Clotting of cream in tea

Leif snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com2/2/04

Clotting factor? Just another wonderful health benefit accruing to us tea drinkers.

Michael

No- since you should avoid putting cream in tea. Cream is too heavy for tea, and spoils the taste. Try regular milk. The taste will be much better.

Ho, ho! Not referring to prothrombin time, thanks anyway!

On Mon, 2 Feb 2004 08:07:58 -0800, "Leif Thorvaldson" tripped the light fantastic, then quipped:

Argh! Noooo! This newsgroup is one of my safe havens...a place I don't have to be reminded of my 12-15 mg. daily dose of Coumadin (a blood thinner)! So, shush, the both of ya! ;)

Tee

Tee snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com/2/04

Sorry, Tee.

Michael

On Mon, 02 Feb 2004 17:05:27 GMT, Michael Plant tripped the light fantastic, then quipped:

No need to apologize; I was kidding about being miffed. I was just surprised to see mention of clotting factors and PT (prothrombin time) here, of all places...lol.

Tee

I'm generally with Leif. Switched from whole milk to skim years ago, and now even a dribble of cream in tea seems too rich. To me, there's a huge difference between the taste and mouthfeel induced by adding milk and cream. To get all scientifical, milk proteins knock down a lot of the astringent components of tea, and make it much smoother. Butterfat is of course unctuous, but doesn't actually reduce astringency, just sort of masks it.

Having said all that, strong, sweet tea with Devonshire clotted cream is wonderful. It just isn't tea - it's a dessert or something.

Also, to split hairs (of which I have few to spare), what happens to cream in tea isn't exactly clotting; it's more a mild curdling.

-DM

Not only does it mask astringency, it masks the softer flavors of tea. When I do order tea in restaurants, I make sure milk is put on the table.

Kinda like when I mix milk and several spoonsful of frozen orange juice. Put in a blender, one ends up with instant creamsicle.

And separation. Sometimes the butterfat floats on top, and it can be a bit unnerving to have a pale yellow film of oil. I have to use Lactaid milk- I have a lactose allergy. I still find it word pretty well, even though I crave regular old milk.