Tea
What is Tea?
This specific herb is the primary example used by Rabbis to illustrate the laws of "easy cooking."
What are Raw Foods?
Because we aren't sure which specific foods are "easy to cook," many are extra careful and avoid putting any of these into a Kli Sheni.
What is the Power to Cook?
Even if the water is hot enough to make your hand jump back, the laws of Shabbat allow tea bags in a Kli Shlishi because the vessel has lost this power.
What is Reheat them?
This "shorthand" rule says that once tea leaves have been fully cooked before Shabbat, you can do this to them as much as you want!
What is Sensitive?
The Mishnah Berurah warns that tea is different from other spices because it is much more sensitive to heat.
What is Bishul (Cooking)?
Halachically, a Kli Sheni (secondary vessel) is forbidden for tea because this process occurs the moment the leaves touch the water.
In what Kli is the tea not cooking?
Even if the water in the third cup still feels very hot, the Torah laws say it can no longer do this.
What are Tea Leaves?
Because they are "easily cooked," these dried leaves are considered "done" the very second they hit hot water.
Are you allowed to use a Kettle while making tea on Shabbat?
What is Weak?
This is the "secret" reason we move water between cups: to make the heat too weak to cook the tea.
What is Tea Essence?
This is the "pre-made" liquid you can mix into your mug if you want to skip the tea bag rules entirely on Shabbat.
What is a Cooking Vessel?
This is the specific reason a tea bag is permitted in a Kli Shlishi: even if the water is very hot, it no longer meets the legal definition of this "type" of heat.
What is Pouring?
Even if the water is hot enough to make your hand jump back, the rules say you can still make tea by performing this specific action with the water onto the tea bag.
Are you allowed to use tea bags on Shabbat?
Yes. But you need to follow the rules.
What is Three?
This is the number of cups you need to reach before the water is legally considered "safe" for a tea bag.
What is a Kli Shlishi?
This is the specific term for the "third vessel" used to cool water enough to satisfy the laws of tea preparation.
What is Heat-Drying?
This is the primary method of processing tea leaves before they reach your kitchen; because they aren't "cooked" yet, the Shabbat laws apply.
What is Hand Recoils (or Yad Soledet Bo)?
This phrase describes water so hot that your hand naturally pulls away from it.
Are you allowed to use tea and cold water on Shabbat or is that a Melacha?
It's allowed because it's not cooking in hot water.
What is Best (or Preferred)?
If you make "tea essence" before Shabbat, you are following the best way to make tea according to the Mishnah Berurah.
What are Kalei HaBishul (Easily Cooked Foods)?
While most solids won't cook in a secondary vessel, these specific items are an exception because they are "cooked" the moment they touch hot water.
What is the Second Cup (Kli Sheni)?
This is the "number" of the cup that you are not allowed to put a tea bag into because it’s still too close to the heat.
What is Twice (to reach the 3rd container)?
Even if the water is hot enough to make your hand jump back, it is okay to put a tea bag into a cup if the water has been moved this many times.
Is tea permitted to be made on Shabbat?
Yes. It just depends how you do it.
What is "Liquid cooks Liquid"? (Or: Because the hot tea is in a Kli Rishon and will cook the cold water).
If you have a cup of water that is cold, but you pour it into a pot of hot tea that is sitting on the kettle, the Mishnah Berurah says you have broken the law of cooking. Why is this true even though the water was cold?