How Do You Take Your Tea?

[Si Hunt]

Sainsbury's Red Label is very popular at Hart-McCow Towers.

Can you get that in Tesco?

Si.

[SiHart]

Funnily enough you can't.

Si xx

[cyberchris35]

PG Tips is the tea for me, could be because I can be a bit of a cheeky monkey.
I put bag in the mug add hot water, 2 sugars and a bit of milk. Then I squeeze the bag on the side of the cup until tea is a nice light brown colour. Beautiful.

[Ralph]

Twinings Earl Grey.

I have to agree - it's the best! I always put in the water first get the tea to the right colour (you should still be able to see the bottom of the mug) then add the milk - no sugar and the perfect cuppa has been prepared!

[Wayne]

Well i've got 'Tesco's Finest' Earl Grey at the moment, & if i'm making it the milk goes in first. I don't think it makes a blind bit of difference in the long run, but that's how i make it by habit.
But of course if you're really fussy, you can feel free to make your own.

[Rob McCow]

If you're going to put the milk in first, Wayne, then I jolly well will make my own cup of tea, thanks!

Then I squeeze the bag on the side of the cup until tea is a nice light brown colour.

I do that! Holding the handle with one hand and squeezing with the other is the best way to get that last bit of tannin out. Although there was one occassion where I accidentally tore the handle off the mug while trying to get that last bit of flavour.

[Si Hunt]

I forgot to add to my instructions: Teabag Burst is a critical situation, and can't be recovered from.

Si.

[Stuart Wallis]

Never liked tea. Great use to this conversation, I am!

[Stephen Morgan]

Viv has this thing about only using Tetley teabags, and even though I can get them PG from the staff shop at work for half the price they charge in the shops, she won't buy them as she has a strange idea about the way they treat their tea pickers.
I find Tetley as weak as gnats**** and don't like it very much. I prefer a stronger cup like Yorkshire tea, however, ASDA do a nice breakfast tea which I'll make for myself and give Viv her favourite Tetley.
Her penchant for those teabags makes me drink more coffee, so let's repair to that thread shall we.

[Dirk Gently]

We use Fair trade tea bags or Twinings Earl Grey.

Mug + Tea bag + Hot Water - tea bag + Milk = Tea.

I add milk last so as to get the tea the right colour, if it is weak or strong then I can add as little or as much milk as I like. I tend to over milk tea if I put it in first.

[Andrew Curnow]

Although there was one occassion where I accidentally tore the handle off the mug while trying to get that last bit of flavour

I've done that too!

[MinaHarker]

I have to be careful with tea, for some reason a couple of brands give me awful stomach ache. Tetley does, but I am fine with PG Tips (yum). I don't have an annoying knitted monkey around to drink it with though.

[Stuart Wallis]

And Jason instead of Johnny Vegas - better deal there, I'm thinking!

[Simon R]

I take mine like this...



M-m-m-maaaah.

[MinaHarker]

Teabag into empty cup first, no sugar for me. If you're going to add sugar, it goes in now. No milk yet, or the water will be cooled by the milk as it goes in and you won't be brewing at 100 degrees.

Fill with absolutely boiling water to the position the finished tea is required to fill the cup - the mass of the teabag will be almost exactly compensated for by the volume of milk. Schoolboy error here is to either overfill and thus suffer spillage during a bungled attempt to remove the teabag, or to try and anticipate room for the milk forgetting that the teabag is taking up mass, thus leading to "half full cup" syndrome or, even worse, a disgustingly over milked cup in an attempt to 'top up' your way out of it.

Mash the teabag for around a minute - do not use a dirty or greasy spoon as this will lead to horrid 'grease pools' in the tea (you'd be amazed how many people tumble down this elementary tea-making quagmire). Remember kids, still no milk in the equation. Mashing time is largely a matter of judgement - leaving it while you go upstairs to re-tile the bathroom will result in a potion that will take the top layer off your sink when you pour it away in terror, whipping it out too soon will leave you trying to salvage a weak brew later. Use your common sense, but under brewing is preferable as you can exercise some damage limitation at the next stage.

Now, carefully pour in a little of the milk with the teabag still in the cup, not enough to cause spills but enough to judge if further mashing is required from the colour. Give the teabag a final gentle massage with the spoon before removing the teabag when you are satisfied of a confident yet not harsh tea colour. Place the teabag on a clean saucer and stir the tea, even if there is no sugar in. This ensures the final colour is brought out for the recipient, and that all 'milk swirls' are gone. If the worst happens and it suddenly seems weak, providing you used the saucer and didn't go straight for the bin, it's not a crime to briefly return the tea-bag to the cup for a final mash. Desperados may even sacrifice a second tea-bag for this purpose, though be quick or you get instant flavour overload.

Serve immediately. Voila!

Si.

You are going to be so disappointed if you come to our house.....

[Philipnet]

I'm half asleep today.

I've just managed to put two tea bags in my mug

And surprising it tastes OK

[SiHart]

Messing up the forum, then your tea- you're really not with it today!

[Perry Vale]

Don't know how I missed this thread!

I'm a milk two sugars guy. I do have a very time-consuming, complicated method to make the perfect cup (utilising a pot), but these days I just use teabags. I discovered that Tescos 'Everyday Value' bags are excellent, and as tasty as any other brand. Tescos seem to have noticed this too, as they launched them as 80 for 27p, but have recently changed this to 40 for 20p, inflation of 50%!!!

Oh, and it's milk and sugar AFTER, not before. Tea is the drink, milk and sugar are things you add to it.

[Philipnet]

Messing up the forum, then your tea- you're really not with it today!

I know.

What is wrong with me today!


Maybe I got out the wrong side of the bed

[duncan]

My tastes have changed over the years. I was always a milk and two sugars person, not too strong but I found as I got older that the taste was getting too sweet and I started cutting back on the sugar.

Today, I'm a coffee drinker as the taste of tea became just too sweet even with a quarter of a spoon of sugar. Yet, I don't like tea without it. So, I've given up on tea altogether and stick to just coffee.