What is in your cup?

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

Coffee in my cup. I'm still around, just not at home. My mother isn't doing very well so I've relocated to her house for the past 3 or 4 weeks. I dash to my house every day and feed and hug my kitty, but otherwise I'm here. One day at a time...

(I did put my foot down and set up Internet here. I cannot live unconnected. )

Hope things go well with your mom!

[Aurora W]

Water in my cup. Healthy living, I tell you...

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Do you have those days were you want to just shoot someone? I spent three hours in a meeting yesterday so someone could point out a bunch of, in their own words, nit picky, little formating and grammar errors in a product. Why they couldn't just hand me the freaking copy with corrections on it and let me use that three hours to correct said stupid nit picky (their words) errors I have no freaking clue. And round two is today.

Sounds like what I go through, only over the phone. Wish they would just mark the copy, scan it and send it back. Or email a list. Not that I mind talking to the Boss on the phone, but trying to find the mistakes on-screen while she is describing them to me... ...makes me want to throw things.

(@BJ - Hope your mom is doing better.)

[Stitchawl]

I've been doin' some hard travelin', I thought you knowed
I've been doin' some hard travelin', way down the road
I've been doin' some hard travelin', hard ramblin', hard gamblin'
I've been doin' some hard travelin' on!

I've been walking that Lincoln highway, I thought you knowed,
I've been hittin' that 66, way down the road
Heavy load and a worried mind, lookin' for a woman that's hard to find,
I've been hittin' some hard travelin' on!

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jijdEb6iVNg )

Good morning, everyone! TGIF! It's East India Company's "Royal Breakfast" tea this morning, and some fresh French bread with an olive tepenade. That should get me going. I found a new road on the map last night that I want to check out before the weekend. It leads through some higher mountain tea estates in the township of Wazuka, just south-east of Uji, and claims to have even better tea than what is grown in Uji. Most of the teas that come out of that region are Gyokuro (the shade grown stuff) so it might just be hillside after hillside of black tarps, but I won't know until I get there...

Originally Posted by CRussel

New dispenser arrived today from Amazon Canada.
I ended up getting the DSC40 model (vacuum, hybrid, 4L.) Just going through the initial cleanout but I already love it. Thanks!

Glad to hear it. One thing that is commonly done here is to put a couple of sticks of natural charcoal into the pot. (Natural, not manufactured briquettes.) Just a couple of pieces totaling the size of a toilet paper tube or less. We replace them every 2-3 years. We use filtered water but can still taste a difference with or without the charcoal.

Originally Posted by bjones6416

My mother isn't doing very well so I've relocated to her house for the past 3 or 4 weeks.

We'll send some healing energy her way, and some calming energy for you too!

One more cup and then it's off to the hills!


Stitchawl

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Glad to hear it. One thing that is commonly done here is to put a couple of sticks of natural charcoal into the pot. (Natural, not manufactured briquettes.) Just a couple of pieces totaling the size of a toilet paper tube or less. We replace them every 2-3 years. We use filtered water but can still taste a difference with or without the charcoal.

Stitchawl

You actaully put the charcoal directly in the water? How does that help?

[Aurora W]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

You actaully put the charcoal directly in the water? How does that help?

I'm going to guess it absorbs impurities in the water (smell/taste). *goes to look it up*

Edit: Found this website - think this may be similar to what Stitchawl is talking about.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

You actaully put the charcoal directly in the water? How does that help?

Yep! Right into the pot, and leave it there for a year or two...

Originally Posted by Aurora W

I'm going to guess it absorbs impurities in the water (smell/taste). *goes to look it up*

That's exactly what it does!

Found this website - think this may be similar to what Stitchawl is talking about.

Err... I don't know about all that... I just go to the 100Yen shop and buy a little bag. Usually there are 2-3 pieces of tree branch about 3-4 inches long and perhaps 1/2-3/4 inch thick turned into charcoal. I rinse it off for a good, oh, 5-6 seconds and drop it into the pot and forget about it until next year.

That website has the right idea, but 'sterilizing' charcoal? I mean what could live in the intense heat and lack of oxygen required to MAKE charcoal? Sure, rinse of the dust... Brush off any loose bits... but... no need to go overboard.

Stitchawl

[orlok]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

I'm still around, just not at home. My mother isn't doing very well so I've relocated to her house for the past 3 or 4 weeks. I dash to my house every day and feed and hug my kitty, but otherwise I'm here. One day at a time...

(I did put my foot down and set up Internet here. I cannot live unconnected. )

Glad to see you are managing to get on line, and I hope things improve with your Mum soon.

Coffee in my cup, and banana in my hand. No, really.

[Aurora W]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

That website has the right idea, but 'sterilizing' charcoal? I mean what could live in the intense heat and lack of oxygen required to MAKE charcoal? Sure, rinse of the dust... Brush off any loose bits... but... no need to go overboard.

Stitchawl

I thought they may have been going a little extreme there...but it was the best picture I found. Gonna have to ask my brother if he can find some of this at the store where he found my hotpot cleaner.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Yep! Right into the pot, and leave it there for a year or two...



That's exactly what it does!



Err... I don't know about all that... I just go to the 100Yen shop and buy a little bag. Usually there are 2-3 pieces of tree branch about 3-4 inches long and perhaps 1/2-3/4 inch thick turned into charcoal. I rinse it off for a good, oh, 5-6 seconds and drop it into the pot and forget about it until next year.

That website has the right idea, but 'sterilizing' charcoal? I mean what could live in the intense heat and lack of oxygen required to MAKE charcoal? Sure, rinse of the dust... Brush off any loose bits... but... no need to go overboard.

Stitchawl

How long does it have to be in the water to do its thing?

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Aurora W

I thought they may have been going a little extreme there...but it was the best picture I found. Gonna have to ask my brother if he can find some of this at the store where he found my hotpot cleaner.

This is what the stuff I buy looks like. Usually 2-3 sticks in a package for a dollar or two.

If you have an Asian market nearby, it's very common to put a piece of bamboo charcoal into the rice pot when making rice. It's rinsed off afterwards and used again in the next pot. I would think most Asian markets (Thai, Korean, Philippine, Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese, etc.) would have it. Not everyone does it these days, now that water from the tap is pretty well filtered, or everyone uses bottled water.

Aren't several different whiskeys aged in wooden barrels that have been charred inside?

Time now for a glass of rum. No charcoal there!

Stitchawl

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Glad to hear it. One thing that is commonly done here is to put a couple of sticks of natural charcoal into the pot. (Natural, not manufactured briquettes.) Just a couple of pieces totaling the size of a toilet paper tube or less. We replace them every 2-3 years. We use filtered water but can still taste a difference with or without the charcoal.

"Activated" charcoal is the key, and it works by basically having "holes" in its structure the size of organic molecules. (Which are the off-taste ones mostly.)

Not really relevant here, since I'm filling it with water that's been through a reverse osmosis filter and both a pre and post charcoal filter. That's the good news. The bad news is it removes pretty much any minerals as well, so the water tends to have a flat taste. Not a problem with tea, but a problem with straight drinking water.

IAC, glad to have it. And I'm going to have to juggle a bit this morning, I want to watch the Giro d'Italia (A Canadian, Ryder Hesjedal, is 2nd overall and very likely to be the first Canadian to ever win a Grand Tour. ) But I really don't have the time. IAC, I've got it on TiVo for tonight if I have to wait until then.

Fresh squeezed OJ, and Peet's Major Dickason's brewing.

[CRussel]

Ryder Hesjedal had a massive ride today, taking 2nd overall on the stage, but more importantly, taking critical time out of every other GC (general classification) rider. This was supposed to be the stage where he was put back in his place, and instead he took time from all the other contenders and was clearly the strongest rider in the GC. Only one more mountain stage left, tomorrow, and then a final time trial. Hesjedal is the best time trial rider by far amongst the current leaders, so he's looking like the favourite to win.

Peet's Anniversary Breakfast Blend. Made from the new Zojirushi. .

[CRussel]

Honoring the Lion on the Mountains, I'm drinking Lion Mountain Keemun for the rest of the day.

Go Ryder!

[Bilbo1967]

Couple of shots of Old Pulteney single malt in my glass.

Not as peaty as I normally like in a whiskey, but pretty good nonetheless.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

How long does it have to be in the water to do its thing?

A hour or so to be noticeable with really 'off' water. But as it's always left in the pot, and our pot gets filled before we go to bed, the water is always in a treated condition when we use it.

Stitchawl