Weak Pods -> Decent Tea. My Method.

[Mammon]

O.K. If, for whatever reason, SWIY can’t obtain the ultimate (CFO) using the techniques described on this forum, here’s a method that might suit SWIY. Before SWIM begins, though, he has to state two things:

Proper CFO should be the aim; sometimes this isn’t possible due to time, equipment, or, as SWIM has had recently (damn it), weak pods. Nonetheless, nothing beats the real deal.

Nothing said here is new; it’s really just a summary of previous posts from Samurai and Gunnaknow.

This method produces a clear, concentrated, potent poppy tea. It’s assumed that SWIY knows the basics of poppy tea. If not, check Samurai's posts.

Before starting, SWIY should know how to make a jelly, or Jell-O as (I think) you call it the U.S. Here’s a guide.

Gelatine comes in various forms, normally powder in sachets or sheets. In any case, it’s used in catering and can be bought from most supermarkets. It’s made to be used by home cooks and so isn’t difficult. On the packet it always states how much is required so set a certain amount of liquid. The instructions vary but the idea is this: you always want to use less than the packet requires, but only by a small amount.

Example (assume you have 1 litre of poppy tea):

If the packet says to set 1 litre you need 1 sachet then you should use 80% - 90% of the sachet – SWIY wants to make a “loose” jelly. If it’s stiff, you get less out of it.

Anyway, here’s the method:

1.) Make a standard solution: CPS in water between 50 – 65 degrees for 3 hours.

2.) Add the gelatine when luke-warm to make a jelly. Set in the fridge.

3.) Freeze thoroughly. Make sure it’s frozen solid.

4.) Put the block of frozen jelly in a sieve above a bowl – as it defrosts the filtered liquid drips into the bowl below.

5.) Evaporate the liquid in the bowl at < 70 degrees until reduced to an amount SWIY can neck in one gulp.

That’s it.


Advantages:

1.) It requires no monitoring apart from temperature on the initial solution – ideal if you have work / social commitments / suspicious flatmates.

2.) It’s much easier on the stomach than normal tea.

3.) It doesn’t require any extra equipment (I.E. high thread count silks / bio diesel bags, etc)

Disadvantages:

1.) It takes longer than standard techniques.

2.) You’re left with a jelly of rankness that looks like a shrivelled brain.

3.) Why bother if you’ve got decent pods?



Oh yeah, Freeze the left over jelly and repeat the process until it will give no more liquid.

[gunnaknow]

It's always nice to read your ideas SWI-Jamal. SWIM would like to point a few things out that weren't yet mentioned. Only gelatin should be used, vegetarian alternatives like carrageenan or agar won't work, for reasons that SWIM won't go into now.

Although SWIY advocates using slightly less than the instructions on the packet, ideally one should use even less than this so that the jelly/jello just barely sets in the fridge. It must hold together and have a wobble once set but it should be a fragile jelly. One should aim for a jelly that contains approx. 1% gelatin, or a little more. SWIM's friend has found that 1% was just barely enough and it made a very fragile jelly. SWIY's recommendation of using 80-90% of a packet's instructions is in the region of using 1.5-1.75% gelatin. SWIM thinks that 1.25% might be a good compromise, which would be about 66%, or two thirds of the amount in most packet instructions. Certainly no more than 1.5% should be used. The concentration of the tea and it's pH may or may not have a bearing on how much gelatin is required. If the amount of gelatin is too high, the jelly will set too firmly and syneresis (water seepage from a gel) and yield will be decreased.

If one wishes to work out the exact percentage of gelatin used instead of guessing by eye, then one doesn't need anything more accurate than run of the mill kitchen scales. Gelatin is often sold in sachets or leaves of a given weight in grams. Sachets of gelatin often weigh around 10g. If only the weight of the entire contents of the box is detailed then one can divide that weight by the number of sachets inside to work out how much gelatin each sachet contains. It's usually around 10g each.

So, the equation is made really simple for SWIY. If one is trying to make a jelly/jello containing approx. 1% gelatin, then SWIY should add a 10g sachet to 1kg of poppy tea. If one wanted a slightly less fragile jelly containing 1.25% gelatin then SWIY would add one 10g sachet to 800g of poppy tea, etc. It doesn't need to be exact, if the sachets contain 11g for example. Although, in such an instance most people have kitchen scales that are accurate enough to compensate for the extra 100g of water required. If one doesn't even have kitchen scales then 1 litre of pure water weighs exactly 1kg (1ml = 1g) and a litre of poppy tea will be very close to 1kg in weight.

Disadvantages:

You’re left with a jelly of rankness that looks like a shrivelled brain.

3.) Why bother if you’ve got decent pods?

Even decent pods contain loads of nasties that need removing. This method should be equally worth while with decent strength pods.

Oh yeah, Freeze the left over jelly and repeat the process until it will give no more liquid.

That's right, it causes more ice crystals to perforate the gelatin lattice and further increase syneresis. Alternatively, to get every morsal of alkaloids, redissolve the gelatin plug in fresh, warm water, reset, refreeze and then rethaw. Either method would work well.

[Mammon]

O.K The guy I know who comes up with all this stuff wants to add a few points as tells me that the information given in the last post he came up with while under the influence of a tea made using that method, and, so, might have been a little over-the-top in places.

1.) BE CAREFUL! If the method is followed SWIY will end up with a highly concentrated glass of tea, even from weak pods. He tells me that the stuff he had last night was one heavy drink and he was up all night and half the next day completely off his head. I told him he should know better, but sometimes he forgets that all his experiments and research means that now he can produce some seriously powerful products.

He now states that necking the whole lot in one gulp is a bad idea and could land SWIY in big trouble. DON'T DRINK IT ALL IN ONE GO!

2.) When he said, "Why bother if you've got decent pods?" he meant: if the pods are good make CFO not tea.

3.) Gunnaknow is completely right about the amounts; 90% makes far too stiff a jelly.

Right, I'll try and make sure that guy isn't wasted before he gets me to post anything else. My apologies.