Thursday 14 November 2019

What's wrong with leaving the tea bag in the cup?

Boris Johnson got grief for doing this, but as he says himself, "‘This really is how I make my tea. ‘It lets it brew and makes it stronger."

I usually pour in the milk before removing the bag so that I can see whether it looks strong enough; if  it doesn't, I leave the bag in and take it out when it does (or add more hot water and milk). I also do it if there's no spoon handy or tea bags are running low.

Putting milk in first before the hot water, now that is weird.

4 comments:

Bayard said...

Years ago, I conducted a test, making a cup of tea with boiling water and then one with water that had stopped boiling for 30 seconds or so. I found the first cup of tea much nicer, so now I never put the milk in my tea while the tea bag is in the mug, as this lowers the temperature and hence makes the tea taste less good.

Mark Wadsworth said...

B, sure, you have to pour on the water as soon as it is boiled, I've made the same ohservation. But it's the first few seconds that count.

Having posted this, I made a cuppa, left the bag in, drank it with bag still in, and an hour later I poured more boiling water onto the tea bag, second cuppa was also fine.

James James said...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_tasting_tea

Bayard said...

Mark, was that black tea? Another thing I hate is when people put the milk in with the tea bag and then add boiling water. Not only do you get inferior tea, but you also get milk that tastes as if its been boiled, like UHT. Which is fine if you like UHT, but I hate it.