The Great British Cup of Tea
Hello Tea Fans!
Yes I've said it... TEA! I know it is more popular to love coffee today, but I think there are still many people who love a good old cup of tea still. First thing in the morning, you put the kettle on and make a cup of tea. Or with your breakfast you have a cup of tea or if someone visits, you put the kettle on to make a nice cup of tea as Mrs Doyle would say.
Gowan, have a cup of Tea - Mrs Doyle
As Mrs Doyle shows, if someone offers you a cup of tea, the correct etiquette is to 100%, always accept it. To refuse a cup of tea would be received as a great insult. It is always better to accept an offer of a cup of tea and silently not drink it, than refuse it.
As a Brit, I grew up in a world where drinking tea was a commonplace occurrence. This was a time when coffee was mostly only granulated and didn't have the appeal of Starbucks yet. It was also common place that you added milk to your tea, something that can horrify our friends on the continent even to this day.
There have been many questions over when you should add the milk. Before adding the tea? After adding the tea? Still whilst the teabag is in there? The worst thing that can happen after making a cup of tea is that someone says that it doesn't taste right, so getting the preparation correct is important. To avoid these situations, you can ask the drinker how they like to have it to be on the "safe side".
BoJo offering cups of Tea
Drinking tea is not just a privilege of the rich like Boris Johnson who you may think would have a tea set matching those you see in Claridges, but is for all members of society. Having oddly matching mugs to drink it in is also ok.
Some people like their tea milky, some very sweet. Some like to drink creamy tea. You should have the necessary condiments to ensure everybody gets the tea that they want.
My tea collection
The correct way to make British Tea is to first boil the water very hot, then put the tea bag in the cups or pot and poor as soon as it is boiled. You then need to let the tea get stronger, you can squeeze it with the spoon to speed this part up if you are in a hurry.
The next step would be to remove the tea bag and then add a drop of milk to the tea but be sparsam, otherwise you would make the taste milky unless it is requested to do so by the drinker. Be suspicious of milky tea drinkers, they could be the fussy type.
Finally you stir the tea and serve, usually with some biscuits to accompany it. Hobnobs or digestives are the norm here.
Acceptable brands of British Tea are PG Tips, Tetleys and Yorkshire Tea... if you are in Ireland, you can drink Barrys. If none of these are available and you are abroad, you can substitute tea with something exotic sounding such as Darjeeling or Earl Grey so you sound sophisticated and know what you are talking about. A good fall back option is always English Breakfast Tea.
How do you make British Tea?
Thanks for reading.
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All photos are my own.
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A good cup of tea also depends on the water source and quality. English and Welsh water is crap, just look at the inside of their kettles. Yep full of limescale lol.
Scottish water and Scottish Blend tea makes for the perfect cuppa Steve.
I also am partial to a raspberry tea too.
Very true Ed, you cant beat tea with good quality water. I can imagine the water being far better in Scotland Ed. Hope you have a good cuppa.
For me, the winter is time to drink tea. I usually drink various fruit teas, earl grey or so we call it Russian tea, very rare. But I like green tea.
A nice hot cup of tea in winter sounds good and I think you could be right, it is the best time to drink it. In the UK, generally the weather can be coldish all the time, so a cup of tea all year round is ok! LOL I havent drunk green tea for a while, but I know its a replacement for coffee for some people.
Ah yes you can't beat a nice cup of tea but lets set one thing straight the milk goes in after the tea is brewed not before @mypathtofire
Have the greatest day
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100% Ben! I couldnt agree more!
yes...after the tea is brewed...quite agree!
Back then , there was a common brand of tea that I tasted . It wasn't that good🤮.
Until here comes the era of milktea 😁, not really a tea but with tea.
Now, as I become health conscious I appreciate tea and explore different flavors .
Yet got pregnant so stop drinking tea again for a while.
There are some not so nice brands of tea, getting the nice one is important. I hope you can enjoy some tea again soon, congrats on your pregnancy!
Thanks! Already gave birth 😆, reason was less active on hive!
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Hahaha - you actually wrote a post about tea - that's brilliant! You got a nice selection of teas, ours might be even bigger.
I like both coffee and tea, there's a time for each of them. These days I always have a cup of coffee in the morning (or two) but during the day it is tea or water.
My time in Australia made me an 'English tea drinker' i.e. black tea with milk (and sugar), at the time and some years after I didn't touch coffee at all. To this day I love drinking black tea this way. Usually, it will be English Breakfast tea or Earl Grey. I haven't opted for Darjeeling in a while.
When I drink tea during the day or evening it'll be green tea, herbal or Rooibus tea. No milk in those, potentially sugar.
I have a few more medicinal, but I also prefer some nice tea in the afternoons or evening rather than in the mornings. I am not so much putting sugar in tea but often lemon and honey.
My post is inspired by getting my new tea pot for some tea leaves that I bought and I was thinking about tea.
Thats pretty cool you drank English tea in Oz, I was never in Oz, but I know many Poms who moved out there and took their habits with them. Usually it is a rite of passage to do 1 or 2 years Down Under. After dating women from countries where they dont drink milk in their tea, I lost my taste for milk in my tea. Which made drinking tea in India difficult as its the most milkiest tea I have ever drunk there!
I am mostly liking Ginger tea at the moment, but some Melissa tea is also nice, now and again. I am getting some feeling back for herbs and herbal medicines again, so might buy some different teas of these too.
I'd say that the correct way is to pour about half a cup of boiling water into the teapot. Then swill it round and empty it to warm the pot. Quickly, add one teaspoon of Ringtons tea per person plus one for the pot. Then enough boiling boiling water for the number of cups of tea. Leave to brew.
(image from Ringtons website)
But I can't be bothered with that so I stick a teabag in a mug of cold water. Then microwave it for 2 minutes. Though, usually, I drink black coffee.
Thats definetly a faster way ! 😅 I guess we can drink the fancy tea when we go to the Ritz! 😀
https://www.theritzlondon.com/dine-with-us/afternoon-tea/
That is very kind of you.
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@mypathtofire! @keithtaylor likes your content! so I just sent 1 BBH to your account on behalf of @keithtaylor. (1/50)
Greetings @mypathtofire ,
What a perfect post. ^__^
Time for Tea....indeed.
PGTips...white
I thought the idea of putting the milk in first...was from the fact that in the north's cooler clime...it assisted with keeping the tea cup from cracking....something like that.
It is surprising how it can all sound a bit confusing when writing it up....but it is not at all. hehe
Kind Regards,
Bleujay
I was not sure of the reason to add milk first unless you already have the tea brewed in the pot and it won't disturb the brewing. However, many builders throw the milk in with the tea bags as they are tough guys.
Thank you for your kind reply.
Oh yes..of course...tea brewed first.
When it is tea time...one must do what one must do...^__^
I drink both coffee and tea. Coffee in the morning and sometimes afternoon...tea in the evening. Usually Earl Grey or various fruity green teas. Sometimes boiled water pored in a cup with the tea bag and sometimes loose leaf tea in a tea pot with a strainer. The only thing I add is honey though.
In the U.S., if you are offering something to drink, it is usually coffee though.
I do like honey in tea too, it somehow feels healthier than sugar.
On the continent, it is also more customary to offer coffee as this seems more popular than tea. I think tea is most popular in the UK, India and maybe in China with the tea ceremonies.
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