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Tea leaves!!,

(75 Posts)
sankev Tue 12-Mar-24 09:13:40

Having a cup of tea with DS he asked me why I always leave a little bit of tea at the bottom of my cup. I explained it was from the olden days when we had no such thing as tea bags !!! It wasn’t something I had ever realised and obviously a habit I hadn’t even thought about. Anyone else out there doing the same??

AreWeThereYet Tue 12-Mar-24 10:07:41

I do that too. I also always leave a little bit on my plate - for the starving in Africa, I assume, not that they'll ever see it. Neither is deliberate.

Grandyma Tue 12-Mar-24 10:21:47

When eating toast, bread & butter, sandwich etc. I never eat the last little corner I’ve been holding. No idea why!!

Baggs Tue 12-Mar-24 10:27:58

MrB does that too, sankev, and he does know but he can't change the habit! 😅

biglouis Tue 12-Mar-24 10:36:04

I was one of those children who was always asking "Why?" and could never understand how my leaving a little bit on the plate would help the starving in Africa.

How would it get there?
Wouldnt it spoil by then?

And so on.

My mother just told me to shut up but my grandmother encouraged me to ask questions.

Visgir1 Tue 12-Mar-24 10:39:21

Lol.. I do too.

cornergran Tue 12-Mar-24 12:21:55

Always leave some tea or coffee in the bottom of a cup, or more likely here a mug. I maintain it just doesn’t taste nice grin.

Theexwife Tue 12-Mar-24 13:07:59

I do with tea, no idea why, but do not with any other drink.

Gin Tue 12-Mar-24 13:13:05

I do but we use loose leaf tea in a pot not bags as to us it tastes so much better. We do use a strainer.

M0nica Tue 12-Mar-24 13:17:19

Never have and have no idea why people do.

Freya5 Tue 12-Mar-24 13:23:55

No I drink all mine, but can understand leaving a little tea at the bottom if you use tea leaves, even strained , there are still some dregs you don't want.
As for "eat up all your food, re Africa", I look at it now as be grateful for what you've been given.

Georgesgran Tue 12-Mar-24 14:25:22

I do that with both tea and coffee. I don’t eat my crusts, as I don’t want curly hair!

DamaskRose Tue 12-Mar-24 14:31:38

DH always leaves a bit in the bottom, no matter what drink. I always shake the milk bottle/carton even though we’ve had semi-skimmed for about 30 years … 🙃

Bodach Tue 12-Mar-24 14:52:21

I generally scoff/drain absolutely everything on/in my plate/cup, with an air of sublime insouciance concerning any of the dire consequences alluded to in preceding posts.

Burrrrrp!

Oreo Tue 12-Mar-24 14:53:52

Bodach are you a man by any chance?😂

Oreo Tue 12-Mar-24 14:56:09

I thought this thread was going to be about thieves!
I do usually leave some tea or coffee in the cup/ mug no idea why.

winterwhite Tue 12-Mar-24 16:12:17

I dislike the habit. Hate cups/mugs with bits of cold tea in the bottom when it comes to clearing up. Strongly discouraged in this house.

Esmay Tue 12-Mar-24 18:24:01

I have a favourite cafe where I order a pot of tea .
They use loose tea .
I just can't resist reading the tea leaves .

Wheniwasyourage Tue 12-Mar-24 18:25:23

We always empty the mugs. DH leaves crumbs on his plate and expects to put them in the dishwasher. As I am the one who cleans the filter, I object to that - also I always finish off my crumbs as it seems wasteful not to do so.

CanadianGran Tue 12-Mar-24 18:29:51

I'm generally a clean plate and empty cup person.

Maybe because growing up as one of four there wasn't always seconds!

Oreo Tue 12-Mar-24 18:31:21

winterwhite

I dislike the habit. Hate cups/mugs with bits of cold tea in the bottom when it comes to clearing up. Strongly discouraged in this house.

Yeah, DP complains about my habit too.

Oreo Tue 12-Mar-24 18:31:50

Esmay

I have a favourite cafe where I order a pot of tea .
They use loose tea .
I just can't resist reading the tea leaves .

How do you read tea leaves? Have always wondered about that.

Treebee Tue 12-Mar-24 21:50:37

Yes, I do this. I think it started when I was a child. Glasses of squash always had sludge at the bottom which I hate. Tea, especially when using loose leaf, collects a few small leaves at the bottom of the cup which I want to avoid drinking. I do the same with coffee, but anything else I drink to the bottom.

Esmay Wed 13-Mar-24 06:20:51

I had tea with my lovely Vicar yesterday and I wonder if I'd admit to her that I can't resist reading tea leaves and tarot cards !
I recommend looking up tea leaf reading on Google .
It's all explained there in great detail .
Some of it is obvious : hearts bringing romance , anchors sea journeys or luck and dragons /snakes danger .
I once had an obvious panda and an unexpected trip to China !
If I get something that I don't like then I'll dismiss it as
nonsense and the same with tarot cards !
The one thing : I have a horror of - ouija boards .
I would never participate in any session with them or any ceremony conjuring up the unknown .

NotSpaghetti Wed 13-Mar-24 06:33:50

We use loose tea and mostly I drink it all - you can tell when the leaves are smaller and tiny fragments get through the strainer. I think if it's happening a lot with leaf tea you need a finer strainer - or possibly better tea??).

Our "best" strainer is very very fine but our most expensive and fancy one has ginormous holes!

Some teas have much larger leaves than others of course - my smallest leaf currently is an Irish Breakfast one and the largest is a green tea with elderflower where some leaves are the size of a large coriander leaf!

I look at the bottom of each cup/mug to see if it's "safe" to drink it!