You would swill some hot water around to warm the pot before putting the leaves and boiling water in, not so necessary for the cup; and I was brought up to put the milk in last, once the tea’s had a chance to brew - it doesn’t render the tea tepid, and heated milk adds an extra, rather odd, flavour.
A mug and the liquid in it have comparable total heat capacities, so if you fill up the room-temperature mug with boiling water and bring them to equilibrium, you’ll get the mug halfway to the water temperature. Add the tea water to that, and you’re now 3/4 of the way to the original water temperature, which is probably still unacceptable to the discriminating tea drinker.
The best way to pre-heat the mug would be to boil water in it in the microwave, but for some reason this is considered taboo.
Not so much taboo, just risks a catastrophe involving superheated water.
More or less. They also claimseva they can tell the difference between water boiled in an electric kettle and that microwaved.
Here is how i make tea. I have a large borosilicate glass pitcher. I put several tea bags in, pour cold filtered water, and leave in fridge overnight.
Yep.
No, my understanding is that you first fill the teapot with boiling water, throw that water away and only then add tea and boiling water.
And it’s a wonder that a people who are so prissy about making tea managed to dominate so much of the world.
I like to use the crown jewels, but when they’re not available I just microwave the water in a mug (while microwaving the teabag separately, of course).
At work (where most of my tea-drinking happens, these days) I fill a mug with water, microwave it until it’s boiling, and then put in a teabag.
At home, I have a kettle on my stove that holds a little more than four mugs. I bring it to boil, put a teabag in my mug, and then pour the water in over it. When I’ve made four mugs, I pour out the remnants of the kettle and re-fill it.
Heresy!!! 
I kid, that works also.
Back when I lived in places I owned, I always installed a boiling water dispenser at my kitchen sink. It’d pump out a quart-ish of 190F almost-boiling water with no waiting. A great gizmo, if a tad self-indulgent.
I’d fill my tea mug with not-quite boiling water from the dispenser, then go collect the rest of my tea fixings while the cup heated. Once I had all my accouterments at the ready, dump that cooled but still darn hot water, put the tea bag, etc. in the hot cup and refill with more 190F water from the dispenser. Damned near instant very hot tea with negligible folderol.
I heat my water to 205F in an electric kettle. Then I pour that water over loose tea leaves in a glass brewing vessel. (It’s not exactly a tea pot, but you can think of it as a tea pot.) Then I wait for the tea to brew. And finally, I decant it into a cool mug.
I want my tea to be cool enough to drink RIGHT AWAY. I dont want to risk burning myself on the tea. I mean, yes, I enjoy warm tea. But I’d Sooooo much rather drink room temperature tea than burn myself on the first sip.
This! If you read the brewing instructions for herbal, rooibos, black, green, or white tea, you’ll see not only diffedrent temperatures recommended for the water, but also different brewing times.
Yes, i use 205°F for the mix of black and green tea i usually drink, but for rooibos i crank it to 212°F.
IMHO this is wankery. When my son turned 21 he tried to show me how certain beer glasses enhanced the experience of drinking beer. I smiled and gave him a pat on the back. ah youth, so young so green
I like to brew a second cup out of the same tea leaves. Does the first steeping remove all the caffeine? Or does the second cup contain as much caffeine as the first?
In between. The first cup has much more caffeine than the second, but the second has more than zero caffeine.
From what I’ve heard, the second cup would have much less caffeine. The caffeine is one of the first things dissolved in the water, and just dunking a teabag in a couple of times will get most of it. I’m sure the second cup would still have some, but it might not be enough to be worth considering.
If true, one could easily make very low caffeine tea with little loss of flavor by doing a couple dunks in a sacrificial cup of hot water then steeping in your real cup of hot water, perhaps for a little more duration.
Time for more experiments. Science!
Yeah, brew and drink that second cup just before bedtime and see if you can get any sleep! Then report your findings here.
My experiment last night with a smidgen of bourbon in a cup of Lapsang Souchong about 90 minutes before bedtime definitely showed some sleeplessness I attribute to the caffeine. And I only crank about half the mug. I can probably try the reduced caff trick again tonight.