Tea science questions

[uneasy]

I have been drinking more tea recently, and there are some things I have noticed. I wonder if anyone has any ideas on what I'm wondering about.

I noticed that if I use tap water, the tea bag usually floats on top of the water for a while, but if I use distilled water, it sinks instantly. Are the impurities in the water preventing the water from saturating the teabag fast enough?

Now I have one of those spoons with holes that I fill with real tea and stir in the cup. Much better.

When I put the teabag or the spoon in a cup of just boiling water, it causes water to furiously boil around the teabag or spoon. What mechanism causes this? Air released from the tea leaves?

And lastly, my cup was always stained brown when using teabags, but now that I'm using real tea, I just rinse the cup out, and it's still white. What is in those confounded tea bags anyway? If teabags really stain more, could not using them reduce the staining of teeth?

(I have English Breakfast, Oolong, Darjeeling, and Ceylon Green - English Breakfast is my favorite, with milk)

 

[wollery]

I have been drinking more tea recently, and there are some things I have noticed. I wonder if anyone has any ideas on what I'm wondering about.

I noticed that if I use tap water, the tea bag usually floats on top of the water for a while, but if I use distilled water, it sinks instantly. Are the impurities in the water preventing the water from saturating the teabag fast enough?

Since tap water is denser than distilled water my guess would be that the teabag is slightly denser than the distilled water, but less dense than the tap water. This means that it would sink immediately in distilled water , but would float in tap water until sufficiently saturated to be denser than tap water.

Now I have one of those spoons with holes that I fill with real tea and stir in the cup. Much better.

Absolutely, couldn't agree more, although you really ought to get youself a single cup teapot.

When I put the teabag or the spoon in a cup of just boiling water, it causes water to furiously boil around the teabag or spoon. What mechanism causes this? Air released from the tea leaves?

This creation of bubbles is not actually boiling, but "cavitation" and occurs when a liquid at boiling point meets a rough surface (or contains particulate impurities). A pure, still liquid in a smooth container will boil without producing any bubbles. Instead the liquid turns to vapour at the liquid air interface (ie the top surface). Spoons and teabags make ideal surfaces for cavitation, certainly much better than the smooth surface of a porcelain mug or cup!

And lastly, my cup was always stained brown when using teabags, but now that I'm using real tea, I just rinse the cup out, and it's still white. What is in those confounded tea bags anyway? If teabags really stain more, could not using them reduce the staining of teeth?

Not certain on this one, but my guess would be that since teabags use more finely chopped tea than you get with loose leaf tea this allows more of the staining agents to escape into the solution, from where they stain the cup.

(I have English Breakfast, Oolong, Darjeeling, and Ceylon Green - English Breakfast is my favorite, with milk)

Good choices, My personal favourites are Earl Grey (with milk) and Jasmine, although for the most part I drink bog standard teabags.
If you like green teas then I recommend you try white tea sometime, quite hard to get hold of, but well worth the effort.

 

[Agammamon]

"When I put the teabag or the spoon in a cup of just boiling water, it causes water to furiously boil around the teabag or spoon. What mechanism causes this? Air released from the tea leaves?"

Could be something similar to what happens when a supersaturated solution is disturbed.

"And lastly, my cup was always stained brown when using teabags, but now that I'm using real tea, I just rinse the cup out, and it's still white. What is in those confounded tea bags anyway? If teabags really stain more, could not using them reduce the staining of teeth?"

Dunno about this one. I've used both and the cup is stained either way. Maybe you're a little more conscientious about cleaning it up right after now.

"I noticed that if I use tap water, the tea bag usually floats on top of the water for a while, but if I use distilled water, it sinks instantly. Are the impurities in the water preventing the water from saturating the teabag fast enough?"

That's because the homeopathic resonances from the impurities in tap water are raising the vibrational energy levels of the teabag. This extra input of harmful energy slightly counters the bags inertial mass and makes it sink slower than normal.
The industrial distillation of bottled water partially reinitializes the waters natural memory, countering this effect but can add harmful effectsof it's own and some memory of the chemical pathogens is still retained. For best results use water that is naturally distilled in our licensed facility.
Every drop is homeopatheclly created in an atmosphere of total harmony and oneness with nature. Using our patented crystal biorythm indicator, and an intuitive understanding of quantum interactions, we are able to ensure that our water's memory is completely erased and only good healing vibrational energy is imparted. This energy increased the vibrational resonance of your aura and strengthens Chakra points.

 

[jj]

Well, you need a hot cuppa to make the IID work, don't you?

Seriously, I used to startle people all the time by superheating water in the teacup, and then dropping in the teabag, causing the water to boil furiously for a few seconds.

If you do it when somebody's watching and you put on the right aspect, it is a very convincing mad-scientist act.

If you use distilled water, there is likely very little air in the water, and your bag will sink faster, btw, on the other issue.

 

[Rolfe]

Tetley freeze-dried instant tea granules! Yaaayyyy!

Rolfe.

 

[Agammamon]

Mein Gott! What sort of depraved fiend are you?