New coffee maker – disgusting taste!

[Chris TriceParticipant @christrice43267]

As recommended by the suppliers:

https://www.yorkshiretea.co.uk/our-teas/how-to-make-a-proper-brew

[Perko7Participant @perko7]

Reminds me of a comedy classic:

Bluebottle	What time is it Eccles?
Eccles	Err, just a minute. I, I've got it written down 'ere on a piece of paper. A nice man wrote the time down for me this morning.
Bluebottle	Ooooh, then why do you carry it around with you Eccles?
Eccles	Well, umm, if a anybody asks me the ti-ime, I ca-can show it to dem.
Bluebottle	Wait a minute Eccles, my good man…
Eccles	What is it fellow?
Bluebottle	It's writted on this bit of paper, what is eight o'clock, is writted.
Eccles	I know that my good fellow. That's right, um, when I asked the fella to write it down, it was eight o'clock.
Bluebottle	Well then. Supposing when somebody asks you the time, it isn't eight o'clock?
Eccles	Ah, den I don't show it to dem.
Bluebottle	Ooohhh…
Eccles	[Smacks lips] Yeah.
Bluebottle	Well how do you know when it's eight o'clock?
Eccles	I've got it written down on a piece of paper!
Bluebottle	Oh, I wish I could afford a piece of paper with the time written on.
Eccles	Oohhhh.
Bluebottle	'Ere Eccles?
Eccles	Yah.
Bluebottle	Let me hold that piece of paper to my ear would you? – 'Ere. This piece of paper ain't goin'.
Eccles	What? I've been sold a forgery!
Bluebottle	No wonder it stopped at eight o'clock.
Eccles	Oh dear.
Bluebottle	You should get one of them tings my grandad's got.
Eccles	Oooohhh?
Bluebottle	His firm give it to him when he retired.
Eccles	Oooohhh.
Bluebottle	It's one of dem tings what it is that wakes you up at eight o'clock, boils the kettil, and pours a cuppa tea.
Eccles	Ohhh yeah! What's it called? Um.
Bluebottle	My granma.
Eccles	Ohh… Ohh, ah wait a minute. How does she know when it's eight o'clock?
Bluebottle	She's got it written down on a piece of paper!

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 13/02/2019 22:42:14:

Here's a Teasmade on Amazon UK, genuine Swan and a lot cheaper then 300E – buy it before the channel becomes and impassable barrier!

Neil

Isn't that straying into politics?

[J HancockParticipant @jhancock95746]

That was a ' blast from the past' Perko7, real humour.

Did tea ever taste better than when standing on the start platform of a big Sulzer, sweat dripping off your nose, 80degF + coming down the vents, served in a mug , with as many tins of condensed milk as you wanted ?

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Clive, does Army Tea still have the additive that was used years ago I.e. Bromide, those who have served in her Majesty’s will understand the reference.

Sorry going off topic a bit.

Dave W

[Clive IndiaParticipant @cliveindia]

Posted by Jeff Dayman on 13/02/2019 21:18:09:

The plasticizers in ordinary polypropylene and high impact polystyrene appliance parts (the most common plastics used in kettles coffee makers etc. ) do not leach out in normal use in concentrations you could taste. Could be the inventive and cost conscious moulders of appliance parts have changed to a different type of resin or are adding recycled unknown polymers , or may be using petrochemical mould release agents which create odd tastes. The petrochemical mould releases are cheaper than food grade vegetable oil based ones, but the petrochem ones should never be used for parts that have food or skin contact.

The more likely culprit (IF it is a plastic part to blame – see below) based on my experience with plastics moulding for appliances is the thermoplastic elastomers or vulcanizates (TPE or TPV) basically plastic rubber used for any seals or piping in the appliance. Some of these have additives that are very harsh smelling and these may be leaching into the water. EPDM rubber makes excellent seals but can smell bad really strongly, and can flavour water with the same bad smell.

Most coffee makers use a die cast metal heater housing / hot plate to heat the water. Water being heated is in direct contact with the metal. The metal is usually a corrosion resistant zinc aluminum alloy. If the wrong alloy is used, gases can be produced during boiling and sometimes sulfur or ammonia smells can result. I experienced this working with similar boilers from cappucino machines, that a firm I worked for were using for dental autoclaves.

I would not worry about BPA (bisphenol A) in moulded plastics. It was a very popular additive in polycarbonate until the 1990's when US media got on the bandwagon about it and pressured the food container industry to discontinue using it. The studies the media quoted were flawed and incomplete, and referenced found cancers in lab animals tested with hundreds of thousands of times higher levels of BPA in solution than you could ever leach out of a PC water bottle for example. If you change the water every day in a bottle or appliance, almost no BPA or plasticizer will ever leach out. This has been tested and verified by SPI-SPE in the US, as well as the USDA, but public opinion of it as a threat to health persists.

On the other hand the public is perfectly comfortable riding in a car for hours on a weekday commute, or to the beach on a weekend, passing through the exhaust of thousands of other petrol-burning cars and diesel burning trucks spewing many litres per minute of God knows what mix of burned and unburned hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen, oil vapour , decomposed MMA, benzols, ketones from ethanol burning, etc. I believe in time that vehicle exhaust exposure will be found to be a primary trigger in many types of cancers. It is far more dangerous than any plastic part found in your home appliances in my opinion.

If glass kettles can still be found, glass will have the least possible effect on taste and chemical residue in heated water for tea or coffee. Stainless steel a close second. Emptying and filling ANY kettle or container with fresh water every time will reduce the chance of leaching anything bad into the liquid, for any material.

Just my $0.02 worth. Standing by for the usual naysayers, malcontents and troll type activity.

Proves my theory – the likelyhood of a post being read is inversely proportional to the length?

Edited By Clive India on 14/02/2019 10:14:29

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 13/02/2019 22:42:14:

Here's a Teasmade on Amazon UK, genuine Swan and a lot cheaper then 300E – buy it before the channel becomes and impassable barrier!

Thanks for that Neil. I have just ordered one, £59 including postage to France. Let's hope it does arrive before Brexit! Worrying times for us British expats.

Russell

Edited By Russell Eberhardt on 14/02/2019 10:28:12

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by David Standing 1 on 14/02/2019 09:18:38:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 13/02/2019 22:42:14:

Here's a Teasmade on Amazon UK, genuine Swan and a lot cheaper then 300E – buy it before the channel becomes and impassable barrier!

Neil

Isn't that straying into politics?

Maybe, maybe not. Almost everything is tinged by 'politics'. Why people think Brexit is a good idea or not is clearly politics. But, the legal, financial, investment and commercial consequences of leaving are factual, and therefore not political in themselves.

I didn't see Neil's point as political. The truth is lack of progress on trade deals makes it likely there will be a period of adjustment until normal service is resumed. At the moment no-one knows how long that might last, which is awkward for businesses involved in import or export. Forum members thinking of buying from abroad during the period of adjustment should surely be allowed to know the purchase will be riskier than it is at the moment, or will be after the dust has settled.

Dave

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Posted by Samsaranda on 14/02/2019 09:48:04:

Clive, does Army Tea still have the additive that was used years ago I.e. Bromide, those who have served in her Majesty’s will understand the reference.

Sorry going off topic a bit.

Dave W

I suspect the very male enviroment quelled the male urge, didn’t seem to trouble squaddies when the were let loose on the town. I went on an outward bound course for a month with about 80 lads when I was an apprentice and the same question was raised, the two Icelandic girls who worked in the canteen got plenty of attention though.

Mike

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Samsaranda, it is not in the tea, they had small tins which they tipped into the urns. I first found it as a white sediment in my pint mug and from that day on I have never finished a cup of tea or coffee. I always leave a half inch or so.

Not that I ever noticed it have any effect on me and I was in for 26 years ffrom the age of 14.

By the way, I found a tin, opened, of Bromide which I picked up and walked into the Company office. I asked the question and was told it was for my own good !

[Maurice Cox 1Participant @mauricecox1]

At the start of this thread, it was suggested that there would be no unpleasant taste it the water container was of stainless steel. Not necessarily. For years it was not possible to produce vacuum flasks with stainless steel insides due to tainting of the contents. It was solved by “cooking” the container with it filled with carbon granuals. The carbon presumably absorbed something from the steel. Just thought I’d mention it.

Maurice

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Clive, thanks for your response, always wondered how the bromide was administered, again I served 22 years and likewise never noticed any adverse effects. Strange how service tea always tasted exactly the same wherever you were, even when overseas. Maurice’s comment about stainless steel in contact with the beverage, again never noticed it with service tea dispensed from the big stainless urns but then they were probably that coated with deposits inside from years of use that no stainless was in contact with the liquids. Left the Air Force 32 years ago and still miss the comradeship.

Dave W

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

At the risk of a public flogging, I have a question from across the pond. The only Tea I have experience with is Lipton, is that anything remotely like what You Chaps drinkg?

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Clive India on 14/02/2019 10:12:25:

Proves my theory – the likelyhood of a post being read is inversely proportional to the length?

Proves my theory. The length of the response is inversely proportional to the length of the quote

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Samsaranda on 14/02/2019 16:50:10:

Clive, thanks for your response, always wondered how the bromide was administered, again I served 22 years and likewise never noticed any adverse effects. …

Dave W

Um, I'm not convinced Bromide was ever put in the tea! I suppose it might have happened in the dim and distant past, but surely if it was common practice it would be well documented? My father-in-law served in the Army Catering Corps for 30 odd years and administering bromide didn't figure in any of his many stories. (Like him pissing in soup served to unpopular officers…)

More likely Bromide is an example of service humour. It winds-up new boys while suggesting old-soldiers are so virile they have to be sedated to protect passers-by. Actually the historically high number of military personnel treated for ignoble wounds inflicted by Venus suggests their manhood wasn't chemically compromised.

On the other hand, water-softener, table salt and water-purification tablets were certainly added to military tea water. Water has to be boiled for up to 10 minutes to kill bugs so it was and is common to chemically treat suspect water before feeding it to the men. Even so pretty much every foreign posting involved risk of picking up the unique local tummy upset. They had names like Dehli-belly and Malta-dog. Anyone remember any others?

Dave

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Clive Hartland on 14/02/2019 14:15:10:

Samsaranda, it is not in the tea, they had small tins which they tipped into the urns. I first found it as a white sediment in my pint mug and from that day on I have never finished a cup of tea or coffee. I always leave a half inch or so.

Not that I ever noticed it have any effect on me and I was in for 26 years ffrom the age of 14.

By the way, I found a tin, opened, of Bromide which I picked up and walked into the Company office. I asked the question and was told it was for my own good !

That's because the water was stone cold at 83F and the powder wouldn't dissolve…

N.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by mark costello 1 on 14/02/2019 18:01:46:

At the risk of a public flogging, I have a question from across the pond. The only Tea I have experience with is Lipton, is that anything remotely like what You Chaps drinkg?

No.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Mark, Liptons teas are just one brand of a plethora of brands available in UK, in respect of Army tea, and of course that which is common to the other services, Army tea has a unique taste difficult to describe or quantify, unlike wines which supposedly have distinct recognisable elements, but it is consistent in tasting the same wherever it is served. I ponder how much tea is drunk in the ex colonies considering that historically it was seen fit to dump a considerable quantity into a well known harbour. Joking aside Army tea appears to suit all palates probably because it is the only beverage universally available in the Services, and the human palate can adapt.

Dave W

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by mark costello 1 on 14/02/2019 18:01:46:

At the risk of a public flogging, I have a question from across the pond. The only Tea I have experience with is Lipton, is that anything remotely like what You Chaps drinkg?

Although Lipton is a long established British brand I've never tried it! Not knowingly anyway. Teas here vary as much as coffees, with a huge range of flavours, strengths and qualities. Cheap tea is usually disappointing, and for the aficionado there are many different speciality teas, most of which I don't like at all.

Most tea drunk in the UK is made from blends similar to your Lipton's but people tend to have their particular favourite amongst the several main brands available. On top of that, some like it made weak, others demand full strength 'Ginger Tom', drink it with or without milk and, with or without sugar. At the moment I'm drinking Yorkshire Tea. Tea is sensitive to the type of water it's made from. Originally Yorkshire Tea was formulated to suit hard Yorkshire water, but now its sold in soft water areas as well. I'm not certain the Yorkshire Tea I buy in Somerset is identical to the Yorkshire Tea sold in Yorkshire! For the same reason, US Lipton may not be quite the same as UK Lipton.

Problems with tea made abroad include: water not hot enough and fresh (low chlorine, high oxygen), tea left to stew, and wrong type of milk. Fresh cow milk only, not goat, soy, powdered, or UHT! Also while cream in coffee is good, creamy tea is horrible.

Dave

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 14/02/2019 21:49:51:

Problems with tea made abroad include: water not hot enough and fresh (low chlorine, high oxygen), tea left to stew, and wrong type of milk. Fresh cow milk only, not goat, soy, powdered, or UHT! Also while cream in coffee is good, creamy tea is horrible.

When working in Malaysia I tried Teh Tarik must say I wasn't impressed.

Russell

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

To be fair, the problem with Yellow Label is that most Brits mostly find it in places like rural French hotels where a handful of teabags have sat on the dresser in an open bowl for several years leaving them with no flavour whatsoever…

Also there's 'milk tea' which is, memorable?

Neil

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

They had stopped using bromide in service tea by the time I joined as a regular in 1964. I know it was never used in our cookhouse. The tea still tasted foul though because they used tinned evaporated milk instead of fresh milk – uuuccckkk !!

We often had to brew our own tea when away from the barracks and here I was introduced to Fussels condensed milk which had a much more acceptable taste in tea provided you could stomach the sweetness.

Rik

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Russell, the most popular tea when I lived in Malaysia was BOH Tea, a quite strong flavour, in fact we have a large packet in our kitchen, which my sister brought back from a recent visit to Malaysia.

Dave W

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

I read some time ago that the Admiralty ordered that all tea, 'Fannies' on ships had to be cleaned and polished! This almost caused a mutiny in the Navy as the sailors declared that the tea stain in the , 'Fannie' made the tea taste better.

I understand it was all amicably ended when the high ups withdrew the order.

Clive

[thaiguzziParticipant @thaiguzzi]

Posted by mark costello 1 on 14/02/2019 18:01:46:

At the risk of a public flogging, I have a question from across the pond. The only Tea I have experience with is Lipton, is that anything remotely like what You Chaps drinkg?

Noooooooooooo!!!

Now go and wash your mouth out with some cold Yellow Label Liptons.

Ughhhh.

[Author]

Posts