Last Updated on December 30, 2022 by Faiza Murtaza
The British are famous around the world for their love of tea. It comes as no surprise. Here in this post learn to know about the perfect cuppa like a brit.
After all, they consume the equivalent of 20 Olympic swimming pools per day. In real terms, that’s 165 million cups every day, which means the typical British individual consumes more than 800 cups per year.
If there is an important conversation to be had, a cup of tea must be there. If we’ve just gotten home from an outing, the kettle is on and a cup of tea is in order. Whatever is going on, there always seems to be a cup of tea on the go.
Unfortunately, few of us know much about the simple brew, let alone how to make the perfect Cuppa like a brit properly, so let’s try to clear that up.
Where do you begin when brewing the ideal cup of tea? Let us start brewing from the beginning.
The key to accomplishing something properly, like with most things in life, is to use the greatest available resources. In reality, why would you utilise anything less than the best?
Tea leaves
If you use low-quality tea, you will receive a low-quality brew. For the tea, choose loose leaves over bags because the pieces are larger and provide more flavour.
Yes, tea bags are convenient, but they just colour the water and create a bland tasting cup of tea.
Don’t imagine for a second that just because you’re thinking of utilising tea leaves that you need to get the pot out.
Tea experts claim loose leaves can be stored for at least a year if adequately protected from natural and artificial light and not exposed to odours or humidity.
A dark, dry cabinet would be perfect. If you enjoy both gently perfumed and powerfully flavoured teas, store them separately. As a result, the lighter teas will not absorb any scents or flavours from the stronger teas.
Unless your household eats a lot of tea, storing a lot of loose leaves can be wasteful rather than affordable. Purchase only as much loose tea as you expect to consume in a year—at most, two years.
Water
Let’s talk about water now… Yes, strangely, water is probably the most crucial factor in all of this… Because of the higher mineral content, if you live in a hard water location, you need invest in a water filter. You’ll be wading through a mineral oil slick on top of your brew if you don’t!
So we’re now using the proper water. We must consider the temperature. Hotter water, around 100ºC, is required for black and darker oolong teas.
White and yellow teas, which are more delicate, are best appreciated at lower temperatures, about 60-80ºC, whereas green teas enjoy a brief soak at 60ºC.
Boil fresh water from the tap, as boiling water more than once reduces the oxygen level. You want more oxygen in the water as this helps flavour! Top tip!
Use a boiling water tap to make the job easier for you. It delivers instant hot water at the right temperature for the perfect Cuppa like a brit.
Milk first or last?
It’s debatable whether you put the milk in first or last—milk going in last has historically been viewed as the ‘proper’ method in snooty circles. This is most likely because the wealthy’s bone China cups could readily tolerate the hot tea, whilst inferior quality tea cups may have cracked so frequently that the lower classes would add milk first to cool it down.
The amount of milk you add is entirely up to you, but powerful black teas like English Breakfast should be drunk with milk because they’re big enough to handle it!
Making the perfect tea
- Begin with a kettle full of fresh, preferably filtered, water.
- Pour some water from the kettle into the teapot to warm it before the kettle comes to a boil; swirl it around a bit to get as much of the pot as warm as possible.
- Into the teapot put one rounded teaspoon per person of tea leaves and one extra spoonful ‘for the pot’.
- When the kettle comes to a boil, immediately pour the water into the pot or mug.
- Allow the tea to steep for three to five minutes before serving.
- Finally, if desired, add milk to tea rather than tea to milk, or a slice of lemon, and serve.
Apart from this, if you are interested to know about Reduce Food Waste then visit our Food category.
