but I've found that one of the best ways to extract tea from a teabag is to place the teabag on a teaspoon, hold the teaspoon horizontally across the mouth of the mug, and then pour boiling hot water over the teaspoon. This is what's known as the 'proper brew' method.
Ian Tindale, throughout my life I have been complimented on the high standard of my cups of tea (or 'cuppas' as they're better known). For a short while though, I believed that the compliments were self-serving; people were only praising my cups of tea so that my brain would ‘reward’ itself whenever I selflessly made my companions a cup of tea. But when I observed the situation with a clearer mind, I noticed that my twin brother was often scorned because of his terrible cups of tea, which reestablished my faith in my own cuppa-brewing abilities (I remember my brother shedding a few tears after a particularly harsh scalding from a friend of his, the poor guy).
It is also my belief that, in a woman’s magazine sort of way, you can gain vital insights into a person’s personality just by observing the kind of cuppa that they take. We’ve all known a raver who enjoyed more sugar in his tea than is socially acceptable, or a tough dad who takes no sugar and no milk. Anywho, must get back to studying for my PhTea.-- spiritualized, Jan 10 2005 Clearly the idea has taken on a life of its own. This to me is the most joyful sight.-- nomadic_wonderer, Jan 10 2005 It's when ideas become self aware that you have to worry. Somewhere, on a parallel internet, there is a halfbakery where ideas post users. The amount of fishbones that a user gets governs the success of halfbakers in our own dimension.-- spiritualized, Jan 10 2005 [spiritualized] I admire the fact that in the interests of scientific method you used your twin brother as the 'control' in your study. Of course, for ideal experimental design he would be your identical twin brother.-- hippo, Jan 10 2005 This idea is lovely. I have been wishing for something like this for about 2 years, when I discovered tea.-- Pericles, Jan 11 2005 [spiritualized] would'nt that be a nice place to be in!-- nomadic_wonderer, Jan 11 2005 "Tea Bag on a Stick" might be another way to go. Useful as a lollipop for the serious tea-addict. Or maybe just a pouch on the teabag into which a cinnamon stick could be inserted.
A teaspoon with a stealthy, stylish built-in clip on the end with which to grip and sink the tea bag?-- half, Jan 11 2005 // Useful as a lollipop for the serious tea-addict //
Ice tea for sir?-- spiritualized, Jan 11 2005 [-], not because it's a bad idea, but because it runs counter to the simplicity and meditativeness of making tea, which for me is mostly the point.-- egads, Jan 12 2005 Oh, meditation. So there is some point to making and drinking hot tea.-- half, Jan 12 2005 a point to tea? it's addictive like coffee.-- po, Jan 12 2005 Tea onna stick! getya teaonnastick! Step right up!-- zeno, Jan 12 2005 aka Cut-Me-Own-Hand-Off Dhblah!-- po, Jan 12 2005 [pericles] - I hate to burst your bubble, but tea was actually discovered in 2737 BC by the Chinese Emperor Shin Nong. He beat you to it by 4739 years.-- wagster, Jan 12 2005 Put a sugar cube in the tea bag. Initially the tea bag sinks but as the sugar dissolves it rises to the surface for easy extraction. See link... I gave up sugar in the war though.-- DenholmRicshaw, Jan 13 2005 How bizarre. No-one, really, no-one has mentioned teapot use as a method of tea making.
Surely the correct method is as follows. Tealeaves into teapot (which has been warmed, don't ask me why), boiling boiling water onto tealeaves or foul fruit-infusion dead twigs, leave a bit, milk into cup if desired, tea into cup, tea into self, Bob's yer uncle.-- squeak, Jan 13 2005 Also slightly worried that Blissy consumes her teabags after use.
Nice mental image of someone searching through a pile of wet steaming tealeaves with a pencil and eventually holding up a small glass pebble triumphantly.-- squeak, Jan 13 2005 Keeps me regular, all that fiber in the bag, I suppose. (Squeak, ya been gone?)-- blissmiss, Jan 13 2005 If you use a magnetic bar for the weight, then you can use a magnetic stirrer and the bag will never stay still without you exerting any energy. Perhaps you could even find a way to take the bar/teabag out of the cup using magnets, so that you would never have dirty teaspoons to clean again. I can imagine a blindingly shiny chrome box two feet to a side with lights and dials covering at least 62%. Insert your empty tea cup into the hole on one side, and after some satisfying bangs, blinks, hisses, twirls, whistles and maybe a little smoke, the cup comes out the other sided perfectly boiled and bagged and steeped and ready for you to drink, making the simple, slightly boring act of making tea into a hideously complex, but slightly more entertaining one. Perfect. [+]-- brodie, Jan 13 2005 The theatrics of your tea making machine sounds a little like the machine that makes Everlasting Gobstoppers in the movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," [brodie]. I like.-- Machiavelli, Jan 13 2005 Squeak, Teapot must be warmed or hot water will cool off too fast. Makes big difference.-- zeno, Jan 14 2005 just as long the weight isn't lead.
or arsenic.-- DesertFox, Jan 14 2005 I like my teabag to float, then I can retrieve it with my fingers and avoid having to wash up a spoon.
I find teabags too strong anyway. Besides, Whittards (for UK at least, dunno about elsewhere) have a whole range of fatuous inventions for just this sort of eventuality. I recommend the scissor tea-ball thing on a stick, much better, and more efficient - use exactly how much tea you require.-- moomintroll, Jan 14 2005 Wow, [jonka]. I read Viz for years without realising that.-- wagster, Jan 15 2005 Mercury, huh? Well, I suppose it could be used as a cosmetic balding aid for those who wish to enhance their apparent levels of testosterone or something.
(Blissy, not gone, just busy and not in office much. Still not in office actually, hurray)-- squeak, Jan 20 2005 December 16, 1773-- mensmaximus, Jan 20 2005 There's only one way to make tea and that's with a tea-pot. So all you buggers dropping tea bags into cups are doing it wrong!-- mecotterill, Apr 05 2009 random, halfbakery