This is the traditional way of making tea in the Australian outback. The muleteer with his flock of sheep or the itinerant shearer with his loot would have to drink water where he could find it. Tea is a good way to drink water and the billycan reduces tea making to absolute simplicity.
The billy itself is simply some kind of metal pot with a lid and bucket handle that you put on a fire. The water is boiled and the tea is prepared in the same pot. For a family choose a 1-2 liter one, but for a larger gathering you need a billy of perhaps 10 liters or more. It will soon be blackened and sooty on the outside, but clean and shiny on the inside, giving it authenticity.
When you travel with your loot in the Outback, you don’t take fresh milk. It is traditional to flavor billy tea with canned sweetened condensed milk, but the flavor is not to everyone’s liking. Will need:
- Strong black tea (any kind, fresh if possible)
- Properly sized drum
- Water (clean and fresh if possible)
- Campfire, and a place to put the billy
- Tin mugs (250 ml or larger)
- rubber sheet (optional)
- Milk, sugar or condensed milk, depending on availability.
How to do it:
- Fill the jerrycan with water: at least 250 ml per person.
- Cover with lid and bring to a boil.
- When the water boils, put out the heat by lifting the handle with a stick and remove the lid. Be careful, everything is very hot.
- Sprinkle tea over the water: a handful for a family billy, several handfuls for a large one.
- Add the gum leaf for its distinctive flavor (optional).
- Wait. After about 5 minutes, the tea leaves will suddenly drop to the bottom. Hitting the billy’s side with a stick can help (at least many people do!).
- Pour carefully into tin cups, leaving the tea leaves in the bottom of the billy.
- Season with milk, sugar or condensed milk if desired.
The tea is strong, invigorating and tastes surprisingly good. An Aussie barbecue definitely wouldn’t be the same without billy tea. Goes particularly well with damper [http://www.abc.net.au/goulburnmurray/stories/s1150827.htm] and golden jam or syrup, but that’s another story!
A gum leaf means a young, green leaf from a eucalyptus tree. These are available in a surprisingly large number of places outside of Australia, but it’s very much an acquired taste.
Tradition is that the tea dregs from the mugs and billy are poured on the fire to help put it out before leaving camp.
Good day!
