What tea would you bring to Mars?
MarsOne is planning on creating a permanent human settlement on Mars, starting in the year 2023. They will initially send a group of 4, then subsequent groups of 4 every 2 years.
To me, very ridiculous idea, but many people think my tea drinking habits are very ridiculous :P It is interesting to think about what would you bring with you for the 2 years you will be on Mars, before another “shipment” of people and supplies arrived.
IF you were one of the chosen few to be sent off to Mars (keep in mind- no return air fare):
1: What tea would you bring?
2: Would you share it with your other 3 teammates?
3: How much tea would you bring with you? Keep in mind, limited storage space in the shuttle to Mars.
4: You would be there for 2 years before the second team of 4 arrived. How would you convince the second, and subsequent teams, to bring more tea?
5: Would you have the subsequent teams bring the same tea you previously brought or something different?
And very last question, maybe Chris Hadfield has an answer and/or demonstration video for this one, does anyone know how astronauts steep tea in weightless space? Do astronauts drink tea? I would think yes, they seem more tea people than coffee people :)
I have way to much time on my hands…
To me the obvious answer is you bring camellia sinesis seeds and plant them on Mars. Grow awesome Martian Tea. Hide it from everyone because once the crazies on Earth find out they will pay big money to the company and all your tea will be shipped back to earth. I would “learn” to love pu’erh (yuck-he he :D) and bring a cake or two on the shuttle and to have while I was waiting for my Martian tea to grow. I would do tonnes of re-steeps, and I could use it to bargain for things with my other teammates. I would then be put in exile from the settlement for not doing my part because I spent all my time growing and drinking tea and I would have to start up my own settlement, a tea settlement. MarsTea 2024. I should start an indegogo campaign…
Ha ha ha! Lala, you’re too funny! I can answer 1 and 2…
1. Any black and green tea… Pu’erh would be awesome because the older it is the better it gets…
2. Too hard of a question to answer… My compassionate side is at war with my survivalist side…. depends if we have more tea coming… lol
I would bring jasmine green tea.
I would vacpack 4 lbs of tea, it would cost roughly a million dollars to ship it. I would share it, sometimes. Although, the other ’nauts would like the red tang.
I would tell them that they should bring me tea… you do not want to see me without caffeine.
Hmmm, I wouldn’t have them bring the same tea.
Oh.. Mars has gravity. About 62% less than earth, but should be enough to boil water.
1. My first thought is obviously to agree with Sailor Todd. But EG doesn’t resteep more than a couple times. So I would take puer. Usually get tired of it before it stops resteeping. I definitely wouldn’t take Kerbal Krunch!
2. Sure I’d share, but its puer so I wouldn’t have to worry about sharing.
3. I think a cake would last me nearly forever.
4. Start acting crazy just before the next team launches, letting them know my short supply while trapped indoors on this God forsaken rock is pushing me over the edge – the only cure is more cowbell… I mean tea.
5. If I have a fair amount of poo left, I think a nice yunnan would keep at least a couple years and who would deny the unstable person a little extra storage space? Can you make a tea brick out of Yunnan?
Final question – you got to love Google. http://www.geek.com/news/how-do-astronauts-drink-tea-with-capillary-action-tea-cups-of-course-1509793/
Of course as Brendan points out you won’t be weightless on Mars.
You have to consider mars and space in general is pretty cold, I find that leychee (spelling?) red tea is superb on a cold day.
There’s been a good point about Earl Grey. Without a replicator, that is a less practical tea option. My non-Trekkie answer would have to be a combination of teas. In any given day I have two or three types of tea, usually a black to start the morning and a green to keep me going, with an oolong mixed in if I have it in my as yet limited stock. I couldn’t get by with so little variety. I’d go with a bulk amount of pu-erh and oolong with some high end greens and blacks for special occasions. As for the specific types, they’d have to be something far out of my current price range (and therefore something I’m not familiar with as yet); the shipping cost is so exorbitant as to make the price of the actual tea relatively negligible.
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