Solitary chicken - need advice

[Couperwife]

Angels4 has asked, so I think we should give our versions

 

everyone makes tea differently, here is my version.

 

you need a tea pot

 

so, put 2 teabags in the pot, fill to about half /three quarters full (my pot will fill 4 small mugs)

 

leave for about 5 minutes.

 

pour into cup / mug,

 

add milk

 

drink (preferably with ginger biscuits, but the tea has to be "just made hot")

 

try it

 

Can anyone else give Mark a suggestion for another way of making tea?

 

cathy

x

[Popcorn]

I make mine in exactly the same way, except I like it a bit weaker with only one teabag, 3/4 full. Mmmmmmm. Have to say no to the biscuits at the mo though, joined Fat Fighters (WW!!) 4 weeks ago. You can have my gingernut CW

[Angels4]

Thank you Couperwife, you are very kind to start a thread in response to my needing tea brewing secrets.

[Couperwife]

we aim to please

 

popcorn, im on slimming world and need a regal kick up the backside, so I will also leave the GN

 

cathy

x

[chickencam]

I have recently gone back to good old leaves and a teapot. I was struggling to find tea that actually tasted of something without being overpoweringly strong.

 

My mum has always drunk Assam tea, so first of all I tried Twinnings Assam bags they were ok but the loose tea is better.

 

So far our favourite has been Waitrose original blend loose leaf tea but I have also been drinking Co-op fairtrade but it is a bit like floor sweeping rather than proper chunky bits of tea leaf.

 

I have a very good if not very pretty stainless steel heavy duty pot and I warm the pot with a dash of nearly boiling water then add a dessert spoon of tea leaves. Leave for 5 minutes pour into a large mug with milk in first and enjoy.

 

I have found that leaves stew less than bags therefore you can get away with making a pot when you start your cereal in a morning and pouring it out when you have finished I got fed up with cold tea. Also as you pour it the pags don't get lodged near the spout resulting in very strong tea coming out and splurting every where. You don't even get many tea leaves in the bottom if you pour it gently

 

As you can probably tell i am now a born again leaf user

[AMO]

I agree with your method Couperwife.

 

My only additional point is you must put the sugar/sweetener in before the tea and certainly before the milk - else it doesn't dissolve does it?

[ClaireG]

I do mine slightly diffrently. If im only making a cup for me, i use a teabag in the cup then add the water, remove bag and add milk. However, if i make it in a pot i warm the pot first add teabags and water then put milk in my cup before pouring in the tea. For some reason brown teapots make the best tea.

My father in law makes the best cuppa unfortunatly he neglected to pass the tea making gene to his son

[..lay a little egg for me]

 

pour into cup / mug,

 

add milk

 

cathy

x

 

No, no, no...you must add the milk first!!! If not, it doesn't mix properly and you have to get a spoon to stir it, making more washing up...I can't be doing with increasing the washing up

[chickencam]

I'm definately a milk first person

 

Also I hate sweet drinks so no sugar for me.

 

The 2 main rules as far as I am concerned are warming the pot and using boiling water.

[Olly]

 

Yorkshire Gold teabags, and my gorgeous Bridgewater teapot!

[bronze]

Ladies please. Everyone knows it's milk first then tea. Coffee first then milk.

[buffie]

Has anyone said it tastes better in a chicken mug, we've got loads now

 

Buffie x

[bronze]

As for adding milk to the tea after it is poured, the RSC issues a stern scientific warning against the practice. It seems that dribbling a stream of milk into hot water makes "denaturation of milk proteins" more likely. And who would want that?

 

 

Don't spoil the milk

"At high temperatures, milk proteins - which are normally all curled up foetus-like - begin to unfold and link together in clumps. This is what happens in UHT [ultra heat-treated] milk, and is why it doesn't taste as good a fresh milk," says Dr Stapley.

 

It is better to have the chilled milk massed at the bottom of the cup, awaiting the stream of hot tea. This allows the milk to cool the tea, rather than the tea ruinously raise the temperature of the milk.

 

 

from

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3016342.stm

[Yorkshire Pudding]

There's a class issue with whether to put milk in first or last. This is a family tale, but a quick Google has shown quite a lot of sites which tell it the same way.

 

In the 1700s the upper classes could afford expensive tea and bone china cups to drink it from, which can withdstand boiling water without cracking. Therefore they would pour lots of the hot, expensive tea first then add a little milk, if any.

The middle and lower classes could afford less tea, and more of the comparatively cheap milk, so put milk in first and in larger amounts. Their cheaper china was also less likely to crack at the slightly lower temperature.

 

So my Grandma always insisted, at any rate! She always said you could tell a person's background by how they poured their tea, being a middle-class socialist 'milk first' lady herself. In fact she once told me never to trust anyone putting tea before milk - although she never ever used teabags and would have been astonished to see me brewing up with a teabag in the mug!

[Laura007]

i think milk scortches if you pour boiling water on. so milk in last for me.

 

twinnings everyday tea is a nice brew.

[bronze]

i think milk scortches if you pour boiling water on. so milk in last for me.

 

twinnings everyday tea is a nice brew.

 

Ahh but the water shouldn't be boiling by the time its brewed in the pot.

[Egluntyne]

There are only four ingrediants for my perfect cup of tea:

 

1. English Breakfast Tea

 

2. Freshly boiled filtered water.

 

3. Soya milk.

 

4. White china cup or even better, mug, preferrably with a ring of gold leaf round the rim.

 

Heaven.

[Karen & co.]

Definately a tea leaves (English Breakfast is very nice ) and tea pot here, milk in first, and a nice mug

 

And time to drink it before it goes cold

 

Karen x

[Helly Welly]

Milk first, two sugars and Rooibos tea for me, delicious and the answer to all problems.

[Egluntyne]

Ooh....yes....I love my Roobios. I drink that in the evening. Doesn't keep me awake.

[Flo]

I havea book from the 1930's which amongst other things details the correct way to make tea and coffee, I will have a look at it when I get home.

 

I have started to use a tea cosy on my tea pot, I got some that my great-grandmother had made, The advantage of that is that it keeps the tea really hot!

[BERTIE MCSQUIRTY]

i've gone through dozens of teapot to brew the perfect cuppa - the best i have found is a pewter one which brews the best cuppa ever.

 

it has to be yorkshire tea bags and china mug too

[Ms Marple]

As Couperwife, BUT warm the pot first and ' mash' the tea before pouring. Also, I know the chemistry behind milk first, BUT, I find if people put milk in first they always put too much in for my taste. I like very strong tea either black or with very little milk. Good teas? Yorkshire Gold and for relaxing non-caffeine tea Rooibos or mint and chilli.

[Reikiranf]

I make my tea in a bone china mug with filtered water and for those that have sugar like me I put the sugar in first then the tea bag (Teadirect fairtrade tea) pour on the boiling water stir it two and a half times and leave for 3 minutes (I use a timer ), I then remove the teabag and add milk. At work they all laughed at me and my boss said I needed to get out more But they conceded that I do make a nice cup of tea and now they all do likewise.

 

A few years ago one of my workmates showed me a newspaper article about a scientific study into how to make the perfect cup of tea and it was exactly the way that my family have making tea for years

[Goosey Lucy]

The perfect cup of tea?

 

The one which occasionally appears beside the bed in the morning, as if by magic.

 

I drink my tea hot/cold/lukewarm/strong/weak/with sugar or without.

 

I can't tell whether the milk went in first or not just so long as it's in there with the tea.

 

I'll drink it out of a china cup, enamel mug or plastic beaker.

 

I think I'm easy to please