In the Tea time and airport hotels in England thread, Colophon wrote:
Pretty specific about the water temperature. No mention of cream/milk or other additives. I love tea, but have fallen into a long rut of assorted Twinings. I miss this little Chinatown shop with an intoxicating array of leaf teas.
How do you make your tea?
Does it make a difference?
What kind of tea do you drink?
Do you add anything?
I think I’ll make scones for breakfast.
My tea is situational:
I am falling asleep at my desk: Twinings English Breakfast, teabag, no milk or sugar and steeped until it starts to eat through the cup.
Having a break during shopping: Earl Grey, teabag, one sugar and splash of milk, strong. Relaxing.
Setting out to actually enjoy a cup of tea: Harvey Nichols’ Lapsang Souchong, looseleaf, medium strength with just a little sugar and enough milk to colour. Heavenly.
Filtered water does make a difference, I’ve noticed - the local water is so hard here that if the water isn’t filtered you get a light “scum” on top of your tea and it affects the taste.
Scones are nice.
It’s very important to realise that tea is not a complicated beverage that requires a sophisticated approach. It is the simplest of drinks - tea bag plus hot water. Or tea leaves and hot water if you like. Care is then needed in adding milk (or not), as people will have quite different tastes here and it’s best to leave it up to them. I can’t stand milky tea myself but do like a small drop.
The difficulties in getting a decent brew in the States stem from their being no middle ground in tea selection or attitude to tea. It’s either poor quality floor sweepings (lipton) sold in the supermarkets, or gourmet shit that comes with it’s own tea ritual and accoutrements. Seek the middle path - bang a tetley tea bag in a mug of fresh-boiled water. Add milk to taste.
I’ve written this before but can’t be bothered to search for it. This is how I make a bog-standard cuppa (I prefer Tetley but Yorkshire Tea is good too):
Warm the cup with hot water for a minute or so.
Empty it and put in a teabag.
Fill with boiling water.
Steep for a minimum of three minutes; preferably four.
Do not stir at any point - just allow it to steep naturally.
Get a teaspoon under the teabag and lift it out gently, making sure you don’t squeeze it.
Add milk/sugar to taste.
The effect of this is to allow a very strong, dark brew, without releasing too many tannins, thus intensifying the flavour without making it bitter. I add a lot of milk to mine to balance the strength.
Yeah, pretty much. Can’t stand all this palaver with special tea bags and loose leaf tea. Tetley’s tastes good enough without the hastle, and in many cases tastes better than more upmarket tea (Earl Grey, aka dirty dishwater, I’m looking at you).
All these years I’ve been allowing my cuppa to steep for 3-4 minutes then bashing and squeezing the teabag heartily in hope of maximum flavour; next cup will be made without this violent attack . Thanks for the tip, jjimm
This is how I make mine too. Except I use PG Tips. And no milk. Just what’s needed to wake up.
So that’s not super-tea squeezing out of the teabag? It’s dank tea resin? Wow, I’m going to put on a pot to boil and make some untouched tea–thanks!
My understanding and experience is that tea bags often leave you in much greater danger of overbrewing. It is much easier to wind up with a cup full of tannic acid with a tea bag, because fannings and dust have so much surface area.
The other reason to go with snooty tea is you have more control over flavor profile. Darjeeling is more vegetal and light, Ceylon is pleasantly astringent, Keemun is full-bodied. Tea bags are pretty uniform, and especially if you don’t want high astringency, are not the way to go.
Tea bags are fine for what they are. I use them. I also order my favorite Darjeeling from Upton Tea.
Again pretty much everything I’ve read, and my own experience, indicates that boiling water is necessary to extract full flavor. The other nice thing about loose tea is you can tune the amount of tea to your liking.
Although I have several official teapots and a kettle for water and will indulge in the full “ritual” of pot brewed tea when I have company it’s usually just me so this is how I’ve been doing it:
First, all my water is filtered because my well water is naturally hard. It goes >thunk< coming out of the faucet, so, filtered water.
Fill tea mug with water, place in microwave.
Zap for 2 minutes 40 seconds. This warms the water AND the mug at the same time.
Steep tea for 3-4 minutes.
Add just a little sugar (how much depends on variety)
That’s it.
I use everything from generic tea bags (for those I NEED CAFFEINE NOW! moments) to better quality tea bags to loose leaf tea. For the loose leaf I have these little … well, they’re spoon shaped but I guess “tea ball” is a more accurate description of their function. They’re sized to brew one cup of tea. I have four. This probably says something about me.
I really don’t care for lapsong or the seemingly ubiquitous teas in the local stores that now have fruit flavorings. I don’t care for most herbal teas. I like TEA, Camellia sinensis.
The only time I was ever offered cream for my tea was when I visited Florida, I was also offered warm milk at one point. In England this is tantamount to treason.
Not even Starbucks managed to sell a decent cup of tea, ironically the best cup of tea I had was in a McDonalds.
For me, tea needs to be made with boiling water, good quality leaves (we use Yorkshire Tea mostly) and a small amount of cold milk.
I’ve drunk the various varieties of tea around the world.
(as in method of preperation rather then leaf type etc.)
But its all down to your own personal taste so I like tea made the English way for obvious reasons.
Middle Eastern tea is bearable, oriental tea is totally an aquired taste, a bit like drinking dishwater, totally agree with **Quartz ** on Earl Gray.
I like totally strong tea made with boiling water straight off of the hob.
With milk, and if I’m totally exhausted,lots of sugar.
Quite honestly can’t stand the tea snobs who talk about the delicacy and the perfume of the tea and all the other bollocks.
The worst tea in the world that I have ever experienced has always been in the U.S.,where utter barbarians that you are, you haven’t grasped the fundamental that tea is made with BOILING water, and only freaking BOILING water.
I hope that you’re all hanging your heads in shame right now.
But you did give us a hand in both world wars so you’re off the hook…
This time.
But only if it’s a black tea, in my experience. If I make gunpowder green with boiling water I get ashtray juice.
I’m sure it was you that posted this advice a couple of years ago, leading me to realise that I’d been making tea wrong my whole life.
Good tip jjimm, much appreciated.
I wish you could find a decent electric kettle here in the US.
Must have been a good franchise owner! Around here, I’ve given up on getting tea with my breakfast when I stop by McD’s.
Many restaraunts (including McD’s around here) have teabags that come in paper wrappers, and cardboard boxes. Then they store them in or near the heat and steam of the kitchen. They go stale very, very quickly in that sort of environment, and lack the bright notes that make tea yummy. It’s always a disappointment to me.
Starbucks’ tea I don’t mind too much, mostly because when I go there, I’m not looking for something especially nice, just a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. So, mediocre is acceptable.
But you can. I have this one that I bought from Target. Boils water pretty quickly IME.
Oo! I swear I looked at Target the last time I was trying to find one, and they didn’t have anything. I will check again. Or order online. Thanks!
No problem! Happy to help. 
I got mine in store, it was located with the coffee makers etc.
I’ve had a T-Fal Vitesses for a few years, and I use it daily, often several times a day. It’s one of the most wonderful presents I’ve ever received. It takes about a minute to boil enough water for two cups of tea.