Comments on: The great tea controversy

By: Steve Wetherill

Steve Wetherill — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:03:23 +0000

As a point of persepective, I was once in a “restuarant” in Utah where one of our party asked for a “hot tea”. This can be a problem in the US, but in this case hot tea was duly delivered.

The server brought over a steaming glass of microwaved iced tea.

By: Elaine Swift

Elaine Swift — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:20:37 +0000

But teapots are SO civilised! The worst thing is when someone serves you with tea bag in the cup tea and puts milk in at the same time - truly horrible.

By: Matthew Stibbe

Matthew Stibbe — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:16:27 +0000

I think teapots are not always necessary. I use Teeli Flip DIY tea bags with leaf tea and MightyLeaf tea pouches which let the tea steep just as well as in a pot but in a cup or mug. It’s much more convenient than making a pot for one person. HOWEVER, the key thing is to let it stand for a few minutes. A whooshed around bag of Tetleys is not the best cup of tea you can have.

By: Elaine Swift

Elaine Swift — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:13:13 +0000

Tea should absolutely be made with boiling water and always in a pot. I really hate being presented with a cup of hot water with a tea bag floating in it. And definitely milk first - it just doesn’t taste right the other way around. Or maybe that’s just me …

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Wed, 07 May 2008 23:31:11 +0000

Tea experts who have spoken up about it say you should get to the kettle just before it begins to whistle–just before the water boils because the water is hottest then.

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:11:39 +0000

Hey! You turned my comment into a whole blog post. Neat. Thought I’d better qualify. And, will do so on Friday over on sciencebase.com. Just to say that there are issues of organochlorine (possibly organofluorine) compounds and humic acid to consider in the flavour debate.

By: Ian Griffiths

Ian Griffiths — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:28:01 +0000

From what I remember, the Douglas Adams rant on the use of freshly boiled water was regarding water boiled “just now”, vs water that was boiled at some point in the last 5 minutes and left to cool on the side until a waiter gets around to bringing it to you.

He claimed that this seemed to be normal practice in US hotels and cafes. So he was arguing for water that was close to boiling temperature, vs tepid water. So the underlying reason is the same as that for heating the pot - it’s to avoid trying to make tea with insufficient heat.

It all tastes grim to me though, so I can’t verify this through experiment.

By: Matthew Stibbe

Matthew Stibbe — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:00:30 +0000

Yup, Mariage Freres totally rocks. Plus you’ve got to love the little tins they sell. I’m also very partial to Mighty Leaf tea with those little silk-like teabags.

By: Oxygenated

Oxygenated — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:57:23 +0000

Key is water used - tap water’s best as it’s fully oxygenated and when brought to a full roiling boil and poured on the raw leaf, it provides the tea drinker with the most lively tasting liquor. About milk in and when, I would never pour milk in first - it overwhelms the raw leaf and disallows the boiling water to give a proper flavor to the tea once the water’s poured on. If one likes putting “stuff” (milk, sugar, whiskey etc etc) in tea, one should put the “stuff” in after the boiling water’s been put on the tea - during the steeping process. There is no finer retail/wholesale all-round specialty tea importer in Europe than Mariage Freres, full stop - enjoy! If it’s Ceylon teas one’s looking for in Europe, Rob’t Wilson Ceylon Teas in UK is probably the best.

By: adrian

adrian — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:23:45 +0000

I understood that fresh boiled water contains more air than re-boiled. Also, milk in first is a no-no as it is then scalded by the hot tea.

This came to me from The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams - and who else would know more about the tea-making process than the creator of Arthur Dent?