How to make the perfect cup of tea

[QueenOfGoths]

My perfect cup of tea, you mean if neonwilderness won't make me one !

Erm...warm the tea pot, add 2 or 3 teaspoons of leaf tea, Ceylon preferably, pour on just off the boil water. Coverpot with a tea cosy. Leave for a few minutes. Pick a nice mug (I rarely do cups!) put in the milk, pour in the tea.

However my general everyday method, especially at work, is tea bag in a large mug, pour over boilng water, put in milk, leave for a bit until it is strong enough to stand a spoon up in, fish out the teabag with fingers/the end of a pen. Drink. Lovely

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I'm curious to know if it really makes that much difference if the water is drawn straight from the tap, or if the kettle isn't left boiling for too long.
I probably don't have the palate for it ...

The theory is that you need oxygen in the water to brew the tea properly. The longer you leave the water boiling, the less oxygen is left in it.

 

[bi0boy]

Even with crap tea I prefer milk first. It's no real effort and a tiny bit less crap.

Er, no. If you pour boiling water into a mug already containing milk and a tea bag, the tea won't be brewed at all because the milk will cool the boiling water.

It's utterly different to putting milk first when the tea has already been brewed in a separate pot.

 

[gentlegreen]

I wonder if there's any mileage in using an aquarium airstone.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Er, no. If you pour boiling water into a mug already containing milk and a tea bag, the tea won't be brewed at all because the milk will cool the boiling water.

Not to mention clogging up the holes. It's an impossibility to make a decent cuppa like that.

 

[neonwilderness]

My perfect cup of tea, you mean if neonwilderness won't make me one !

At home - Tea bag and boiling water into cup, leave to stand for a few minutes. Remove bag then add milk/sugar to taste

At work - Wait 3 hours until no one else has done it then put enough tea bags in the pot so it's strong enough to pour straight away before the gannets get to it

 

[_angel_]

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 believe it's something to do with bone china cups shattering with boiling water.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Nobody making a cup of tea in a mug would put milk in first, surely?

Regrettably, there are some people out there who do this.

 

[N_igma]

No sugar, no milk, no cup, no tea and a great imagination.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I do think as well that the hardness of water makes a difference. When I was in a soft-water area working hard for several weeks I needed a decent cuppa. Me and my daughter were scouring the shelves of the Co-op looking for bottled water with the highest calcium content we could find to make a cuppa that didn't look wan and taste slightly soapy. We looked like a right pair of poseurs making our tea with Evian.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

No sugar, no milk, no cup, no tea and a great imagination.

virtual reali-tea?

 

[ymu]

I do think as well that the hardness of water makes a difference. When I was in a soft-water area working hard for several weeks I needed a decent cuppa. Me and my daughter were scouring the shelves of the Co-op looking for bottled water with the highest calcium content we could find to make a cuppa that didn't look wan and taste slightly soapy. We looked like a right pair of poseurs making our tea with Evian.

The tea companies supply different tea blends to hard and soft water areas. If you buy the tea in the soft water area it should be nicer than any made with stuff you've brought with you.

Soft water is evil slimy non-thirst quenching stuff.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

We bought everything down there. All we arrived with was clothes and a can-do attitude.

 

[Frances Lengel]

A cup of tea should last no more than a couple of minutes

A cup of tea should be left standing for the length of time it takes you to consume a danish pastry/belgian bun then necked in a oner with the residual icing from the cake that's coating your mouth adding just the right amount of sweetness to the cuppa. Everything else is mere detail.

Saying that though, people who put the milk in first are mad - The water has to be boiling to allow the tea leaves to infuse, adding milk at the start of the equation prevents the water from being at boiling point as it hits the tea. Putting the milk in first is anti science.

 

[Frances Lengel]

Soft water is evil slimy non-thirst quenching stuff.

Get outta town, you wouldn't last long oop north where the water's soft and the men are hard.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Saying that though, people who put the milk in first are mad - The water has to be boiling to allow the tea leaves to infuse, adding milk at the start of the equation prevents the water from being at boiling point as it hits the tea. Putting the milk in first is anti science.

Have teapots not yet reached your neck of the woods?

 

[gentlegreen]

This thread prompted me to make my 9-monthly tea order - just over £100.

 

[Frances Lengel]

Have teapots not yet reached your neck of the woods?

Re

Have teapots not yet reached your neck of the woods?

They have but were rejected as bourgiose accoutriments. Or somesuch. Probably.

 

[ymu]

A cup of tea should be left standing for the length of time it takes you to consume a danish pastry/belgian bun then necked in a oner with the residual icing from the cake that's coating your mouth adding just the right amount of sweetness to the cuppa. Everything else is mere detail.

Saying that though, people who put the milk in first are mad - The water has to be boiling to allow the tea leaves to infuse, adding milk at the start of the equation prevents the water from being at boiling point as it hits the tea. Putting the milk in first is anti science.

Putting the milk in first and brewing the perfect cuppa on top of it is pure science.

 

[bi0boy]

I believe it's something to do with bone china cups shattering with boiling water.

Bone china won't shatter, it's because of the tannin stains. Tea without milk will stain white china much more readily than tea with milk. Doesn't matter nowadays with modern detergents and sponges, but the Victorians had to rely on dish cloths and elbow grease.

 

[gentlegreen]

Bone china won't shatter, it's because of the tannin stains. Tea without milk will stain white china much more readily than tea with milk. Doesn't matter nowadays with modern detergents and sponges, but the Victorians had to rely on dish cloths and elbow grease.

That's why you should always drink tea from a very dark mug.

 

[bi0boy]

Or just not give a shit about the colour of your previously white mug.

 

[_angel_]

Or just not give a shit about the colour of your previously white mug.

Oi we're talking bone china here, not some mug!

 

[_angel_]

That's why you should always drink tea from a very dark mug.

*shudder*

 

[gentlegreen]

well-seasoned

 

[Orang Utan]

Have teapots not yet reached your neck of the woods?

What's wrong with teabags?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

What's wrong with teabags?

Inferior quality tea compared to a decent loose leaf.

 

[Frances Lengel]

View attachment 30043

well-seasoned

Merciful heavens!

 

[kittyP]

Just made myself a 2 cup pot of tea with one tea bag. Left for 5 mins to brew. Milk in first (from my special non spill milk jug as badgers was sick of me actually crying over spilt milk all the time ).
Second cup more milk as it will have had an extra 5 -10 mins brewing.
I find that tea doesn't get so stewed in a pot with a tea bag than with leaves.

I do miss a big pot with leaves for all the family but I am the only one who drinks it every day here,

 

[bi0boy]

Second cup more milk as it will have had an extra 5 -10 mins brewing.

Can't you just extract the teabag after the appropriate interval? Surely that's the one benefit of using a teabag in a pot as opposed to loose leaves.