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

[hillarygayle.livejournal.com]

I do wonder if I'm "Nameless", seeing as how I discovered milk in tea this week. However, I've not been using cream: I've not been using ANYTHING. I was drinking it with sweetener only--no milk or cream at all. Milk definitely adds some complexity!

I'm very proud to say that according to your steps, I'm doing it right! Yay! On the other hand, I DO squeeze the bag...I'll have to cut that out. You are correct; it does add bitterness. Except at work, we have mugs, hot water in the cooler, and tea bags. So I stick a tea bag in the cup and get hot water from the cooler. Blasphemous, but fast.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how few people know about the squeezing.

What drove me nuts was when my ex (and this was in LONDON, so you cant blame it on him being American), and even some stores/cafes, would put the milk in first and let the teabag sit in the milk whilst waiting for the kettle to boil.

One place that did make nice tea had sort of a pitcher of concentrate they made, and they would then add more hot water to it. A very busy cafe.

[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. :)

[anidada.livejournal.com]

What?! You don't warm the teapot first?! ;D

I was utterly amazed when Martha Stewart showed how to make a proper pot of tea on her show one day. I watched in disbelief as she said "I like to warm the teapot, first" -- because seriously, I thought everyone did that (in any case, warming a teapot is not a Martha invention!!!). More to the point, I figured anyone who drinks tea knows how to make a pot of it... but obviously not.

But that probably comes from being not-too-far-removed from the Old Country -- Scots drink as much tea as the English, that's for sure!

[athelind.livejournal.com]

I need to pick up a proper teapot from one of the local Asian restaraunt supply places. Ah, the joys of living in the SF Bay Area.

I should note that "cold tea" is not the same thing as "iced tea", which stems from an entirely different cultural tradition than Hot Tea.

[stripedsocks.livejournal.com]

I shared this post with an Irish friend of mine who is quite the tea fiend. He felt compelled to write his own tea directions. May I direct your attention here? (http://www.livejournal.com/users/moogintroll/22489.html)

Just don't be drinking your tea while you read it. ^____^