Milk in Tea, first or last?

antdad

antdad

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I used to be a last man now I'm a first fundamentalist...I do get regular compliments about my tea.

This is my method...for 3 mugs or less using bags. If I'm making for more then I use a pot.

Heat mugs with hot water. Ditch water.
Add milk, place bag in mug, fill half mug with HW.
Allow to steep for a minute or two then top up with fresh boiling water.
Allow to steep for another , give a gentle stir don't squeeze the life out of the bag.
I'm in a hard water area and milk in first means no scum for me.


<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/jun/25/science.highereducation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/jun/2 ... reducation</a><!-- m -->
 
Nope - tea is made always in a pot (using loose leaf), water first - otherwise it's not possible to get a high enough temperature to let the tea infuse rapidly enough (at least, not if you want to end up with a warm cup of tea at the end of it all).

Then strained in to a cup with the milk in (I think the original reason for that was so the hot tea didn't cause the bone china to shatter in 'ye olden days')

You cannot do that with a teabag in a cup....
 
Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall:

"Look at the way I make and drink my tea. For years I was open to suggestions. I'd have it strong or weak, with or without milk or sugar, hot, tepid or even cold. And I honestly wasn't bothered whether it was English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Lapsang Souchong or builders'.

That's all changed. Now, to make my tea, I need two good-sized mugs. I boil the kettle. The hot water goes into one mug first, stays for a few seconds so the mug is heated, then goes into the second mug. The tea bag goes into the first, hot, mug, boiling water is poured in, to within a couple of millimetres of the top, and the two mugs, one containing brewing tea, and the other containing hot water, are left to stand. After about five minutes, the mug of brewed tea is placed in the sink, where some new hot water (freshly re-boiled) from the kettle, is sloshed into it, so it overflows by about half a mug. This is to stop the well-brewed tea being too strong. The full-to-overflowing mug is now tilted a little bit, so it spills out enough tea to allow room for some milk.

Remember the second mug, full of the hot (now not so hot, but still quite hot) water that was used to warm the first mug? That is now emptied. The tea bag is fished out from the first 'brewing' mug, and placed in the bottom of the empty 'warm' mug, where a small splash of milk is poured over it. The effect of the hot tea bag, and still-warm mug, is to take the chill off the milk - and impregnate it with a mild tea flavour. To encourage both these objectives, the mug is picked up and swirled, put down for a few seconds, picked up and swirled again, and left to stand for a short while longer. The tea-coloured, warm milk is now poured from tea-bag mug to brew mug, which is given a stir.

The resulting colour is observed. A little more milk may be necessary, in which case it will go via the still-warm tea bag mug, into the brew mug. When the colour is exactly right, I will stir in exactly one rounded teaspoonful of golden caster sugar. The tea, which at this point is still far too hot to drink, will now be left to stand for at least five minutes, before a sip is attempted.

Incidentally, my tea of choice is Clipper's Organic, and has been for some years now. Ridgeways Fair Trade is an acceptable alternative, and in other people's houses 'breakfast' teas, 'afternoon' teas and big brand builders' teas are always preferable to varietals. I no longer drink Earl Grey, ever. I sometimes drink Lapsang Souchong, but only after four o'clock." :eek:
 
hunnymonster said:
I never have just one cup...
Click to expand...

I have a mug that SWMBO bought me when we started seeing each other. It's from the disney store and has Grumpy from the Seven Dwarves on it and it says "Feeling Grumpy Day"............. however it holds about 2 mugs worth of tea. Thats how much tea I'll drink in one sitting, coffee goes in a smaller mug.

I do genuinely see the point in a pot I like to let my tea stew for a while......... back on point though, Im a milk last guy. Strong tea, no sugar.

P.S. Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall can shove his 2 mugs and timewasting up his arse................ along with a freerange for good measure ;)
 
I agree. Milk never goes in first. It cools the water down and the tea doesn't brew properly, I believe. I think that's the chemistry of it.

But then, I'm a physicist by degree, so what do know. Also, I drink coffee, never drink tea, can't abide the stuff. :D

I'll get my coat...
 
I was just starting to like this place and now I find you all arguing about when you put milk in tea! You put milk in tea? :shock:

Drinking some gyokuro at the moment. No idea where my camera is but this should give an idea of my front room:

Anxi%20Winter%20Huang%20Jin%20Gui.JPG
 
Proinsias said:
You put milk in tea?
Click to expand...

A fair point actually. Recently it was my mother-in-law's 70th birthday, and we took her for afternoon tea at some hotel in London. I felt on this occasion I would have to drink tea, and not being in any way knowledgeable about the subject, I went for Earl Grey (cos that's what Jean Luc Picard drinks). I declined the milk though. It seemed like a sin.
 
Apropos nothing, I was taking afternoon tea, with my late aunt in the Ritz in "that London" when I was about 8 or 9 and I spotted "James Bond" at another table. I excitedly told my aunt that "James Bond is over there" in that stage whisper that young kids always use... I was given a "clip round the ear" and told to stop being silly.

About 20 minutes later "James Bond" got up and left. Then he popped back around the corner and said to my aunt, resting his hand on her shoulder, "Actually madam, he's quite right, I am James Bond", tipped his hat and Roger Moore left the room for the second time :mrgreen:

Other than my aunt's embarrassment, the only things I can clearly remember are that the cakes were tiny and the glass of milk I was drinking wasn't cold.
 
Blyth Spirit said:
Seriously Dave, was it decent stuff in a good hotel? Do they give high quality with high cost? Often wondered.

It would have looked a tad iffy if you'd asked for a pint of builders p**s, stewed in t'mug, with the crumpets.

:shock:
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We went because it was my mother-in-law's 70th, she wanted all the family together and we wanted to mark the occasion in some special way. Would I ordinarily have forked out £29.99 for tea and sandwiches with the crusts cut off? No. But this was a little posh, the waiters and waitresses were gracious and didn't make you feel uncomfortable, the tea was okay (I wanted lemon to squeeze in it but couldn't see any!), the sandwiches were very nice and they offered to bring more, then we had scones and cream and jam (really nice), and then a selection of pastries. I'm not much of a "pastries" person (more of a pasties person, haha), but these were very good.

The food and tea wasn't worth £29.99, but the occasion was. It's worth pointing out that there were three menu options, that being the lowest priced. The next one up you got a glass of champagne. This wasn't The Ritz, and there was no Roger Moore (a group of attractive young ladies turned up at the next table while we were eating though), but it was a pleasant experience at an affordable price, I thought.
 
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