This is how it goes, right, listen up, you get this once, after that you're on your own.

There's two main factors in tea taste impairment: the temp of the water when it hits the tea leaves, and the chance of scalding the milk if you pour it into hot water. The most important by far is the temperature of the water when it hits the tea.

So, if you're making tea straight into a mug with a tea bag, if you add milk first your dramatically reducing the temp of the water before it hits the teabag. Even a few degrees below boiling is enough to make a difference. If you insist on adding milk first, then you would actually be better off putting the milk in, adding the boiling water, then dunking the teabag in until it was a strong as you required.

However, far better when making tea straight in the mug is to add the milk last. That way you have boiling water right onto the tea leaves. I also swill almost boiling water round in the mug (and then chuck it in the sink) before putting the tea bag in to raise the temp of the mug itself. Sure you risk scalding the milk, but far better that than make tea with 90 degrees C water (or whatever - water that's well off the boil)

Neither of these methods are as likely to make good tea as making it in a teapot, however. If you make tea in a pot you can warm the pot first, ensuring that the water that hits the tea leaves is as hot as possible. You can also add the milk into the mug first, meaning that the chances of scalding the milk are much reduced.

None of this is class based predjudice, it's pure unadulterated scientific fact, proved by men and women with pens and double-blind controlled experiments.

Posted By: Arizona Bay on November 20th 2007 at 16:58:49

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