The History of Tea

Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world right after water, and I drink a lot of it myself, since I suck down iced green tea* all day. I can't say, though, that prior to this I knew so many details about it's history.

Here’s a short video from TED Ed describing the origins of tea and how the beverage became so popular.

via Geeks are Sexy

* Actually, what I drink is green tea with ginseng, and after lots of experimentation this is the process I use:

Buy this stuff from Amazon - it's dirt cheap and good, and the bags are not individually wrapped. That may be a disadvantage in some cases, but it you want to use several at a time, it's much easier not to have to unwrap them. There's no extra flavors added. so if you want you can get some lemon or honey flavored bags and throw a couple of them in, too.

Put six bags (if adding the lemon flavored variety, use four of the plain and two lemon) in a saucepan with ~ 1.5 quarts of water, heat to just below a boil, and remove the pan from the burner.

If adding sugar, do it now while it'll dissolve easily - remember you'll end up with approximately a gallon of tea so sweeten accordingly. Sweetened or not, wait at least an hour for it to steep and cool, then dump into a pitcher, fill the pitcher up with water and refrigerate. I use these 3 quart pitchers because they (1) have a sturdy, well-shaped handle and (2) are somewhat narrow so they take up less room in the fridge, but use what you have, or use an old empty 1 gallon milk/juice carton. 

Friday links

Now there's a KFC romance novel: Tender Wings of Desire.

The psychological effects of growing up with an extremely common name.

Victorians Believed That a Train Ride Could Cause Instant Insanity.

What to do if you get caught in an avalanche.

Here's the Justice Department’s guide to using psychics in police investigations.

How Much Force Could a T.Rex Bite Deliver?

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include second careers of former football players, digitizing a 6 foot tall 17th century book, a few dancing clips for Fred Astaire's birthday, and Thomas Sowell on greed.

Now there's a KFC romance novel: Tender Wings of Desire

Amazon lists the author of Tender Wings of Desire as Colonel Sanders, but I have my doubts about the accuracy of that. Here's their blurb:

When Lady Madeline Parker runs away from Parker Manor and a loveless betrothal, she finally feels like she is in control of her life. But what happens when she realizes she can’t control how she feels? When she finds herself swept into the arms of Harland, a handsome sailor with a mysterious past, Madeline realizes she must choose between a life of order and a man of passion. Can love overcome lies? What happens in the embrace of destiny, on the Tender Wings of Desire?

Related, sort of:

Really bad book covers (and books)

Alton Brown's critique of Amazon's dumbest kitchen gadgets, with bonus Amazon reviews.

Distraught Because Amazon Pulled Rob Gronkowski Erotic Novel A Gronking To Remember? It's Back!

Remember dinosaur porn? Now it's Bigfoot - Can you say ‘cryptozoological erotica'? (NSFW language)

Jew's ear juice, anyone?

Thirsty?

The Consulate General of Israel in Shanghai was surprised to discover on the shelves of a local supermarket chain a canned beverage called "The Jew's Ear Juice."

The drink is made of a black mushroom which does resemble a wrinkled ear. (I can't find liquid, but if you want to make your own, Amazon has lots of choices for the alternative name of wood ear mushrooms.)

Israel's Consul-General in Shanghai Jackie Eldan stressed that this was not a case of anti-Semitism, as Judaism is considered in China a synonym of success.

According to Eldan, the juice's manufacturer must have thought that linking it to the Jewish ear would be profitable.

ElderOfZiyon found a review:

From the Chinese name, 黑木耳露 （Hei1 Mu4 Er3 Lu4）, I know that it's wood ear juice. Wood ear (evidently a.k.a. Jew's ear) is a fungus that's pretty common in Chinese dishes, but I would never think about drinking it.

Also available powdered!

It's a nasty-looking thick semi-transparent cloudy brown liquid. It's smell is weird, like a mix between the apple vinegar drink and turkey gravy. It's a little thick and slimy, but the flavor is actually mild. The flavor isn't anything at all like the cooked wood ear that I'm used to eating.

It's so strange that it tastes like bland, bad, old apple cider, that I decided to check the ingredients. The Jew's Ear Juice is made of: pure water, black wood ear (Jew's ear), haw (Chinese hawthorn), big Chinese date, sugar, honey, sodium of citric acid, and stabilizer.

It all makes sense now, the strange appley flavor is coming from the haw. It does taste similar to hawthorne juice now that I think of it.

Jew's Ear (AKA Wood Ear) fungus

Well, the can says that if you drink the Jew's ear juice cold, it's clear and refreshing, but you can heat it up to make it more "densely" fragrant. I gotta try it.

They were right about the smell, it is definitely denser. The strange thing is that it now smells more like food, almost like spaghetti-o's. Believe it or not, Jew's ear juice actually tastes better hot. Maybe it's the thickness, but I think it's just that wood ear is usually served cold, and when the juice is hot it reminds me less that I'm drinking fungus juice.