Tea!

[scaryjim]

If we're going to get into a discussion about how to make tea I'm going to have to fall back to an absolutist position I'm afraid:

http://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A61345

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I make most of my tea in disposable DIY teabags, filled with whatever loose tea option I happen to feel like (usually either an Assam or Lady Grey). I do own a teapot but don't really use it - it's just something else that would need to be washed up. Given that I can control the quality of loose tea that goes into the bags I think that removes the main advantage of using a pot. Even if I'm making several cups I prefer the bags as everyone can choose which tea they'd prefer. I'll generally put a splash of milk into the Assam but nothing in the Lady Grey.

I've never really got into green teas, although it's likely I've never experimented enough to get the brewing spot on either, so that could be part of it. Given the black tea I usually favour (I prefer a punchy Assam to generally lighter and more floral Ceylon options) I think it's likely that my tastes don't suit green tea in general. I remain open minded to finding something I like though, maybe I'll try and find some good Japanese green tea to try at some point. If green tea varies between regions as much as black tea then I certainly haven't tried much of what's out there.

The only problem is some of the Ceylon tea I had here is rather average. The problem is that some of the cheaper stuff is somewhat lower grown,and different grades of leaf does affect flavour too,as is the grading of the final particle size. I didn't entirely believe it until I actually visited some of the plantations and tried it myself.

Edit!!

This is what annoys me - for a tea drinking country we have rather rubbish options for tea in general. You can get multiple types of coffee for one country(like Columbia),even down to specific regions or even a few plantations. You don't see the same with tea unless you find some specialist shop.

Plus you can get fine coffee,coarsely ground coffee,etc easily. Rarely do we see such availability of different tea leaf particle size.

[Galant]

Not drinking milk in my tea I've never concerned myself with milk in first or last.

The British Standard for test comparisons suggests milk first, although it clarifies that if milk is added after water the water should have cooled. And Scaryjim's Hitchhiker's Guide entry on tea also says milk in first - whilst acknowledging that this goes against social convention and that said social convention is stupid.

Milk guys - any hard preferences?

[Galant]

Here's the British Standard:

To maintain consistent results, the following are recommendations given by the standard:

The pot should be white porcelain or glazed earthenware and have a partly serrated edge. It should have a lid that fits loosely inside the pot.
If a large pot is used, it should hold a maximum of 310 ml (±8 ml) and must weigh 200 g (±10 g).
If a small pot is used, it should hold a maximum of 150 ml (±4 ml) and must weigh 118 g (±10 g).
2 grams of tea (measured to ±2% accuracy) per 100 ml boiling water is placed into the pot.
Freshly boiling water is poured into the pot to within 4–6 mm of the brim. Allow 20 seconds for water to cool.
The water should be similar to the drinking water where the tea will be consumed
Brewing time is six minutes.
The brewed tea is then poured into a white porcelain or glazed earthenware bowl.
If a large bowl is used, it must have a capacity of 380 ml and weigh 200 g (±20 g)
If a small bowl is used, it must have a capacity of 200 ml and weigh 105 g (±20 g)
If the test involves milk, then it is added before pouring the infused tea.
Milk added after the pouring of tea is best tasted when the liquid is between 65 - 80 °C.
5 ml of milk for the large bowl, or 2.5 ml for the small bowl, is used.

Wikipedia specifies that:
"This standard is not meant to define the proper method for brewing tea, but rather how to document tea brewing procedure so sensory comparisons can be made. An example of such test is a taste-test to establish which blend of teas to choose for a particular brand or basic label in order to maintain a consistent tasting brewed drink from harvest to harvest."

[Moby-Dick]

I'm not really a tea drinker but the wife is - she requested I treat her to some very posh teabags for Christmas (http://www.lakeland.co.uk/17666/Char...-Breakfast-Tea ) I'm told they were worth it !

[Galant]

A different one to try is Japanese genmaicha. It's green tea with rice. It has a sort of malty taste. A lot of people I know who have tried it, liked it. Definitely different, but a really nice drink. So if you're after a different taste I'd definitely recommend it to try.

[Ttaskmaster]

All these and other questions.. do you not know there is a British Standard for making tea? BS 6008:1980 or ISO 3103-1980

As Galant mentioned, this is merely a standardised procedure to ensure equality during tests, rather than 'the only way' to make tea.
If there were only the one way, we'd not have different types of tea...

Milk guys - any hard preferences?

Milk in last.
Supposedly the milk first was something to do with the delicate bone china/porcelain used in a tea set and avoiding damage to it... but since my tea is more often in a WW2 steel canteen cup (because it holds a full pint!) or a normal modern mug, that's not an issue.

[Lanky123]

This is what annoys me - for a tea drinking country we have rather rubbish options for tea in general. You can get multiple types of coffee for one country(like Columbia),even down to specific regions or even a few plantations. You don't see the same with tea unless you find some specialist shop.

I certainly agree there - I usually resort to amazon or ebay which increases the selection but of course also introduces its own problems depending on how much you trust the sellers and their supply chains.

[scaryjim]

... Supposedly the milk first was something to do with the delicate bone china/porcelain used in a tea set and avoiding damage to it...

That's certainly what I'd heard; although more specifically it was that cheap mugs/cups couldn't take the shock of boiling liquid so it was a working/lower class habit.

I also remember reading a (longer) Douglas Adams tea rant where he comments that it doesn't really matter whether you do milk-first or milk-last because if you're having that debate it means you're making your tea in a pot, which is already a better start than making it directly into the mug Sadly I can't remember where I read that now.

George Orwell is apparently very much a milk-last man: http://www.booksatoz.com/witsend/tea/orwell.htm

For me, milk generally goes in first, unless I'm making builder's tea directly in a mug (then it's VERY strong, with plenty of milk poured in afterwards), or I'm trying a new blend of black tea I've not had before, in which case I'll often taste my first cup without milk before adding some if required.

I rarely take milk in teas other than plain black; never in white and green. My wife has milk in Earl Grey, which I consider sacreligious.

All that said, at home we have soya milk not dairy, and that definitely makes a difference: I find dairy very claggy nowadays. Curiously though, I'll still drink it, and enjoy it, in tea when I'm out and about. Just about the only thing where I'm just as happy with dairy as with soya nowadays.

[kalniel]

As Galant mentioned, this is merely a standardised procedure to ensure equality during tests, rather than 'the only way' to make tea.
If there were only the one way, we'd not have different types of tea...

I know.. it's only a silly

[Galant]

Apparently the milk first/last discussion is supposed to have some chemical merit to it. Milk last apparently scalds/alters the chemistry of the milk as it's being poured into a vessel filled with hot water. Milk first apparently makes a difference and results in a better/richer tasting brew. Of course, the down side is you have to learn how much milk to add first because you can't go by the colour as you might with milk last.

Per The Guardian:

Half the population of Britain will take this as a declaration of war. After months of research the Royal Society of Chemistry has announced the answer to a question that for generations has shattered households, sundered friendships, splintered relationships: the milk should go in first. It is all to do with denaturing milk proteins, according to Dr Andrew Stapley, a chemical engineer from Loughborough University.
There are other contentious points at issue: microwaves come into the perfect cup of tea, and the recommendation that the tea itself should be loose Assam will certainly be taken as blatant provocation by the Darjeeling and Lapsang Souchong factions.

Above all, the society could be seen as spitting on the grave of George Orwell, having commissioned the research to celebrate today's centenary of his birth - and concluded that he was quite wrong in his own recipe, published as A Nice Cup of Tea in the Evening Standard in 1946.


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The chemists and the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four are in agreement on Indian tea, and a china or earthenware teapot. There is a minor divergence over warming the pot: Orwell recommended placing the pot on a hob, Dr Stapley defends a microwave as a 21st century equivalent. But on the issue of milk the gap is unbridgeable.

Orwell wrote: "By putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk, wheras one is likely to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round."

Dr Stapley is adamant. "If milk is poured into hot tea, individual drops separate from the bulk of the milk, and come into contact with the high temperatures of the tea for enough time for significant denaturation - degradation - to occur. This is much less likely to happen if hot water is added to the milk."

Veteran tea drinker Tony Benn test-drove the perfect cup of tea yesterday, at the London headquarters of the society. He calculates that he has got through 27,375 gallons in 60 years, and is a tea first, milk second man. The milk went in first. The tea was poured in. He sniffed. He sipped. He pondered. "It's very tasty, I must say," he said. He sipped again. "Oh, it's delicious."

The chemists purred - and then last night the physicists waded in and said all that matters is the water temperature, not the milk. "Trust chemists to make things complicated," Institute of Physics chief executive Dr Julia King said. "When it boils down to it, the physics is more important than the chemical side of things."

· Chemists' recipe

The Royal Society of Chemistry's definitive recipe for the perfect cup of tea

Ingredients Loose leaf Assam tea, soft water, fresh chilled milk, white sugar.

Implements Kettle, ceramic teapot, large ceramic mug, fine mesh tea strainer, tea spoon, microwave oven.

Method Draw fresh soft water and place in the kettle and boil. While waiting for the water to boil place a tea ot containing a quarter of a cup of water in a microwave oven on full power for one minute.

Place one rounded teaspoon of tea per cup into pot.

Take the pot to the kettle as it is boiling, pour on to the leaves and stir.

Leave to brew for three minutes.

The ideal receptacle is a ceramic mug.

Pour milk into the cup first followed by the tea, aiming to achieve a colour that is rich and attractive.

Add sugar to taste.

Drink at 60-65C, to avoid vulgar slurping which results from trying to drink tea at too high a temperature.

To gain optimum ambience for enjoyment of tea aim to achieve a seated drinking position in a favoured home spot where quietness and calm will elevate the moment.

[DanceswithUnix]

I make my tea directly in a mug, and milk goes in last.

The science is supposedly that the tea brews in phases, at boiling point it is stewing and you want to control that phase quite carefully as too much of it and you get a mug of something only vaguely suitable for painting on the fence.

Tea for impatient people:

Put the kettle on
Put sugar or sweetener in the mug if needed
Lob a teabag into the mug
The very second the kettle has boiled, while it is still steaming, pour the water slowly over the teabag.
The teabag usually inflates with the steam and stays on top of the water during pouring.
A lot of tea will have gone into the water already, but I usually give the teabag a couple of squeezes with a spoon for a bit more strength of flavour else it will be too weak.
Discard the squeezed teabag, and add milk. That brings down the temperature so you are out of that tricky stewing phase.

That gets you nice tasting tea, no nasty scum or bitter taste yet discernable from the other horror of milky water, and all done in about 20 seconds from the moment the kettle goes click. Sugar or sweetener will dissolve during the water pour without any of that boring stirring.

If making a second cup it takes a little longer, the water isn't steaming as much and the bag takes a couple more squeezes.

Which is another point: You need half the number of teabags as mugs you are filling. Someone made instructions about it

http://www.b3ta.com/features/2cups1bag/

[Ttaskmaster]

I know.. it's only a silly

Mine too. I just forgot the smilies...

I'll drink it how I want. I'm the cold one and I'm usually making it, so you'll also get yours how I make it and that's the end of it. You want it different, kettle's over there!!

[DanceswithUnix]

Apparently the milk first/last discussion is supposed to have some chemical merit to it. Milk last apparently scalds/alters the chemistry of the milk as it's being poured into a vessel filled with hot water. Milk first apparently makes a difference and results in a better/richer tasting brew. Of course, the down side is you have to learn how much milk to add first because you can't go by the colour as you might with milk last.

Per The Guardian:

That's very funny, specially as I would consider myself more of a physicist
Using a teapot changes everything, but it is too much faff for a single cup of tea.
If the teabag is sat there in cold milk, I think you have lost. If the tea is brewing in a pot, you are probably onto a win anyway.

[Zak33]

This thread is making me tense

I CAN'T freshly boiled water to a tea,bag...it ALWAYS creates scum. I think it's the bleached teabag

But I ALWAYS pour freshly boiling water over tea LEAVES in a pot.

Tense discussion

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

In Asia,tea is also can be made with hot milk,which is suprisingly different from the standard use of cold milk.

I certainly agree there - I usually resort to amazon or ebay which increases the selection but of course also introduces its own problems depending on how much you trust the sellers and their supply chains.

Agreed.