A cuppa tea!

[velvetpage]

I read with surprise that someone on my friends list, who shall remain nameless, was actually surprised to find that tea tasted better with milk than with cream. I asked myself: self, how is it possible to not know this? And my self answered: this poor unfortunate soul did not grow up with the benefit of a very-English grandmother to show her how to do it properly. My self pointed out that I was in a perfect position to enlighten this sad state of ignorance.

Accordingly, then, How To Make a Proper Cup of Tea (with variations)

1. Boil the water, preferably in an electric kettle. It must be actually bubbling when you go on to the next step.
2. Put tea bag into the teapot. (Note: teapot and kettle are two separate items. Do not simply insert tea bag into the kettle!)
3. Pour still-bubbling water over the tea bag. Number of tea bags varies according to taste, but the rule of thumb is one tea bag for two cups of tea.
4. Put the lid on the teapot and allow tea to steep for two to four minutes, again depending on taste. Any longer than four minutes and it will get bitter. Any less than two and you might as well just be pouring the water over a teabag in a cup. (Who on earth makes tea like that? Sheesh!!)
5. This is important enough to warrant its own step: do not squeeze the teabag or stir the tea to make it stronger. It will certainly make it stronger, but it will also make it bitter.
6. Pour steeped tea into a teacup. (Purists say the cup requires a saucer. My only requirement is that it be the right size. I often use coffee mugs for this. My grandmother would be spinning in her grave at that admission, but there you have it.)
7. Add sugar, milk, or lemon juice to taste. (Note: cream does not appear in that list, nor does whitener. Cream overpowers the flavour and brings out every last bitter note in the tea. It's just gross. Nothing heavier than 2% is acceptable for a good cuppa.) Certain flavours of tea require less of these items than others. I do not, for example, put milk in Earl Grey. I put extra milk in Chai.)
8. Drink when it is just cool enough not to burn your tongue.

Warning: do not use leftover tea by warming it up in the microwave. It will be black as tar and very bitter. The only acceptable uses for cold tea are watering African Violets and staining paper for history projects. It works very well for both of these, though.

So there you have it. Velvet's English Black Tea Method, from a second-gen British emmigrant.

Comments

[jadecat.livejournal.com]

Huh... When I was in Ireland (eons ago. *sigh*) I gres to like tea... then I came home and discovered I no longer liked it. I think I have now, thanks to your illuminating post, figured out why. In Ireland I was adding milk and sugar. Here I was using creamer and sugar...

And woe is me, we have *niether* kettle NOR teapot! When the Beau and I joined homes we discovered that we had both been dependent on roommates having those items. So now we have none.

Oh and coffee... I've taken a liking too- IF it has enough cream and sugar in it. And by that I mean a LOT of both. And I'm a sugar person, none of that fake stuff. ;) Anyhow, what I really like to do is take a packet of hot chocolate and add coffee to it instead of hot water- instant Mocha. :)

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

That's probably the reason. That, and not brewing it correctly. I know very few Americans (jinzi is one) who do it correctly.

A decent electric kettle should cost less than $30, but if you can't find one, try hopping the border some weekend. You can get them at any discount department store for $30 cdn, and teapots are everywhere.

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

Creamer? DEAR GHOD! Vade retro rotten white powder in a packet. I went on a residential course years (about 19 years actually) ago and found myself provided with this vile creamer muck. So I went out and bought a pint bottle of milk. Now as the older ones amongst us will know, if you haven't got a fridge in the room (and Marconi College didn't) milk will stay cool and fresh if stood in water half way up the bottle. A damp (clean yech) handkerchief draped over the bottle wicks up the water and cools by evaporation.
I would come back after classes to find the water drained, the handkerchief neatly folded and dry, and the bottle of rancid milk stinking on the draining board.
That's why I got into drinking coffee black (sorry, without creamer). I drink most things without creamer.

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

WHUFF! just noticed. Milk is added to coffee...
but with tea, we natives pour the milk into the mug/cup then pour in the hot tea. This reduces the temperature to a pleasntly hot from *ACK MY TONGUES PEELING!*

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

As was just pointed out to me elsewhere, the reason people started pouring the milk in first was because Victorian china was of such poor quality that the cup might shatter if hot liquid were poured in directly. The milk cooled it down enough to prevent that. Nowadays, pouring the milk in afterward will have the same effect.

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

Seen it (excellent work) but frankly don't give it much credence. Been milking first all m'life, nearly half a century of excellent tea....

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

That's a good trick to know. I'm going to file that one away.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

This reminds me - you don't live that far from us at the moment. When are you coming to visit and meet my little angel?

[jadecat.livejournal.com]

Hmm, perhaps sometime this summer? Or, the beau and I are talking about taking a honeymoon weekend in Toronto (in October likely, posibly November)- so we'll be much closer and will perhaps intrude. :)