how to make tea in britain

Mark Alexander
Mark Alexander Posts: 2,277
edited December 2007 in The bottom bracket
Right, there seems to be a dis-agreement in our office and it got me thinking as it's a british institution...
How do you takwe your tea?
are different schools of thought on this to piut the milk in first with the bag or afterwards once the tea has brewed?
Do we warm the pot or use bags?
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www.ogmorevalleywheelers.co.uk

10TT 24:36 25TT: 57:59 50TT: 2:08:11, 100TT: 4:30:05 12hr 204.... unfinished business
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Comments

  • cee
    cee Posts: 4,553
    As far as I am concerned, the 'regulation' tea is made by.....

    Teabag in cup with only just boiled water.....it is important not to muck about too much after the kettle has boiled. Literally just boiled is best.

    A good stir and leave to brew for a minute or three.

    Another stir and squeeze the bag when removing it from the cup.

    Add the sugar (1 is enough for me thanks) and stir until properly disolved.

    Just a splash of milk right at the end.

    Yer Teas oot :D
    Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I believe in the future of the human race.

    H.G. Wells.
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,673
    warm pot or mug. leaves or bags but milk always last.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • Shadowduck
    Shadowduck Posts: 845
    Definitely milk in afterwards... Warm the pot if you're using one but most importantly, the water has to be still boiling when it hits the tea!

    I don't drink the stuff much myself (coffee or peppermint tea for me), which allows me to take an objective view of the preferences of the multitude of tea addicts surrounding me. 8)
    Even if the voices aren't real, they have some very good ideas.
  • vermooten
    vermooten Posts: 2,697
    Milk in with bag? Are you crazy????????????
    You just have to ride like you never have to breathe again.

    Manchester Wheelers
  • CHRISNOIR
    CHRISNOIR Posts: 1,400
    This is why I refuse to make tea in the workplace; too many variables involved in the whole process. Coffee is easy (milk in before water or you are officially Satan).
  • Shadowduck
    Shadowduck Posts: 845
    CHRISNOIR wrote:
    Coffee is easy (milk in before water or you are officially Satan).
    Milk in before the water? Doesn't that make the cafetiere a bit difficult to clean? :P
    Even if the voices aren't real, they have some very good ideas.
  • portuguese mike
    portuguese mike Posts: 695
    cee wrote:
    As far as I am concerned, the 'regulation' tea is made by.....

    Teabag in cup with only just boiled water.....it is important not to muck about too much after the kettle has boiled. Literally just boiled is best.

    A good stir and leave to brew for a minute or three.

    Another stir and squeeze the bag when removing it from the cup.

    Add the sugar (1 is enough for me thanks) and stir until properly disolved.

    Just a splash of milk right at the end.

    Yer Teas oot :D

    ooooh no, cardinal sin, it squeezes out excess tannins and impurities (or something).
    Actually i should stay out of this as i don't really like tea (and i'm only half british for that matter).
    pm
  • CHRISNOIR
    CHRISNOIR Posts: 1,400
    Shadowduck wrote:
    CHRISNOIR wrote:
    Coffee is easy (milk in before water or you are officially Satan).
    Milk in before the water? Doesn't that make the cafetiere a bit difficult to clean? :P

    Eh oop lads, the middle-classes have arrived...

    :wink:
  • cee
    cee Posts: 4,553
    portuguese mike wrote:
    cee wrote:
    As far as I am concerned, the 'regulation' tea is made by.....

    Teabag in cup with only just boiled water.....it is important not to muck about too much after the kettle has boiled. Literally just boiled is best.

    A good stir and leave to brew for a minute or three.

    Another stir and squeeze the bag when removing it from the cup.

    Add the sugar (1 is enough for me thanks) and stir until properly disolved.

    Just a splash of milk right at the end.

    Yer Teas oot :D

    ooooh no, cardinal sin, it squeezes out excess tannins and impurities (or something).
    Actually i should stay out of this as i don't really like tea (and i'm only half british for that matter).

    Aye but rather that than a cuppa thats clinging to the sides for support :D
    Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I believe in the future of the human race.

    H.G. Wells.
  • CHRISNOIR
    CHRISNOIR Posts: 1,400
    CHRISNOIR wrote:
    Shadowduck wrote:
    CHRISNOIR wrote:
    Coffee is easy (milk in before water or you are officially Satan).
    Milk in before the water? Doesn't that make the cafetiere a bit difficult to clean? :P

    Eh oop lads, the middle-classes have arrived...

    A cafetiere would provoke howls of outrage in this office. They'd beat me to death with their copies of 'Heat' magazine...

    :wink:
  • Shadowduck
    Shadowduck Posts: 845
    CHRISNOIR wrote:
    CHRISNOIR wrote:
    Shadowduck wrote:
    CHRISNOIR wrote:
    Coffee is easy (milk in before water or you are officially Satan).
    Milk in before the water? Doesn't that make the cafetiere a bit difficult to clean? :P

    Eh oop lads, the middle-classes have arrived...

    A cafetiere would provoke howls of outrage in this office. They'd beat me to death with their copies of 'Heat' magazine...

    :wink:
    Who's tha callin' middle class? Ahm just down t'road frem thee in Oldham, thi daft bugger. Me cafetiere's on t'desk next t' me - it were good enough fer me fatha, and me fatha's fatha, so it's bloody well good enough fer me 'n too bloody good fer thee!

    Anyroad up, what kind o' nancy puts milk in t'brew o' coffee?
    Even if the voices aren't real, they have some very good ideas.
  • spen666
    spen666 Posts: 17,709
    Milk?

    In tea or coffee?


    How strange
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  • CHRISNOIR
    CHRISNOIR Posts: 1,400
    Shadowduck wrote:
    CHRISNOIR wrote:
    CHRISNOIR wrote:
    Shadowduck wrote:
    CHRISNOIR wrote:
    Coffee is easy (milk in before water or you are officially Satan).
    Milk in before the water? Doesn't that make the cafetiere a bit difficult to clean? :P

    Eh oop lads, the middle-classes have arrived...

    A cafetiere would provoke howls of outrage in this office. They'd beat me to death with their copies of 'Heat' magazine...

    :wink:
    Who's tha callin' middle class? Ahm just down t'road frem thee in Oldham, thi daft bugger. Me cafetiere's on t'desk next t' me - it were good enough fer me fatha, and me fatha's fatha, so it's bloody well good enough fer me 'n too bloody good fer thee!

    Anyroad up, what kind o' nancy puts milk in t'brew o' coffee?

    Good shout, lad! What tha needs ter know here is ahm dealin' wi' them there Mancs. Rum bunch...
  • batch78
    batch78 Posts: 1,320
    Cee's got it spot on in my opinion and i'm a soft southern pooftah! Now if one would please be so kind as to speak in English we may proceed with the discussion!!! :lol:
  • Shadowduck
    Shadowduck Posts: 845
    batch78 wrote:
    Cee's got it spot on in my opinion and i'm a soft southern pooftah! Now if one would please be so kind as to speak in English we may proceed with the discussion!!! :lol:
    [translation mode]

    We are merely promulgating our esoteric dialect to the benighted southern proletariat, old boy. We are unequivocally not culpable for your linguistic indigence which stymies all civilised discourse outside your restricted argot.

    [/translation mode]
    Even if the voices aren't real, they have some very good ideas.
  • Clever Pun
    Clever Pun Posts: 6,778
    milk in last... for both tea and coffee.

    I add milk after pouring from the caffatiere.

    obviously milk goes nowhere near my espresso blend coffee
    Purveyor of sonic doom

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  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    oooh we use bags and the milk goes in after the water of course ......
  • batch78
    batch78 Posts: 1,320
    Cheers Shadowduck. And some say wit doesn't work via text I may well still be chuckling this evening or perhaps even tomorrow
  • Shadowduck
    Shadowduck Posts: 845
    I aim to please. :D
    Even if the voices aren't real, they have some very good ideas.
  • enjoy_the_ride
    enjoy_the_ride Posts: 49
    If in doubt check out the UK Tea Council's advise what what :

    http://www.tea.co.uk/index.php?pgId=11

    Only boil the water once. Milk, if taken, is added last and make sure you get the brew time right (up to 7 minutes for you Oolong drinkers :shock: ).
  • shockedsoshocked
    shockedsoshocked Posts: 4,021
    Tea is brewed until it's like stew, then added to a cup (preferably about pint sized) which already has the milk in.

    Make new pot of tea roughly every half an hour (I think my family is addicted).
    "A cyclist has nothing to lose but his chain"

    PTP Runner Up 2015
  • penugent
    penugent Posts: 913
    Just before the kettle boils, put some of the contents in the mug to warm it. Let the kettle boil, empty water from mug, drop teabag in mug, add freshly boiled water, brew for 3mins then remove bag and add a small amount of milk. :D

    Freshly boiled water is supposed to be more oxygenated and apparently that helps the brewing. The habit of putting milk in the cup first is supposed to date back to the use of fine china cups when people wished to avoid cracking them by putting boiling water straight in. Don't know if there is any truth in either suggestion. :?
  • ContrelaMontre
    ContrelaMontre Posts: 3,027
    We've had this debate many times before (at C+ at least) and I'm a staunch tea first advocate, but in a previous debate I was directed to the Royal Society of Chemistry which claimed that it should be milk first to avoid curdling.

    The explanation that if you do milk first it will never get hotter than the final temperature, but if you do milk last the first few drops will get very hot and curdle. Clear?

    You've got to make the tea in a pot though. Tea bag in cold milk, eeww!
    Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster
  • Lord of the Teapot
    Lord of the Teapot Posts: 1
    Some people have no idea... Some do :D
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,673
    Lord of the Teapot wrote:
    Some people have no idea... Some do :D

    So what is the definitive answer then Lord Pot?
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • ean
    ean Posts: 98
    In a stainless steel pot (no warming required). Tea (bag or loose) in pot followed by boiling water. Milk in mug followed by suitably brewed tea.
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  • ContrelaMontre
    ContrelaMontre Posts: 3,027
    ean wrote:
    In a stainless steel pot (no warming required). Tea (bag or loose) in pot followed by boiling water. Milk in mug followed by suitably brewed tea.

    WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!

    The pot must, absolutely must, be warmed. If you had any idea about physics you would understand the cooling curve of water. By not warming the pot the water cools below optimum temperature. Fool.

    Secondly, put the bags or leaves in after the water - it's supposed to infuse, not be bashed and bruised by pouring straight onto it. Silly child.

    Tea in the mug first, otherwise you have the problem of potentially too milky tea as you can't judge how much you need. Imbecile.

    There I feel better.
    Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster
  • jimmythecuckoo
    jimmythecuckoo Posts: 4,719
    Lord of the Teapot wrote:
    Some people have no idea... Some do :D
    I can't believe someone would register a username solely for that post :lol:
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  • ContrelaMontre
    ContrelaMontre Posts: 3,027
    I wonder who the Lord of the Teapot is then....

    hmmmmm...


    Do you know Jimmy? :lol:
    Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster
  • dunnnooo
    dunnnooo Posts: 900
    ContrelaMontre wrote:
    ean wrote:
    In a stainless steel pot (no warming required). Tea (bag or loose) in pot followed by boiling water. Milk in mug followed by suitably brewed tea.

    WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!

    The pot must, absolutely must, be warmed. If you had any idea about physics you would understand the cooling curve of water. By not warming the pot the water cools below optimum temperature. Fool.

    Secondly, put the bags or leaves in after the water - it's supposed to infuse, not be bashed and bruised by pouring straight onto it. Silly child.

    Tea in the mug first, otherwise you have the problem of potentially too milky tea as you can't judge how much you need. Imbecile.

    There I feel better.

    NO! LIGHTWEIGHT!

    The pot should not be warmed, as there should not be time for it to cool down between the last lot of tea and the current one. And tea bags, at least five, should go in before the water, so you get the maximum possible flavour. And the first pot of the day goes to the boss, of course. Muppet.
    I'd give my right hand to be ambi-dextrous

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