Take Time for God and Tea

Sir Kenelm Digby wrote The Closet . . .Excellent Directions for Cookery, that was published in 1669. He included a tonic/dessert recipe, 'Tea with Eggs,' which incorporated the following tea brewing instructions: "The hot water is to remain upon it [the tea] no longer than whiles you can say the Miserere Psalm [Psalm 51] very leisurely."

 

I tested his expertise yesterday by preparing this weird-for-modern-day sugar, egg, and tea concoction. I even dusted off my mother's old copy of the Holy Bible: The New King James Version, and read Psalm 51 aloud and leisurely 'whiles' brewing my organic Japanese green tea, as per instructions. It took me a very l-o-n-g two minutes and seventeen seconds to read it; however, the tea turned out to be perfect! The sugar and egg combination was set aside, and later put to use in a batch of organic sugar cookies.

 

Mother's old Bible is back where it belongs, buried deep within the lower level of one of the bookshelves, right where it will stay until the next time I decide to experiment with time, tea, and totally absurd post-Renaissance dessert recipes.

 

Depending on what biblical version one uses, and one's definition of 'leisurely,' it is probably safe to say that the perfect cuppa can be obtained if left to brew for more than two minutes, but less than three, according to God's Holy Word.