So how do you make a perfect cup of tea?Should the milk be poured first or last, or used at all?
How to make the perfect cup of tea ....(according to tea experts at Taylors, Harrogate)
Warm the pot. Whether using tea bags or leaf, a quick swirl of hot water means the a cold pot does not shock the tea.
Use a china tea pot. Why? Because it is traditional and part of the ritual.
One spoon per person and one for the pot. Still the golden rule when using loose-leaf tea.
Use freshly boiled water. Boil freshly drawn water to ensure good oxygen levels in the tea.
Stir. Stirring tea leaves or bags helps the tea to infuse.
Milk? Milk first or last is an age old question. Originally milk was poured first to avoid delicate china tea cups cracking, but adding later is a good way of judging the strength of the tea. But each to his or her own. (see below for more on this)
The time. 3-4 minutes is the time needed for optimum infusion.
I am sitting in the lounge area of the Wheatley Arms, a comfortable, traditional hotel in Ben Rydding, a village just outside my home town of Ilkley, West Yorkshire, waiting to meet Elaine Lemm, a fellow member of the Guild of Food Writers. She is here to talk about her latest book - The Great Book of Tea as part of the Ilkley Literature Festival. I am chairing the event.
This is Elaine's third book in the series and follows on from The Great Book of Yorkshire Pudding and The Great Book of Rhubarb. The series sets out to uncover more about culinary subjects dear to our hearts.
Our audience of about 100 is sitting at tables dotted around a long, narrow room with pots of piping hot tea steaming before them. Plates of delicately cut sandwiches look tempting, so too do scones and cakes arranged on pretty tiered cake stands. But somehow Elaine and I have got to stave off too much tea drinking and cake nibbling during the talk. Clanking tea pots and passing sandwiches might put Elaine off her stride and she needs the full attention of her audience. What to do?
"I know I will make an announcement and ask everyone to pour a cup of tea and take sandwich and cake before the talk starts and they can top up their cups afterwards" I think to myself. Everyone seems happy with this and
I introduce Elaine. The lively conversation across the tables lulls, jaws halt, eyes look forward - Elaine can begin.
The main thrust of Elaine's latest book is to explore the special relationship the British have with tea. She begins by reminding us that 60 years ago today tea rationing in England ended. These days the British drink 165 million cups of tea a day. Nearly a third of
the tea produced in the world is drunk in the UK and Ireland.
"Our tea drinking habit has been enshrined in our daily life for more than 300 years" Elaine points out. "We put the kettle on in a crisis; we drink a cup to cool down when the weather is hot and another to warm us up when it's cold. Tea features in nursery rhymes and songs such as 'Polly Put the Kettle On' and 'Tea for two, two for tea…'. There are, tea dances to entertain us; tea breaks to structure the working day and we revere tea for its ability to wake us up in the morning. We even use it to tell our fortunes and use it as a hair rinse to make it glossy. It seems the British cannot get through the day without a few cups of their beloved tea" – three actually, the average number of cups drunk per person each day.
It came as quite a shock for Elaine to realise not all nations feel the same about tea. As a teenager she introduced her French pen pal Brigitte to a series of relatives who each gave her a convivial cup of tea. By the end of the afternoon Brigitte exclaimed she felt quite ill. She was not used to drinking tea. In France tea is only served when people are ill. The French just do not drink tea like we do.
The British were the latest Europeans to come to the tea table in the 17th century. The Dutch and the Portuguese had been drinking tea for about 100 years before us. At first only the very rich could afford to drink tea in England. It was a scarce and precious commodity and heavily taxed. Tea smuggling was rife and it wasn't until the tax on tea was lifted in 1784 by William Pitt the Younger, and the debacle of the Boston Tea Party, that tea became established as our national drink.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century gin and beer were set aside as the most popular breakfast drink in this country and tea became the drink of choice for all classes. It had many advantages. Boiling water to make tea rendered it safer to drink than untreated water and helped to control the spread of waterborne disease such as typhoid.
It has been claimed that the industrial revolution may not have happened without the habit of tea drinking. After drinking their morning tea at breakfast workers arrived at mills and factories sober and hydrated and ready to work. This lead to greater productivity. Free tea became available at regular intervals throughout the day leading to the much loved tradition of the tea break. Servants were also given a tea allowance.
By the time of the First World War, tea had such an important place in everyday life supplies were protected however during the Second World War tea was rationed. Tea rationing lasted for 12 years and a meagre 2 ounces (56g) was allowed per person per week.
After the end of the Second World War the popularity of tea waned as the influence of American and Italian coffee bars took hold. I have just checked the National Food Survey figures for tea consumption during that period. They show tea consumption held up post rationing until the 1970 and then went into a steep decline as people began to eschew
tea in favour of other drinks such as coffee and squash.
Over recent years tea has fought its way back into the heart of the nation. The consumption of tea is rising and a wider range of tea is available.
The tea bush is a type of camellia (
camellia senensis)
and grows well in warm damp climates
.
It even grows in Cornwall. The Tregothnan Estate, near Falmouth produces a beautiful tea which is highly prized by tea aficionados. The estate, famous for its camellias, thought they would try to grow its relative
camellia senenis
and for the past 10 years it has.
So what is it like to be a tea taster? Elaine joined the the tea tasting team at Bettys and Taylors in Harrogate to find out. Tea tasters for Yorkshire Tea, Taylor’s best selling brand want a consistently high standard. Tea leaves vary with the weather and other conditions and the composition of a blend has to be tweaked accordingly.
Each tea taster tastes up to a 1000 cups of tea a day during parallel tasting sessions and exclaim adjectives to describe the taste. Tasting involves slurping and squidging as they suck air in to their mouths to oxygenate the tea. Some teas are "brassy, bright or cakey". Tasters speed along lines of tea all brewed to a consistent standard. It takes about two years to develop a palette keen enough to identify the nuances in the flavour of tea.
As well as the history of tea Elaine has collected some quintessentially British recipes for cakes and scones. The habit of taking afternoon tea as a meal in the afternoon was introduced to society by a peckish Anna the 7
th
Duchess of Bedford who found the interval between lunch and dinner served between 8 and 9pm left her with a sinking feeling. At first she nibbled a little bread and butter and then she added a cake or two and not wanting to be alone while taking her afternoon snack began to invite friends to join her.
Elaine summed up her talk by sharing her thoughts on why tea has endured as the most popular British drink of all time. "It cuts through all class barriers. England is still a class ridden society but just about everyone likes and serves tea".
...and finally there were some pretty sharp questions and answers from the audience. Isabelle Davies, a tea specialist at Bettys, York was quick to point out that tea with a high tannin content, like Assam, requires milk to’ round off’ its astringent flavour.
Other more delicate teas with a low tannin content, like Darjeeling, can be drunk without milk.
Another member of the audience volunteered an answer to the age old question of whether milk should be poured into the cup before or after tea. Her father, a chemist, advised "you create a different type of colloidal system with each method. If you put milk in the cup first you get milk wrapped around tea,
if you add milk to poured tea you get
tea wrapped around milk. Both taste slightly different and you can take your pick".
If you want to learn more about tea why not read Elaine’s lovely book.
The Great Book of Tea by Elaine Lemm and published by Great Northern Books £7.99
Isabelle Davies with Elaine Lemm
