I’m leaving my coffee days behind and going strictly to tea drinking. Anyone tell me the accepted English ritual? Milk first or last etc. etc.? Ta, pip pip and all that, eh?

However they dam well please though seriously do use a tea kettle.

Most people just pour boiling water over a teabag, swirl it about a bit, take it out and then add milk. Other might use a pot and chuck a few teabags in it. But they are all very wrong… Heat pot for a couple of minutes with boiling water, then pour it out. Add the right amount of leaves Add boiling water Leave for the correct time for the tea (time it, no guessing!) Pour tea over the milk in a heated cup Repeat hourly Cake or biscuits are optional If you can find Mrs Beeton’s Household Management anywhere that should be definitive.

Found it! TO MAKE TEA. 1814. There is very little art in making good tea; if the water is boiling, and there is no sparing of the fragrant leaf, the beverage will almost invariably be good. The old-fashioned plan of allowing a teaspoonful to each person, and one over, is still practised. Warm the teapot with boiling water; let it remain for two or three minutes for the vessel to become thoroughly hot, then pour it away. Put in the tea, pour in from 1/2 to 3/4 pint of boiling water, close the lid, and let it stand for the tea to draw from 5 to 10 minutes; then fill up the pot with water. The tea will be quite spoiled unless made with water that is actually ‘boiling’, as the leaves will not open, and the flavour not be extracted from them; the beverage will consequently be colourless and tasteless,—in fact, nothing but tepid water. Where there is a very large party to make tea for, it is a good plan to have two teapots instead of putting a large quantity of tea into one pot; the tea, besides, will go farther. When the infusion has been once completed, the addition of fresh tea adds very little to the strength; so, when more is required, have the pot emptied of the old leaves, scalded, and fresh tea made in the usual manner. Economists say that a few grains of carbonate of soda, added before the boiling water is poured on the tea, assist to draw out the goodness: if the water is very hard, perhaps it is a good plan, as the soda softens it; but care must be taken to use this ingredient sparingly, as it is liable to give the tea a soapy taste if added in too large a quantity. For mixed tea, the usual proportion is four spoonfuls of black to one of green; more of the latter when the flavour is very much liked; but strong green tea is highly pernicious, and should never be partaken of too freely. Time.—2 minutes to warm the teapot, 5 to 10 minutes to draw the strength from the tea. Sufficient.—Allow 1 teaspoonful to each person, and one over. Okay, maybe that isn’t actually how anyone makes tea any more, I think that is a bit like the Russian way.

Adding milk in tea, as usually drunk in Britain, is a custom adopted from India. In India, however, they blame milk in tea on the British owned Indian Tea Association that fostered consumption of Indian grown tea in India to boost revenue. Whoever is responsible it is customary in both India and Britain to add milk to tea. In India its called ‘chai’. The word for milk with tea in Britain is a corruption of ‘chai’ - ‘char’. (Alternatively you could just whack a teabag in a cup and pour on boiling water.) To make a cup of British char using Indian tea - Boil fresh water Warm the teapot with a little of the boiled water Empty teapot of water Add to teapot one teaspoon of tea for each person and one for the pot Add the water and stir Leave for three minutes Strain and serve Add milk or cream and sugar if required The Indian version(s) contains varied spices such as cloves and ginger and includes equal amounts of water and hot milk.

The correct way is with loose tea, but they sell a hell of a lot of PG Tips and Yorkshire in bags, so not everyone does it correctly. English tea bags don’t have strings like American ones, but they make infusers, sort of like tongs made to hold tea bags. If you want to make your guests think you did it the right way just drop a piece of tea leaf into each cup.

Thanks a lot all of you. Neat stuff, I particularly like the Mrs. Beeton recipe, I pretty much do it that way already. As to right ritual for drinking, is there any consensus on milk and sugar before tea in the cup or after? And notice I said cup not mug, perish the thought. And, I always use loose tea, and will continue to do so because that’s just the right way. I find the tea bag flavours the tea in a most disagreeable way. Drank killer coffee black for donkey’s years, but with black tea, I just plain need the milk and sugar. Green I use a Yiking pot and drink it straight, of course. My fav blacks are a Ceylon which I use on it’s own or as a basis for a well-spiced chai, russian caravan, lapsang suchong and assam. I will try her method of a little water to draw the tea before filling the pot. That sounds intriguing.

Milk first in cup, then tea. There’s scientific evidence that’s the best way to have milky tea. Personally I also like raspberry jam as sweetener in black tea, this might be Russian custom.

At the risk of appearing disagreeable, I can only offer my opinion that adding milk first is, nowadays, little more than a ludicrous affectation. In the days when milk was rationed and spoons had been melted down for Spitfires, it was a reasonable modification of the protocol, but now tea should be usually be served without any addition whatever, leaving guests free to add milk, lemon or sugar as they please. This stands even in informal situations where the host has sought and been granted the title of ‘mother’, a title which only confers pouring rights and dominion over the cosy. The corruption of the word ‘chai’ is a possible derivation of ‘char’, but it seems more closely related to the Mandarin chinese word for tea, which is ‘cha’. The Oxford English Dictionary helpfully offers Chinese, Hindustani and Russian as possible sources. But the first use of the word they give is from 1616 which doesn’t rule out an Indian origin, but makes it unlikely. The colloquial expression ‘all the tea in China’ and the use of the word ‘china’ to mean porcelain, suggest China as the more probable origin, as does the botanical history of the plant itself. I do agree that green tea is pernicious, and find it worse than cheese for nightmares.

Green tea is actualy the opposite of pernicious it’s extremely good for your health.

Hardly anyone drinks it black. Purism aside, most of us use boiling water from a kettle onto ordinary domestic blends like Yorkshire, PG or Tetley and add some milk and/or sugar to taste. The key is boiling water which is why most Brits don’t get on with Liptons and hot water as you get in the US. And absolutely no one uses Liptons. Of course there is a sub-set of Earl Grey and various exotic tea drinkers, but in every cafe, with every bacon sandwhich and umpteen times throughout the day its drunk as above. Most Brits never touch green tea from one year to the next. Snuffster. London Bobby (speciality:telling you how to get to Lie-cestershire Square or Windsor Palace (next to Buckingham Castle on Big Ben Street) )

This is all very strange. I havent seen a teapot in years. If we are all so precise about making tea , who the hell is buying all the tea bags? Get a good strong teabag like Yorkshire. Put bread in the toaster. Boil water and pour it on the teabag, leaving about an inch for milk etc. Stir the teabag until tea looks strong enough and remove teabag. The toast is now smoking. Hit the lever on the side of the toaster and catch the hot toast as it springs out. Put your burnt fingers under the cold water tap until the pain eases.Spread butter on toast and pick up marmalade jar. Screw top is jammed. Give up on the idea of toast and marmalade. Add milk and sugar to taste. Use tea to wash down toast. Head out of front door. Ring door bell to get back into house. Find keys and leave house again. Bus queue is impressively long as some dick head has decided to dig up road without telling bus company. Eventually get to tube station and find that there is a delay due to an electrical problem. Finally arrive near to work only to find that the bomb squad have cordoned off the area due to a suspect package. Package is blown up just as some poor sod arrives to see the remains of his laptop fly through the air. Afore mentioned poor sod explains that he put his laptop bag down to answer his cellphone and forgot to pick it up. No sympathy from crowd. Poor sod legs it. Everyone is late except the boss who makes sarcastic remarks and pisses everyone off. Boss hides in toilet until it is safe to come out. And you think we have time to make tea al la Mrs Beaton.Fat chance. Welcome to London.

LMAO priceless London Jack. Where abouts in the capital are you? As for me, I just put a tea bag in cup or extremely large mug (so I don’t have to make another trip to the kettle), pour boiling water into said cup or mug, stir and strain then add milk. Stir and strain against side again till desired strength (I like mine strong enough to stand a spoon in it. Ironically, around the same colour as an Indian chap.) Chuck tea bag in bin, milk in fridge, no sugar; I’m sweet enough ;-). On a side note, milk was only placed in cups first to stop china cups from cracking. Happened to me once or twice actually. Most china now days doesn’t have this problem. Take care chaps. Jonathan.

As one who could be accused of a variety of ludicrous affectations, including the arcane and anachronistic use of nasal snuff, I shall happily continue with my lovely new-found tea ritual. Thanks all. Nice china pot, antique of course, bone china cups. milk and sugar first, loose tea first drawn a la Mrs. Beeton, boiling water out of a copper kettle, good to go. What a wonderful, healthy, tasty way to say good morning to this delightful world we live in. Cheers.

It doesn’t matter how you make tea, it’s still emasculating when compared to coffee. Pause, wait for it? I’m expecting an onslaught of negativity based on this remark, but I’m just playing. I tried to kick coffee using tea a few years ago, but even if I had tea, the caffeine headaches would still come in the afternoon. So, now I have one big cup of french press every day and that’s it.

I’m down with emasculation. I’ll admit at home (where the wife lives) I drink tea. I use a much more streamlined technique then all of you all. I fill a mug with water then throw a tea bag in, shove it in the microwave…done! I don’t even take the bag out most of the time. Rarely I use honey or agave nectar, even more rare milk. The tea? Whatever cheap crap is selling at Ross or the dollar store, mostly green tea stuff. I have been inspired by this forum to get into “real” tea and my wife is always encouraging me in that direction (she must think I’m a Brit) but if I’m going to put any effort in it will likely be in the direction of coffee.

Its only popuar culture that Brits “own” tea. The Irish drink more (sadly mostly the milky British way) and the East Frisian Islanders drink the most in the world. Dutch, Germans, Danes, French, Poles, Russians, etc, all have great tea cultures which are sadly usually forgotten in our Anglo biased society. Then the East! Wow! So much tea culture in Asia… one can barely find the time to experience them all. China, Tawain, Japan, Thailand, India/Pakistan…the central Asian cultures, the Arabian cultures, which leads to Moroccan, Egyptian and eventually Turkish, and by then you are back in Europe. Coffee, Yerba Mate, Rooibos, Cocoa, are all good from time to time, but tea is forever with me!

@wildwilliam: dump the copper kettle in the dust bin. Copper is not good for you. Apologies to all the coppers on the forum.

East Frisian Islands

@TC2642: Also I would say the figures are biased. “United Kingdom” includes Northern Ireland so that region cound go either way, and add to one “culture” and subtract from the other. Region can be more precice than nation in these statistics. Which is why I brought up the East Frisian islanders. The Dutch know the West Frisian islands and the mainland of Friesland. It is its own provice with its own language. The Danes and Germans also know the North Frisian Islands, part of which still displays a unique culture, but no nation of its own. The east Frisians are within Germany, but you can read about them in the link above. The Turks consume plenty of proper tea. My own recollection of my visits there and the source cited in you wikipedia article indicate they drink plenty of straight black tea. True, Germans and French take more coffee in general, but that’s not the point. Each has a unique tea culture (totally independent of coffee culture) that is largely forgotton by most North American marketing firms who think by associating tea with Britian, it makes it somehow better and more marketable. I’m not sure if that’s boomeranged over there or vice versa, but I’ve experienced a possesive attitude towards tea from some English people. This belief is perpetuated by popular culture is this country, so keep in mind 90% of Americans are ill-informed (or uninformed) on most things, tea notwithstanding. The nearest place to get a decent cup of tea served to me is actually named “Flavour of Britian” and they sell good tea in tins as well. However, they seem to think that having a good cup of tea requires a lot of frills and pomposity. Well, I guess that’s what you pay for when you go there. We have a new place opened recently, but I have not checked it out yet. On a final note, my personal tea consumption exceeds even the Turkish average! No frills here, mind you!

I"am lucky we have a tea room that has little pomp and just properly makes a great cup of tea. One of the best parts is that their discriptions of diffrent tea types is spot on. Oh the owner is indian and they sell tea from all over the world. Some pretty common some impossible to find.

@ Snuffin. Dont want to be too precise on an open forum, but if you take the junction of Oxford Street, where it meets Tottenham Court Rd and Charring Cross Rd as a reference point, I am about 3 to 4 miles north.

Nachman, you just have to be sure the copper is properly tinned on the inside. But you are right about copper, and especially verdigris.

If it wasn’t for tea Britain would still be a world power. The alleged British tendency to do nothing but sit down and make a cup of tea when with faced with an emergency or a problem is the subject of the 1962 song “Right said Fred”. Here workmen are faced with the challenge of relocating a piano. At every hurdle is the refrain “we was getting nowhere and so we had a cuppa tea.” Needless to say the piano is never shifted, but voluminous numbers of ‘cuppas’ are consumed in the process of achieving naught save wrecking the house. This never would have happened in the days of coffee. The song has more than a ring of truth to it. I’ve never employed an English builder or decorator whose first act upon arrival is not to pour tea from a thermos flask, make himself comfortable on a packing case and ogle the tits on page three of The Sun.

@PhilipS. I always tend to put the kettle on when faced with a problem that I need to think about. I just find it helps. That being said I drink around 5-8 cups of tea a day so it might just be a coincidence.

I’m going to try and find that song. Sounds like a Gong Show effort, surely.

Elemental - Cup Of Brown Joy. 'Nuff said.

@Mittens. Brilliant link.Really enjoyed it

A lot of people have mentioned the need to boil fresh water, but I would add that the water should be cold. Heat it to a boil and use it as soon as it starts boiling. Chuck the rest–never re-use water that’s been boiled already. I like to give the pot a stir after about 2.5 minutes, then I pour out at the 5-minute mark. Of course, this is the southern, upper or middle class method. I’ve heard that some people in Northern England like to boil the leaves with the water to make it “mash” (a.k.a. steep). Indians do that as well, with spices thrown in.

" I’m going to try and find that song. Sounds like a Gong Show effort, surely. " It’s a 1962 song sung by Bernard Cribbins. He was also the cutlery salesman in ‘The Hotel Inspectors’ episode of Fawlty Towers. http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=7452824&song=Right+said+Fred

“I always tend to put the kettle on when faced with a problem that I need to think about. I just find it helps.” Said like Fred :<)

I just get a teabag put it in the cup add a little milk, and sugar then add boiling water. Let it mash for a few minutes (I like my tea strong), take the teabag out and enjoy. Stefan

I used to use a teapot and all, but have gone modern. I put a cup of cold water in the microwave, bring it to a boil,throw in a Yorkshire tea bag , swish it around for a while with tongs, squeeze out the bag and throw it away. Add sugar and milk and drink. Rinse and repeat.

I still insist on having a Brown Betty in the house, but usually just switch on the electric kettle, bung a bag of PG Tips in a cup and wait until the water boils. As far as my snobby side goes, I won’t take tea in anything other than Staffs pottery, because I choose to be difficult.

Thanks Philip.

get loose leaf. Many loose leaf teas are great the second third and the craziest I ever had lasted six brews.

You’re so right bob, I find that is especially true of greens, have in fact read about the Eastern way of doing tea and that is expressly commented on. With the Yixing pots, they even say after awhile you can make a nice pot just by pouring water into an empty vessel.

haven’t tried that yet but now I think I should.

an old school teacher of mine used to use her teabags twice also she would hang the teabags on a piece of string with a clothespeg to dry

I have been known to have a cup of just plain hot water every now and then.

Man today I scored some phat tea. Three bucks plus some change for a lot of high quality green tea. Seriously high grade stuff amazing. At the chinesse grocer. Seriously I think it’s the amount they move so they can sell it cheaper. I’am still in slight shock. Today is a good day.

My Chinese grocer has a nice white tea and a good Lichee black tea. They are both really cheap but really good. Lichee is one of the few flavored teas that really jives with me.

same here the white is a little more pricy then i want to spend atm. got lichees too very tasty fruit and is good with black tea.

@Burbage: “At the risk of appearing disagreeable, I can only offer my opinion that adding milk first is, nowadays, little more than a ludicrous affectation.” Putting the milk in first avoids “denaturation of the milk proteins” according to the Royal Society of Chemistry. “At high temperatures, milk proteins - which are normally all curled up foetus-like - begin to unfold and link together in clumps. This is what happens in UHT [ultra heat-treated] milk, and is why it doesn’t taste as good as fresh milk. It is better to have the chilled milk massed at the bottom of the cup, awaiting the stream of hot tea. This allows the milk to cool the tea, rather than the tea ruinously raise the temperature of the milk”. (How to make a perfect cuppa)

No that is true. Neat I wondered why it did that. As in what the process was.

@bob: If you have Big Lots stores where you’re at in PA, you might try them. They sometimes have premium white teas – closeouts, buy outs, etc.-- at good prices. I’ve gotten all kinds of quality imported brands from those stores. I’m not ashamed to shop there. In fact, I feel good about it.

Yeah love big lots. Nah the tea in the one here sucks really bad. But I love the obscure candies and the fancy and I mean fancy jars of pasta sauces (seriously some high end stuff for cheap). Though seriously they never have good tea at the one here.

The good teas go fast. I check for them whenever I’m there. It’s spotty, but sometimes there are some really good ones.

I can imagine it’s the kind of place where you never really know. There is another store around here like that. Just got some really good olive oil for a few bucks.

A strange phenomina occured when the wives of british army officers in India went to the hills in the summer to avoid the intense heat. Their servants couldnt make a decent cup of tea. It turns out that water boils earlier the higher you are above sea level so if you live in the mountains, you will have trouble making a decent cuppa.

Speaking of cheap teas that are nonetheless delectable, around these parts we have a tea that sells for a bit more than 3 bucks for 227g, whatever that is in American. It’s straight from Ceylon and is a strong and quick liquoring flowery pekoe. With milk and sugar it is my go-to morning pot and I use it for the base of the home-made chai I mix up. Really nice plebian tea for meager shillings.

Spent a few days at an explosives factory in Belgium some years ago. Safety was very strict. No matches, lighters or items with batterys.Tea was freely available but the only coffee was decafinated. Drinking or even being in posession of ordinary coffee lead to instant banning from the site. I was told they were quite happy with the small amount of caffien in tea as it was considered a soothing drink, but that ordinary coffee caused agression. Evidently loosing ones temper and throwing a metallic item could cause a spark, and the resulting explosion removing part of the belgian countryside. Checked with my NATO hosts and they confirmed it. So if you are having a hard day, reach for the teapot!

Tea also has some calming chemicals in it. I forget the name off of the top of my head. Certain green teas have a lot. In fact matcha the powdered green tea has a large amount of this chemical in it. It kind of gets you high not really high but it makes a noticable effect on ones calmness and introspection. So it’s not just the lower caffine level but other factors as well.

Theanine. Even though Tea can be almost as high in Caffeine as Coffee, it’s balanced out by it’s presence. Made the old “I could do with a ‘D’” adverts of years ago, showing a frazzled Housewife mellowing out with a cup more plausible I guess.

From personal experience, I concur with this. I drank strong black coffee in copious amounts for many years. Several months ago health concerns had me switch to tea and have found that amazingly, it is both bracing and calming at the same time. Just wish I’d made the switch long ago. I’ve also found that the average greasy spoon serves horrible char, so I’ve taken to carrying a selection of good tea bags in my car and just ask for a pot of hot water. Interestingly, most establishments oblige quite happily and don’t even charge for the pot. And, before I’m pilloried for using bags after my comments above about the superiority of loose tea, I use the bags so as not to annoy the dishwashers.

I like loose leaf but it doesn’t work very well for travel. The only time I buy tea bags is for when not at home.

^5+ Do you carry them with you most of the time, bob? You guys have got me thinking I might wanna start doing that.

Nah. I tend to have a cup in the morning and a cup in the afternoon after I get back from school.

I carry a couple with me to work sometimes. They serve Tea there, but it’s horrible.

I make the tea ahead and fill a large thermos. It stays hot and lasts through most of the day. A thermos makes working outside in the winter almost fun.

The tibetan tea is considered the lowest of the lows as far as tea quality goes. They use yaks butter and salt to flavor it. Seriously the grade is so low on the type of tea most tibetans drink that although you can buy it in america it will say not for consumption. Then again the Tibetans drink something like 320 ounces of tea a day on average, so as far as tea is concerned quality above quanity I guess.

As someone who lives in the same town as Betty’s (supposedly one of the best tea rooms in the world), since giving up the pop I am just discovering the joys of different loose teas, black, green and white. I have a pint mug that I put a large pinch of tea leaves in, then add almost boiling water (if it is boiling it can bring out a certain bitterness). The tea leaves settle to the bottom, then add lemon or sugar to taste and enjoy. I can get 100g of high quality tea for about the same price as a pint of bitter, and it lasts me about a week.

even the more expensive teas are pretty cheap. The most expensive tea usaly is one you pay someone else to brew for you. I think the most expensive tea I had came out to about a dollar per cup. That was an expensive tea too. So now I have to find out about betty’s tea room (no capatial on betty till I find out a little more.)

@bob Well, if you consider $10,000 for 10 grams of original bush Da Hong Pao cheap, I guess so. Works out to a tad more than a dollar a cup.

Well I’am thinking easily available.

Google Betties (or Betty’s not sure sp.) harrogate and you should find something about them. Think it is about 3.00gbp for tea for 1! And I’m not even going to start about the price of cakes. And the people cuing up outside stretches about 75 yards long - mainly posh grannies, chinese and americans. Still have a great selection of loose teas of all varieties.

Its as posh as you like, but yeah who would que for a 3 quid cuppa. Very english experience you are paying for the atmosphere and surroundings I don’t think it has changed much since the hayday of English spa towns in the victorian age.

Actually Walt, I plumb forgot, but thanks for reminding me, shall make a note and put it next to the kettle right now for the morning. Shant be using Earl G though as I can no longer abide the stuff. Bee Brand Pure Ceylon is my current addiction. And speaking of posh: There’s a famous old hotel on the harbour front in Victoria B.C. that still does British high tea each afternoon. You can’t get in there without a tie on. Years ago it was 10 bucks just for the tea. Can’t imagine what it would be now. Never did it myself, but have been told its pretty good char and the joke in Victoria is that the place is more affectedly English than England. When we first moved there in the late 60’s, they rolled up the streets by 10 pm and the whole downtown was deserted. Nowdays I understand the whole place is pretty lively with street crime and all the other niceties of modern living.

street crimes been around as long as streets.

You weren’t around Victoria in the 60’s:-). Unofficial motto was "Home to newly weds and nearly deads."lol

@wildwilliam: Are you referring to the Empress hotel by any chance ? I haven’t been there myself but a few years ago a friend of mine bought ten bucks worth of charity raffle tickets at the Empress and won a rather nice Triumph TR7 convertible.

One thing I thought was really cool was that when you order takeout from the Chinese restaurant around the corner from me, they send you a couple of oolong tea bags with your food. On my second cup this morning. ~Ken

Yep Brad, the venerable Empress she is. About as synonymous a building with Victoria as the Empire State is with N.Y. Pretty much deserves its reputation in fact, a throwback to Victorian era. Up the street a ways was E.A. Morris, the tobacco shop of my dreams, now sadly gone tourist trap.

I keep all my wife’s used Rooibos teabags, let it dry and then dump it in a tin of parafine. Wondeful fire lighters.

Now there is a quesetion how do people take their rooibos in south africa??? I want to know since I drink it sometimes. I like honeybush much better (yes that is preloaded for the out of context page).

You speak pornographically.

@Steve, try the Earl Gray form Betty’s, it is unreal. You can smell it as soon as they open the jar.

Will do Kunugaa next time I’m in town. Another product made in Harrogate is Taylors Lava Java coffee, it has one of the highest caffeine levels yet remains fairly smooth despite its extra dark roast. I often use the 6 cup espresso machine and pour the lot into my big pint mug. Not that pricy and I think you can buy online if your supermarket doesn’t stock it. May use it to scent some of my own snuff.

A good use for expended teabags was using them as scrubbers to clean your mess tins. Took the carbon right off the bottom where a metal scourer struggled. My training Corporal smiled when demonstrating this and said “If it gets this crap off, wonder what its doing to your insides?” I drink tea (and coffee) NATO, that is slightly milky with sugar. The general rule is that if you ask someone to make you a brew in the Army is that if you dont specify your preference you get the “NATO” standard. My 2p on tea making: Cup put teabag in cup add boiling water quick stir leave to stew for a few minutes to taste remove teabag add milk and sugar to taste. It is a CRIMINAL act to squeeze the teabag against the side of the cup. Makes the tea bitter and horrible in my opinion.

I myself have oh 12 -18 teapots and must say I have been a fan of the stuff for decades. I got started on it when I dated this redhead…uh…I digress. anyhow I personally think that LOOSE tea is a better one than lets say teabags. It can be a bit of a bugger to get out of the teapot, but it is worth it. One thing that really gets me are those folks who use a microwave to heat the water for making a cup…ugh. that tepid water with the white foam on top…no thanks. Favorite teas, constant comment, lipton of course, tetley is good, house brand teas usually are nasty in my humble opinion. Neat hearing about how to do it proper english style and the milk ritual. thanks for sharing that. steve in missouri

So… Microwave water = bad Lipton = good

lipton makes a variety of teas. Includeing loose leaf. I’ve never tried it so having said that can’t comment on the quality at this point.

I’ve never seen Lipton loose leaf, only the dust bags. Even if they did sell it loose, it wouldn’t be at the top of my list.

A pork pie, sausage roll, slice of white bread followed up with a pint of Yorkshire tea and half a Yorkshire curd tart.

Stu90 +1. that’s the way to do it. lo fat too.Ha-ha.

I’ve seen their loose leaf you can tell how much faith I had in it by the fact that I never bought it. It also seemed pretty expensive for what it is.

White foam on top of your water? I don’t think your problem is the microwave. The microwave will BOIL your water a lot faster than a kettle. You have to place a wooden stick in it to break the surface tension, or it will flash when you try to pour it and could scald your face. I use the kettle if I’m making tea for two. Tea for one, and 12oz in the MW takes less than 2 minutes. I keep a chop stick beside my pyrex boiling cup. Glad to see you are still well, Waltmatabilleo.

Waltmatabilleo Awop-bop-a-loo-mop alop bam boom

I’m curious about these crumpets I have heard so much about.

I’ve tried Lipton loose leaf. It’s a slight improvement over the bags, but nothing to shout about. Have been enjoying Stash’s interpretation of English Breakfast of late. It tastes like Twinning’s did many years ago.

Crumpets are a horrid horrid thing. Maybe I had bad crumpets but they seemed like small diameter overcooked pancakes.

Pretty bland, that’s for sure. I’d rather have an English Muffin with my tea.

definatly. There are some foods I suspect are really intended as jokes. Like if we pretend to eat this maybe we can get people in other countries to eat it.

Crumpets are brilliant, and I’ll have nothing bad said about them! A nice cup of tea and a crumpet with lots of butter, fantastic.

@Xander I also thought that was Waltmateobillabong lol. Stefan

I recently sent a lady friend of mine down in the big city some Constant Comment. Subsequently on the phone she told me she served it to a friend and they spent fifteen minutes discussing why it might be called that. Some people eh? I told her naturally and obviously, it’s because folks are constantly commenting on how good it is. I mean really, c’mon eh? Let’s get with the program here. And don’t forget. It was scientifically proven a few pages ago that tea tastes better when you put the milk in first. Nine out of ten taste testers agree…

Milk is good with the proper tea… my wife was drinking jasmine tea with milk yesterday, wtf!?!

Most Brits would never drink tea without milk and mostly its made in the same simple way, boiling (not hot) water on a tea bag in a cup, let it brew, add milk and sugar if liked. People do drink more exotic teas but 99.9% of people drink it like that using Tetley or a couple of other brands. It can be next to impossible to get it like that in other parts of Europe or the States. I stayed at the Wellington in NY and asked for a kettle to be told there was only one in the building and that was used by the janitor for some reason or other. It just doesn’t taste the same with a microwave. It has to be said we can’t make coffee though to be fair!

Boiling water is boiling water whether microwaved, kettle boiled, electic kettle boiled, or boiled in a sacepan. The main thing is that it must be still boiling as it is poured on the tea (green teas excepted of course). Sadly most retaurants and hotels think that if they povide you with a pot of hot water you will be satisfied. That is because they are not tea drinkers. The most important factor in tea making after water quality is heat. This concept is lost on the majority of people. Even many cafés have pressure heaters which they also think is sufficient. Its somewhat better but not quite there. Some of them get it right. There are places to get proper tea in the US, but they are few and far between. I’m sure more Americans would drink tea if they know how good it could be. It does seem to be catching on more and more though now. Also it was scientifically proven that milk ruins tea (and everything else it comes in conact with).

Can anyone tell me why restaurants insist on bringing tea to the table with the tea not yet in the pot? Bad enough they’re using tea bags, but what on earth possesses them to think lukewarm water is appreciated by the customer?

ignorance, nothing more.

actualy I totaly agree that microwaved tea isn’t as good. Has something to do with oxygen I’am told.

True, it will begin to lose oxygen if left in past the boiling point, so don’t overboil. However, you can overboil in a kettle as well.

as long as it’s not co-op tea bags, I will drink it.

@Nachman Funny, you should mention that. Supermarket brands from the UK are sold at exorbitant prices in America. M&S and Sainsbury’s Tea seem to sell reasonably well for a few internet vendors. If you want a good laugh, Google it and see how much THIS rubbish is selling for over here!

It seems that tea is not the only english habit the americans have taken to. According to BBC TV news this morning, english cheese exports have increasad to the US by 15% in the last year. Cheese sandwich with a nice cup of tea to wash it down, anyone?

Sorry, tea is not an English habit. Get over yourself.

Im sure there is no difference between microwaved water and water boiled in a kettle - I meant it doesn’t feel right - its nothing more than a placebo type thing; like having a favourite cup or mug that always ‘makes’ the tea better. And a microwaved cup of water with Liptons tea - which we don’t use - just completes and re-inforces the feeling of it not being very good. These are personal feelings rather than facts. Tea is international, we just drink it differently than a lot people.

@London Jack English Cheese is definitely more available in the States than it was a decade ago. As usual, the prices are somewhat inflated. The cashier at my local Safeway did a double-take at the cost of the small wedge of Huntsman I picked up there recently. Had to justify buying it by making an entire meal with that, a packet of Jacob’s Cream Crackers and a six pack of Beer. (No buyers remorse. It was delicious.) Back on topic, Safeway stopped carrying PG Tips here. I’m now suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

Check Indian groceries, Mr Snuffy, that’s the only place I see it.

@cstokes4 I wish we had one out my way. I’d be buying most of my groceries there if I did.

If you get really desperate, let me know and I can buy it and mail it out there.

Have any of you guys tried Bee Brand tea? Straight from Ceylon in a quaint foil and paper wrapper, marked “Pure Ceylon Tea” and “Flowery Pekoe XXX”. Costs about $3.50. Amazing, smooth, highly flavourful, non-astringent, strong and delicious. It blows away any of the more usually encountered brands like Tetleys, Twinings, Biglelow or any of those. I’ve paid $30 a pound for supposedly high quality teas from Murchie’s and they were no better than this one. If any of you have tried it I’d be very interested in your opinions.