How do you make tea?

[StephenH]

And what brand do you use?
This is a spin-off from the Breakfast thread, where I wrote:

'Yorkshire' Tea by Taylor's of Harrogate, the loose-leaf version, made in a two-pint pot using four rounded teaspoonfuls, which is pretty darn strong, because 'Yorkshire' is a strong blend in the first place, and brewed for a full five minutes by the timer.

To expand: I'm a stickler for doing it the proper way when it comes to tea - loose-leaf, not bags, and emphatically not made in the mug; warm the pot and pour the water on while it's boiling; use one rounded teaspoonful per half-pint mug (i.e. four in a standard two-pint pot, filled to the brim); let it brew, under a tea-cosy, for a full, timed five minutes; then drink with milk and sugar to taste (I have one level teaspoonful: I've tried giving up sugasr in tea many times, but I can't keep it up).

[TEB]

It all depends on the tea and the result that you want from it, at the moment I am into Oolong and Oolong Ti Dung, Oolong needs about 4 -5 minutes and the Ti Dung about 2 - 3 minutes, other times my favourite is Vietmanese Organic first blush black tea and this is brewed for 4 - 5 minutes. I use fresh drawn water poured over the tea leaves while still on a rolling boil with the pot being warmed beforehand, I use a cup and add milk or lemon and sugar depending on the variety of tea.

PS when the OH makes me a mug of tea she bungs a teabag into a mug with water that is usually been reboiled, waits about a nano second then whips out the tea bag

[Nicos]

All depends on time of day and how busy I am!

Normal cuppa for me is ...2 large mugs, 1 teabag ( Yorkshire or Lakeland) dibble bag around in each one for a minute or so then add a big slosh of fresh milk.
Yum!...first one consumed hot/warm...second one warm/cool

repeated about 4 times a day!

I enjoy herbal teas in the evening- homemade or bought- with no milk
And on rare occasions I love a cuppa of loose tea brewed in a warm pot..lapsang or earl grey or gunpowder or green tea.
Leave a few mins- but not stewed then pour into a china cup ( with saucer) with a dash of milk waiting in the bottom. No sugar....yummy with a slice ( or two)of homemade cake infront of the open fire on a rainy Sunday afternoon!

(TEB...I'd enjoy having a cuppa with your OH!!!)

[TEB]

All depends on time of day and how busy I am!

Normal cuppa for me is ...2 large mugs, 1 teabag ( Yorkshire or Lakeland) dibble bag around in each one for a minute or so then add a big slosh of fresh milk.
Yum!...first one consumed hot/warm...second one warm/cool

repeated about 4 times a day!

I enjoy herbal teas in the evening- homemade or bought- with no milk
And on rare occasions I love a cuppa of loose tea brewed in a warm pot..lapsang or earl grey or gunpowder or green tea.
Leave a few mins- but not stewed then pour into a china cup ( with saucer) with a dash of milk waiting in the bottom. No sugar....yummy with a slice ( or two)of homemade cake infront of the open fire on a rainy Sunday afternoon!

(TEB...I'd enjoy having a cuppa with your OH!!!)

It maybe an old wife's tale but the reason I heard why people put milk into the cup after the tea was because the cups being of fine bone china would crack when adding hot liquid to cold.

[Nicos]

hmmm..that's interesting!...I know there are 2 very different views on that- I just do what my parents did.

If I'm using a tea bag though, the milk goes in afterwards cos I've notced that thefat in the milk seems to slow down or block the tea from effusing as well through the actual bag.

[Bren In Pots]

And what brand do you use?

We use Co-op loose leaf tea and have done for the last 36 years it's made in a china tea pot and brewed under a tea cosy for 4 minutes, milk in first but no sugar.

When we're camping its Co-op tea bags but still made in a stainless steel pot.

[zazen999]

It maybe an old wife's tale but the reason I heard why people put milk into the cup after the tea was because the cups being of fine bone china would crack when adding hot liquid to cold.

Why would bone china crack when adding hot liquid to cold? Surely it would crack when adding hot liquid to the cup without the milk?

[jackie j]

Tea bag ( tesco ) in a mug, pour on hot water stir and squeeze,take out tea bag add milk and sweetner, I can and should leave out the sweetner.

[bubblewrap]

I never drink tea.

[Liza]

Ti Dung

Bleuurgh

[valmarg]

Why would bone china crack when adding hot liquid to cold? Surely it would crack when adding hot liquid to the cup without the milk?

It was the old 'upstairs downstairs' thing.

If you were 'upstairs' you poured the hot tea into the cups, and added the milk. The cups were bone china and completely heat resistant.

If you were 'downstairs' the cups were made of pot, and if you poured the hot tea into them they would craze, therefore milk in first.

It may well be an urban myth, but it is an explanation.

Personally on the very odd occasion I have tea I do prefer to make it in a pot, and use the 'upstairs' method, because if you put the milk in first, you get a horrid scummy surface to the tea. Doesn't change the tase, it just looks better.

valmarg

[zazen999]

Why would bone china crack when adding hot liquid to cold? Surely it would crack when adding hot liquid to the cup without the milk?

If you were 'upstairs' you poured the hot tea into the cups, and added the milk. The cups were bone china and completely heat resistant.

If you were 'downstairs' the cups were made of pot, and if you poured the hot tea into them they would craze, therefore milk in first.

Yeah - I know the reasoning... The explanation that bone china would crack adding hot liquid to cold was what I was questioning, not the bone china itself......

[binley100]

Get mug, pour in a little semiskimmed, pop in teabag (tesco's common or garden) pour on boiling water, stir till right colour take out tbag....... don't like it too milky or too strong. Make tea this way at work and everyone says I make a great cuppa. Can't say I've ever noticed a scummy surface....

[valmarg]

Yeah - I know the reasoning... The explanation that bone china would crack adding hot liquid to cold was what I was questioning, not the bone china itself......

Well, it wouldn't would it.

valmarg

[binley100]

If you were 'downstairs' the cups were made of pot, and if you poured the hot tea into them they would craze, therefore milk in first.



valmarg

I guess I'm just a downstairs kinda gal......