Ok here’s the big question about tea

[Panter]

 

[buggi]

milk last or the tea bag won't brew properly.

instant coffee... milk goes in first to stop the granules burning when you add the hot water.

 

[Dayvo]

Either/or, actually.
Milk first, to gauge/guess the right strength/colour.
Water first, if it's a poor quality tea bag, which is often the case here.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I guess that comes down to whether or not you live in a hard water area? Milk first with the teabag just tastes awful IMO; I'd rather put up with a scum.

Yep, I go with the scummy option (we're in an hard water area), but Mrs FF hates tea-scum as does one of the lasses at work so just to keep the peace...

 

[Fab Foodie]

If you are making the tea properly, in a teapot, the milk should be in the cup first. There is a reason for this. With the milk in the cup first, when the hot tea enters the cup, there is more milk than scalding tea so the milk does not scald and change flavour. This is because milk has a lower boiling point than water. If it was the other way round, there would be more boiling water than milk, so the milk would scald and the flavour would alter.

Err are you sure about this???
Trust me, (I'm a Food Scientist)..., the boiling point of milk is HIGHER than 100C the boiling point of water, the reason is that milk contains dissolved sugars (Lactose primarily) and other salts which raise the boiling point. Google it if you want.
The scalding effect due to hot water is more likely to be about denaturing of milk proteins that were not denatured during the pasteurisation process and potentially also reaction with sugars.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

Milk is for whimps....Green for me...no milk, but honey if it's before a ride

 

[Sabreur]

Milk?! Surely one should add nothing more than a twist of lemon

 

[dangerousjules]

evian water for the tea then the sugar then semi-skimmed...any questions...good. here endeth the lesson.

 

[User169]

Milk last, of course!

Otherwise, how do you know how brown it's going to be?

Ah, so you subscribe to the George Orwell school of thought.

http://www.246.dk/teaorwell.html

See point ten

 

[HLaB]

If the tea comes from a pot/urn, its milk first. If its made with a teabag in a mug, its milk last.

 

[ufkacbln]

I believe that it is a throwback to the poor quality of English bone china.

Early copies of the traditional china would break when boilng water was poured in. Adding milk first solved this problem.

Of course it could be a myth!

 

[Abitrary]

I googled this a few Years back.......

I found that the British tea institute (or some such thing) recommeneded adding the milk first as it prevented the tea from scalding.

I don't know why I bothered looking it up though, ever since I've added the milk last.

Jesus weeping christ. I hope you're being twee

It's instant coffee you can scold, because it's so dry. You *have* to scold tea to break the oily leaves

 

[col]

I tried putting the milk in after i had poured the tea,and got a right good rolicking of the ma in law,who went on about it having to go in first,,,,so first.

 

[Abitrary]

I tried putting the milk in after i had poured the tea,and got a right good rolicking of the ma in law,who went on about it having to go in first,,,,so first.

Was that in a china tea service?

 

[col]

No,it was in a mug.