I'll try adding this again.

Hi Pete,

I'm unable to help with your Ration tea, but at a guess I'd say it's possibly a freeze-dried powder form as used in vending machines. Does it have the milk already mixed with the tea?

I think here in the UK most tea drinkers drink tea of the black leaf varieties e.g. PG Tips, Tetley, Yorkshire Tea, Twinings, Earl Grey etc and either in tea bag form or loose-leaf for a tea-pot. There are a number of others available in the green leaf varieties which in my opinion are quite scented and should never be allowed near a tea cup (not my cup of tea anyway) and some others with fruit additives. I currently have a box of PG Tips tea bags, 1 bag per cup with a little milk and 1 level tea spoon of white sugar, keep the brown sugar for coffee and making bread pudding, Oh and the milk is added after the tea has brewed properly and is in the cup. It's not uncommon in my house for a packet of biscuits(cookies) to quickly disappear throughout the day when tea breaks come around.

I'm sure there will be some connoisseurs along to help this topic along, we might need a bigger forum!

How to make tea

Ed.

Edited By Ed Duffner on 26/04/2016 04:05:27

You have to know that British Army tea was laced with Bromide! I never drank all the tea in my mug as a white residue was always at the bottom and to this day I still leave some tea at the bottom of my cuppa out of habit.

I did one day find an opened tin outside the cookhouse waste area , labled 'Bromide' so i know it is gen.

A 25 year army vet. Clive

There was a similar rumour regarding Bromide being added to the water in University halls of residence.

The idea behind it was to reduce the sex drive of the walking hormones aka students.

Yes, that is true Bill. In the event of a Nuclear or Biological attack the crew were closed up and sealed and filtered air drawn in. In that case they had a boiling vessel which would be used to cook Compo rations etc. It was mostly for liquid type foods, drink or from tins.

AFV's and some transport vehs. also were fitted with them. I have seen them retro-fitted in other vehs.In my time a Baby Burco powered off the Generator 27.5Kva allowed hot water for all purposes.

Brit. Comp was issued in 10 man packs and had variations in menu, Bacon packed in a tin rolled up in grease proof paper and when opened tipped into a pan and fried up was very good. Some had salmon but that always seemed to go to the Officers mess. The tinned pudds were popular and the chocolate and boiled sweets.

The US 'K' rations were totally different, as each was an individual ration. Ever seen a tinned roll? they included cigarettes and toilet paper and matches and a tin opener of course. The cardboard outers when used as a fire would heat the meal quite well. They had Turkey, Ham with Pasta (Not too nice that) They would freely swop their rations for ours.

Calorie wise the meals value was quite high, something 2500 plus, enough to keep a man going all day, various supplemental food was also available like oranges and some fresh veg.

I would forage widely while out on exercise, finding eggs and fields with produce and orchards. Hitler during his time ordered that fruit trees be planted alongside roads where soldiers would train so in the Autumn plums and apples would be found in areas where we would be positioned.

I often came home with a kit bag full of fist sized potatoes.

Clive

Edited By Clive Hartland on 26/04/2016 09:39:30

It may be a special MOD mix, instant tea is often black tea with a certain amount of whitener

Brit. Army even has marmalade in tins.

The tinned sausages were Soya link . I liked them crisped up a bit.. I also liked the apple pud. The marmalade was in 2 lb tins and I have also had plum jam in 2 lb tins. When away from base it was best not to try and separate food items but to make up a meal from everything so there was no waste.. The lads were so hungry after working all day they would as they say, 'Eat a scabby horse between two slices of bread' which brings us back to tea which was always necessary. Another delicacy was of course the egg banjo, A fried egg easy over and between two slices of bread.. You had to be quick if it was cold as the egg congealed. Again foraging was a way to change what you ate, I tickled Trout one time in Germany and another had a roadkill when I saw a LRover clout a small Deer, it was skinned and divided very quickly. Another time we stayed close to a Chicken farm and we bartered fags and the like for eggs and a few chickens. At that time we were 40 lads of all various trades, but split up into 3 sections so I was only interested in my section. Cooking was with petrol burners and fold up sheet metal hearth so i would use a burner at both ends. Nasty things those burners and I always lit up away from any likely fire hazard. The trick was to dig a trench and put the metal box over it and then all rubbish was thrown in to get burnt.

Clive

It appears that instant white tea was part of army rations supplied by Premier Brands. One of their brands is Typhoo QT instant white tea. It maybe what you are looking for.

Mike

You'll notice that in North America, pretty much all tea claims to be Orange Pekoe, even stuff that is clearly swept off the factory floor (aka fannings or dust). Example of Walmart's offerings. From our time in Canada it seemed that advertisers in US and Canada are free to make outrageous claims without any fear of comeback. I liked the Kraft "100% Real Parmesan" that was made in Ontario.

Thank god for the Advertising Stds Authority here in the UK – and (dare I say it) the protected designation of origin (PDO) legislation that the EU provides us with!

Murray

Edited By Muzzer on 26/04/2016 17:40:50

Thanks to the teabag, I drink tea in a very different way now from when I was a kid. Still use freshly drawn and boiled water and let it stand. NEVER put milk in before the bag is out of the water – kills the flavour.

I still leave a bit in the bottom , not because of bromide, but because my Dad never used a tea strainer and a mouthful of Divvy-D grouts is most unpleasant!

Neil

"Quite Tasteless"

Also avoid Lipton's Yellow Label (found only outside the UK) and the small pouches of sawdust found in dusty bowls on the dressing table in B&Bs.

Ketan will be along in a minute to tell us what real tea tastes like!

Neil