November 6, 2005

How to make a cup of tea

Boil the kettle. Place the tea bag in the mug, and just after the water stops boiling, pour it on. Leave to sit for 60 seconds or so, then remove the teabag. If you like sugar, add the sugar next. Finally, add milk to taste. Semi-skimmed, please.

The most important thing I learnt at university was how to make a really good cup of tea. If I recall correctly, a thread on making tea showed up in the uea.chat newsgroup, and the definitive description above was proposed, along with all the reasons why it should be done like that.

If I recall correctly:

  • You want hot but not boiling water. Boiling water releases unpleasant chemicals from the tea.
  • Add the sugar before the milk because it dissolves better.
  • There were some other facts, but I've forgotten them. Sorry.

See also a nice cup of tea. I write this now because I just made a bad cup of tea. The water had cooled in the kettle too much, and I was surprised at just how bad it tasted... so the method really does matter.

Posted by savs at November 6, 2005 7:21 PM
Comments

Inna mug? And milk in last? Perhaps we shouldn't ever make tea for each other. :)

Huggie wrote http://www.earth.li/~huggie/tea.html which I by-and-large agree with (though I tend to use teabags, even in a teapot).

Posted by: Jonathan McDowell at November 7, 2005 9:13 AM