How to make the perfect cup of tea

[gentlegreen]

Coffee, on the other hand, always tastes better having been reheated in the microwave.

 

[xenon]

I like both. Tend to have it sweet at home on days off, non-sweet at all other times

It really has that nails down a blackboard thing for me. I think I've drunk tea since about 5 years old and stopped having sugar once I was old enough to make it myself / for anyone else, originally out of lazyness.

 

[xenon]

Fuck that shit. Has to be green tea & bag dunked for not much longer than a few seconds.

Mine is rarely drunk hot - it hangs around all day.
I'll always warm yesterday's up for the first cup of the day though.

*digs lyme pits*

 

[gentlegreen]

Believe me, I have discovered the perfect tea blend - impossible to stew, multiple infusions even two day later ...

 

[ymu]

ymu ruined my life a couple of years ago by saying (on a similar thread) that the water should be poured directly onto(/through) the teabag.
I literally cannot EVER make a cup of tea without doing it this way now...even though I drive myself mad every time I do it ....'just pour the fucking water in any old way, FFS ....gggrrrrzzzzzzzz......omg.....' *pours water carefully over tea bag*

Sorry.

Milk in first matters, dammit.

And I bet you get loads of compliments about your tea these days.

 

[Orang Utan]

I'm trying to imagine how you can pour a cup of tea without pouring it on the bag. Must take some effort

 

[Geri]

Please reassure me that the milk in first/last debate only relates to tea made in a pot. Nobody making a cup of tea in a mug would put milk in first, surely?

 

[Orang Utan]

Milk in first is unconscionable. Impossible to gauge how much you need. You need the tea first, so you can see it lighten in. A rather delightful way until you have it just so

 

[Geri]

Milk in first is unconscionable. Impossible to gauge how much you need. You need the tea first, so you can see it lighten in. A rather delightful way until you have it just so

After years of tea making it becomes second nature to know how much milk you need.

 

[xenon]

Please reassure me that the milk in first/last debate only relates to tea made in a pot. Nobody making a cup of tea in a mug would put milk in first, surely?

I do and I remain unrepentant.

 

[Orang Utan]

After years of tea making it becomes second nature to know how much milk you need.

Nah! It's different every time

 

[Geri]

I do and I remain unrepentant.

You are dead to me now.

 

[xenon]

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I'm with Orwell apart from the tea first. If from a pot, milk first. That said, I suspect that I might fail to tell the difference in a taste test.

But. Putting a teabag into a cup, adding cold milk to that teabag, then adding hot water IS AN ABOMINATION.

ETA: Also, I like tea from an urn. The super-strong stuff they serve in some cafes, topped up with water, is mighty fine. Tanin-max.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Impossible to gauge how much you need.

Really? I've never had any problem.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

And if you have sugar, please DO NOT USE THE SAME SPOON TO STIR IN THE SUGAR AND THEN TAKE THE BAG OUT OF MY MUG.

Sorry for the shouting, but I tell people this, having pointed out that I know they did it because my tea tastes foul, and then they do it again.

 

[ymu]

I'm trying to imagine how you can pour a cup of tea without pouring it on the bag. Must take some effort

This is a technique for allowing you to make tea in a mug and have the milk in first.

OK, it would be simpler to just use two mugs, but ...

You need the teabag on top of the milk to start with, and for it to stay there. Cold milk (fridge, not room, temperature), dropping the tea-bag in at the last moment and pouring the water directly onto the teabag all help.

Makes a fab cup of tea, eh sheothebudworths.

('Fraid so, Geri)

 

[ymu]

And if you have sugar, please DO NOT USE THE SAME SPOON TO STIR IN THE SUGAR AND THEN TAKE THE BAG OUT OF MY MUG.

Sorry for the shouting, but I tell people this, having pointed out that I know they did it because my tea tastes foul, and then they do it again.

I am an absolute stickler for this. The order of stirring is:

Tea with no milk
Tea with milk
Tea with sugar
Black coffee
Coffee with milk
Coffee with sugar

 

[eatmorecheese]

1. Get huge urn. 2. Put two large scoops of black tea in said urn. 3. Fill with cold water. 4. switch on. 5. Add tins of condensed milk, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves. 6. Brew up for about two hours. 7. Serve.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I'm puzzled by Earl Grey. Why destroy all that teaey goodness with perfume?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

1. Get huge urn. 2. Put two large scoops of black tea in said urn. 3. Fill with cold water. 4. switch on. 5. Add tins of condensed milk, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves. 6. Brew up for about two hours. 7. Serve.

That's either genius or something you just made up.

 

[eatmorecheese]

That's either genius or something you just made up.

I once had a surreal 4am wake up call being shoved off a bus in rural India. While I waited for the connecting bus I watched the chai wallah at work.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I once had a surreal 4am wake up call being shoved off a bus in rural India. While I waited for the connecting bus I watched the chai wallah at work.

And it's good?

 

[Ax^]

Milk in first IMO.

 

[eatmorecheese]

Takes some getting used to (I'm a no sugar person, so the sweet milk is a shock), but it's pretty good and fortifying. In places that people only eat once a day it sustains the workers until the main meal. I'd be on it again if I went back.

Where I taught English they'd brew the tea up so strong that you were supposed to top up with hot water, then add milk. Really bitter and stewed. Not nice.

 

[Greebo]

I'm puzzled by Earl Grey. Why destroy all that teaey goodness with perfume?

You get both if you brew it double strength and add milk. Alternatively, have it standard strength without milk and treat it as a contemplative experience, similar to brewing and drinking jasmine tea.

 

[ymu]

The milk in first thing has an interesting dual history.

Scientifically, one of the first n of 1 trials (a type of randomised controlled trial designed to determine what works best for the individual) was arguably conducted by an elderly lady who insisted that she could taste the difference between milk in first and last. Tasting randomly ordered cups of tea proved that she could. The explanation is that milk in last allows the first few drops of milk to scald in the very hot tea, which alters the taste.

It's also a class thing. Before bone china you had to put the milk in first because the cup would break if you put near-boiling liquid straight into it. Once bone china became available, milk in last was the snob's way of drawing attention to their expensive tea set.

 

[Orang Utan]

Really? I've never had any problem.

I'm a slosher

 

[Orang Utan]

And it's good?

chai is nectar of the gods

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I'm a slosher

Oh dear.