- Date: April 4, 1987
- Location: Cairns, Australia
- Subject: Tea on Sacha-B
Dear Water Fairy:
Tea is very important on Sacha-B. SUPER, REALLY important, almost the MOST important thing on board. In the food world, it IS the most important thing, according to Capt, anyway. It’s important to Mom, second to coffee, and I guess NOT really important to me, except I know it makes Capt happy, and that is important. Happy Captainy – Happy crew.
The first pot of tea, on Sacha-B is made at dawn, second pot is made at breakfast, third pot is made at “smoko” (nickname for smoke break, back in “the day”) about 11 am, forth pot is made at lunch. The fifth pot is around 2 pm, also known as “arvo smoko” or afternoon smoke break. Funny enough, there is NO cigarette smoking on Sacha-B , except maybe some special guests like Howard, but we still us the old fashioned nick names. We will also drop anything we are doing if someone comes to visit, because we would invite them onboard for a cuppa tea. The last cup of tea is usually after supper.
One of the first things Capt taught me to do on Sacha-B was to make a proper pot of tea. Here is how you would do it….. put the “billy” or kettle on the stove. You have to be very careful to heat up the exact amount of water needed to fill the teapot and also fill the thermos. We use the thermos water for later tea making sessions. No more and no less water. This way we only have to heat the water up once, saving fuel and keeping the boat a bit cooler. We don’t want to waste the fuel heating up more water than what we need. “Waste not, Want not.”
While the water is heating up, but not quite boiling, I would pour a little bit of warm water into the teapot and swish it around, to loosen the old tea leaves left behind from the last pot of tea. Then I have to go on deck, figure out the direction the wind is coming from and find a place to dump out the old leaves overboard. It is very important not to dump the leaves into the wind, because the leaves and water would come back onto me, and that would be is a nasty, sticky mess. Also, I need to reach out over the side of the boat, so I don’t dribble the tea down the topsides and stain it. Capt or mom usually empties the teapot for me, because I am not very good at that part. Mom says dumping the tea into the sea is OK because some sea animal is going to eat it.
When the teapot is empty and back in the galley, we are ready for the next part. Two scoops of loose leaf “Bushells” tea into the pot, then slowly and carefully pour the boiling water over the tea leaves, up to the shoulder of the teapot. Close the lid and swirl the teapot 3 times clockwise, put the knitted cozy on the teapot and let it steep for 5 minutes. The tea cozy is a woolen sweater that fits the teapot perfectly and helps keep the tea warm. While the tea is steeping, I put a spot of milk in Capt’s favorite mug. Capt says putting the milk in first is better because the milk warms up as the tea is poured in. I am not sure it matters. Maybe one day I will do a science experiment and put the milk in last and see if Capt notices the difference.
While I am waiting 5 minutes for the tea to steep, I pour the extra hot water in the big, green thermos so Capt can make tea later. The water always stays nice and hot all day long, so we don’t have to turn the stove on again.
Sometimes I make coffee for Mom, but she is not as particular as to how it’s made. Her motto is “Any coffee is a good coffee.” Capt says “the first cuppa of the day is the best, especially if someone else makes it.” But nobody else on Sacha-B gets up before Capt so he pretty much always makes his first cup.
Mom and I spent most of the day in town shopping. Today’s shopping mission was tea, coffee and other drinks. Capt drinks over a one pound box of loose leaf tea a week, so we got 30 pounds of tea! For Mom’s coffee, she said she would be happy with the freeze dried stuff, and did not need to go with the coffee grounds-mostly because it is too expensive and it takes up too much room. We got 5 x 8 oz jars of Nescafe freezed dried coffee. Also on our list was 20 x one liter boxes of UHT (Ultra High Temperature) milk. This milk comes in a square plastic box and practically lasts forever. Capt calls it plastic milk, cuz it does taste plasticy, but it is good for baking. We got four bags of powdered milk for tea and other stuff, 15 cans of evaporated milk, 10 cans of sweetened condensed milk and 2 bags of custard powder. We also got 4 cans of powdered lemonade and 4 tins of Milo-which is a hot chocolate mix. Mom said we will make our own citrus juice when we trade for fruit, or just drink water. I am OK with water and drink gallons of it at a time.
Tonight, we had a veggie stir-fry with chicken cooked on our new BBQ grill. We also had brown rice. Toni and Craig from Mollemok are over and playing Canasta with Mom and Capt. I am off to bed so I can finish the “Crazy Mixed up Files…” and get it back to Melinda. I want to start a new book tomorrow, “Judy’s Journey.” Toni mentioned that she read that book when she was my age and enjoyed it. She asked if she could read it when I am finished, and we could talk about it. That sounds fun to me.
