I was just challenged for not using the already-hot water from a mixer tap to fill the kettle. I switched it to cold, let it run for a bit, then filled the kettle with cold water.
I know I’m right. But I don’t know why I’m right. All I know is that cold water goes in a kettle if you’re making tea. Always.
I get the feeling every aspect of tea making will have a thousand different opinions. So as I could do with a new hamper, I’d like to know yours.
You’re right – water from the mains rather than the tank, and unless the kettle has only just boiled it should be emptied and refilled (though with only as much water as needed). And I don’t even drink tea (unless herbal varieties count).
This ⬆️ is the key point: fresh water from the mains. It can’t be fresh if it’s been sitting in the hot water tank.
It’s all you need to know.
That black and white one seems to be genuine, doesn’t it? I keep expecting Mr Cholmondely-Warner to appear.
It’s definitely original I remember seeing it at a young age and most definitely before Harry Enfield did his spoofs of these sorts of films.
I was told not to drink warm water from the tap since it came from the tank in the loft and a pigeon might have got in there and possibly died thus contaminating the water, although it’s fine for washing your hands apparently. A pigeon that lived to tell the tale having a quick dip isn’t optimal for drinking water either of course. I was taught this growing up in the seventies so it’s possibly no longer a concern but these things stick with you. Of course the water will be boiled for tea thus killing any germs. It’s more a question of taste and freshly drawn cold water is recommended by all tea connisseurs.
This happened to me at my mum’s old house, although it was the cold tank in the loft (which fed the hot water tank in the airing cupboard) which had the dead bird in it.
The tank was a zinc-plated cube with an open top. I had the delightful task of scooping a dead pigeon out of it. I covered the top of the tank with a sheet of plywood to avoid a repeat.
Ewww….
I rarely drink and never make tea, but I had some visitors from the UK this summer who were big tea drinkers. We discussed how it’s made, but what most upset me to the very core of my soul was not the preparation of the beverage but the outcome of its receptacle. My house, my rules:
1. Don’t leave the cup in the sink with a little tea in the bottom for someone else to wash – rinse it out under the tap and then leave it in the sink for someone else to wash (properly).
2. If you do wash the cup properly yourself, rinse off the soap suds! This seems fundamentally obvious to me and should go without saying. My brother is guilty of this, even with wine glasses, then he’ll ponce on about how good the wine is! How can he expect his opinion on wine to be worth listening to if he doesn’t mind it containing Fairy Liquid?
I realise most AWers probably use dishwashers and are blissfully unaware of these beverage-related atrocities. I do have another gripe to air about my UK visitors while I’m here, one that regards clothes-washing rather than crockery-washing but is equally focussed on outcome rather than preparation: clothes pegs have two holes, one to peg and the other to be used when the peg is sitting idle Applying the correct usage of these holes enables other users of the clothesline to slide idle pegs to the required position without having to first unpeg them. Whereas failure to do so ensures the culprit a place in hell.
Wise words indeed (although I may have to pass on your kind invite to Sardinia)
You can’t say Fairy Liquid nowadays, Gary. It’s Gay (and proud) Liquid.
I’m informed by a friend that that’s actually a very different thing altogether.
It’s referred to as Queer Liquid now. Or QR LQD+ if it’s from Waitrose
I didn’t think we’d move to pegging rules so early in the thread.
Gary makes a good point but here, where it sometimes rains, when I take the washing off the line I put the pegs in a bag (one which hangs on the washing line with a coat hanger), then take the peg bag indoors.
Wooden pegs don’t like getting wet, so I don’t leave them on the washing line.
Your stainless steel clothespeg is your only man. Also handy for preventing frozen peas etc running riot in the freezer.
Hmmm… I did try some plastic ones a year or two ago but they cracked in the UV of summer and the frosty mornings of autumn & spring.
Yes, I sometimes put washing on the line before work, when it is only one or two degrees above zero, knowing that it is going to get warmer later.
Having been up and down the west coast main-line recently, I would make the following observation: people aren’t pegging enough out.
Are tumble dryers still generally not a thing in the UK? Pretty much compulsory here and I have never seen clothes hung outside to dry. As it was -20 this morning you may get a shock putting your underwear on if you tried it today.
Yeah, they are, but Mrs F says everything (especially bedding) smells better when dried au naturel.
Also, expensive to run.
They are! Try not to use them but clothes dry smelly this time of year if the heating isn’t on
Mrs. T says tumble drying towels makes them fluffier.
Ref Fitter above, I just hear money going down the drain
This is one of those oddly contradictory phenomena – as they come out of the tumble dryer, they will indeed feel much fluffier, but inspection of the tumble-dryer’s fluff filter will reveal that it’s stuffed with fluff from the towel. So the impression of enhanced fluffiness is only at the simultaneous expense of the removal of copious amounts of actual fluff by vigorous tumbling and the application of warm air.
And what’s this, @Twang, do you never get the laundry out of the dryer yourself? o)
I do it missy of the time. Just with specific instructions from management.
To be honest, if you’re after a hamper I genuinely believe pegs might be the best way forward.
I think you’re right. Here’s some of mine:
1. Socks must be in their pairs, but pegged separately
2. Shirts should be pegged upside down
3. Towels that dry on the line in the sun (making them crispy) feel nicer than fluffy ones from the dryer
4. Pegs can handle more than one garment if they have to
5. Undies should be hidden between larger garments – you don’t want to attract local sex maniacs
6. If you break a peg, put it in your pocket and throw it in the bin. Broken pegs languishing on a line is a howl of despair
7. Different kinds of pegs on the same line is refreshingly bohemian. Hey! Live a little! I mean who cares, right?
8. Sometimes you have to be in the midst of the damp clothing to make use of every available space. Accept your fate with serenity as if you’re being embraced by the Polyphonic Spree.
9. Hankies and toddlers’ socks barely warrant attention on a clothes line, but you have to go through with it
10. Duvet covers can go to hell. Or, more practically, the dryer.
‘Duvet covers can go to hell. Or, more practically, the dryer.’ Indeed. But on no account put anything else in with them.
Here is way, WAY more than you need or want to know about the knotty problems that can arise when putting duvet covers in the dryer.
https://bedguides.com/how-to-keep-a-duvet-cover-from-bunching-in-the-dryer/
How to put on a Duvet cover without losing your mind entirely.
My expartner insisted that if using different coloured pegs on the line the colours must match when pegging up a garment.
In our last house we had a Sheilamaid hanging in the kitchen ceiling, ideal for sheets and duvet covers. The ces are so low here you’d be forever walking face into damp drying sheets etc.
You missed the most important one: always hang heavier clothes on two of the lines on your triangular washing line, allowing passage of air between the two. Duvet covers might need 2 or 3 lines separation otherwise the weight will drag the lines together, negating the whole point of the exercise. Shirts, tees, undies and the like can go on one line, of course.
If you have a garden large enough for a straight single line, simply get your butler or maid to hang it out.
Unfortunately my “domestic staff” is only five feet two tall, and can’t reach the line without a stepladder. If I put it low enough for her to reach, everything hanging on the line touches the ground.
Rule 1 – absolutely, and this applies to any form of crockery – rinse off, leave in the sink (or next to the sink) and then load into dishwasher when you have suitable musical accompaniment.
What like a brass band? Or a classical pianist? Could get a bit crowded. They might object to the noise of the crockery.
China Crisis?
China Drum?
I always keep pegs in a bag when not in use otherwise they get dirty. MrsD made me one specially which allowed me to sing “Bryan’s got a brand new peg bag” while I hung out the washing.
I worked on an investigation for several months with a Chinese man who taught me the ways of tea. He would have all these marvellous (and very expensive) varieties and would make me numerous cups per day in his small, glass teapot. Water was sub-boiling, the tea was only steeped for 20 seconds or so and the first wash was always thrown out. The same leaves would be used numerous times. He thought that black tea was an abomination and the suggestion of adding anything to it filled him with horror.
Oddly enough, Mrs thep asked only the other day what the point of warming the pot was. I had to admit that I had absolutely no idea, but I was going to go on doing it because my mother did it, and so did my grandmother. I’m sure they wouldn’t have done it if there was no point.
I think the idea is that if you pour boiling water into an unheated tea pot, some of the heat goes into warming the pot, so the water drops in temperature. If the pot is already heated, the water remains nearer to boiling point, and this is supposed to make the brew better.
But I don’t know if it actually makes any difference.
It certainly makes a difference! If you live in a former tied cottage in the North of England, then everything needs warming before use (Moose, please, we’re in the kitchen). The ritual is; boil water; pour into teapot and leave for a minute or so; then pour this water into mug; pep up the kettle again and pour onto bag/leaves within teapot. Result – properly hot tea.
From this you will gather that I’m a tea pot fascist, always making in a pot if one is available rather than straight in the mug. Otherwise, how do you top up?
Finally, can we be clear that ‘mash’ in the context of tea does not mean squeezing the bag against the side wall of the receptacle, but means allowing the hot water to circulate through the leaves. A much overlooked ingredient for a good cup of tea is a healthy dose of patience.
Yep – if you’re not going to let the leaves mash properly, you might as well give up and have an instant coffee instead.
Mashing is not the way. It lets out too much of the tannin in the leaves making your tea sub-optimal. Just brew it a minute or two longer.
I think mashing and brewing are the same thing. Mashing is the Northern dialect word for brewing.
Also my understanding, Hubes…
I thought you meant squeezing the bag when you take it out. Sorry for being so Southern, haven’t lived oop North since I were a lad.
Esatto, as we say in Booths Country.
Ah, Booths. I knew there had to be a glints of brightness in the North West. I found glints in the Plackitt & Booth bookshop on Clifton Street, at Booth’s in Haven Road, and in The Queen’s Hotel overlooking Lytham Green. Gems along the chilly blast of the Ribble estuary.
About 15 years ago, I bought a book by Andrew Martin entitled ‘How to Get Things Really Flat: A Man’s Guide to Ironing, Dusting and Other Household Arts’.
It (very lightly) went into the physics behind many old wives tales. A recommended read.
Yes, indeed – this is what the public want!
First thing that comes to mind: to properly vacuum a carpet, you need to go over it seven times.
I have recently purchased a ‘gravity steeper’ for the purposes of tea making. It is ridiculously pretentious and has made me the target of ruthless mockery from my wife, but lordy it makes good tea…
Tea is, of course, Satan’s spit, but the wife is keen. Recently she has latched on to Matcha, which involves some splendid ceremonial ritual in the making. I quite like making her a cup but certainly haven’t tried it.
Despite my ritual avoidance of tea, I think I am right in saying Kombucha is made with the luciferian leaf, yes? As that I quite like, or, at least, the industrial strength ginger variety, £4 a pop per bottle, with 2 1/2 big tumbler fulls, best enjoyed chilled to buggery.
I understood that Double Diamond was “Satan’s spit”…?
We recently got a fancy new kettle from Sage. This has settings for White Tea (85%) and Coffee (95%) as well as a conventional 100% boil. I knew that you shouldn’t use boiling water for coffee but wasn’t aware of the lower temperature required for a cup of normal tea. The tea tastes fine to me but I’m not sure I can really tell the difference.
I believe the rule is boiling water for black (“normal”) tea, lower temp for green tea.
Yes indeed: green tea will be bitter if one uses boiling water.
If you really want to understand the chemistry of tea, there’s this…..
https://books.rsc.org/books/monograph/2162/SteepedThe-Chemistry-of-Tea
The first chapter is free to view
This is also what the public want!
Of course, you could always look to George Orwell’s famous essay: https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/a-nice-cup-of-tea/
“China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays—it is economical, and one can drink it without milk—but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it.”
I recall reading How To Drink by Victoria Moore which gives sage advice about tea and coffee. The main advice on tea was to use freshly drawn cold water each time (something about the oxygen buggering off if you boil water repeatedly) and using it when it is on the boil.
The advice on coffee was to use a french press, use water that was off the boil and give it an initial stir (she recommended a chop stick) to get an golden froth at the top and then leave to steep for a couple of minutes.
I follow the tea advice but, to be honest, my Melitta simple bean to cup makes coffee with much less faff than a french press. Descaling and cleaning regularly aside, it is much easier.
“Aside” doing a lot of work there, LB old chap!
That second paragraph reads like a Moosey bat-signal.
Where is that confounded Moose?
He does love a golden froth.
It’s easy enough to be honest. Just takes 15 mins every now and again. Cleaning the mesh end of a French press every time is way more annoying.
The advice on the French press I was given by some random coffee arse on the internet was to push down the plunger the moment you’ve poured the water in (and the water should be just off the boil). If you leave the coffee to brew it just gets bitter.
I now always follow this advice, because it’s a damn fine way to get a quick cup of coffee.
It’s beginning to sound a lot like the typical Afterword, deploying of elaborate, specialist process-based technology to crack a nut scenario, whether it be music, coffee, shaving, or tea making. We are content with teabags in a mug and boiled, freshly drawn cold water. A splash of milk added last, just to take away any bitterness. Good trad English Breakfast – Twinings or Yorkshire Tea. Don’t leave the bag in too long, give it a squeeze before removing. Better than a pot I think, more control.
I largely agree – I only use a pot when I have leaf tea. Teabags go straight in a mug, as you outline.
Sainsburys Taste The Difference Breakfast Teabags are even better. I had a sceptical family until they tried them.
Teabags in a mug here also, although very occasionally we do the loose leaf tea in a pot (usually when my son brings back some tea he gets from Leeds market).
I tend to use M&S Gold teabags – when I first came to Singapore most of the supermarkets offerings extended to Lipton Yellow Label, which is awful and M&S offered a much better option. I guess over the years I’ve gotten used to the taste – although we occasionally do Yorkshire Tea.
Fresh boiled water, large mug, steep for 4-5 mins in mug and then a splash of (full fat) milk.
Where I am, a water filter is essential otherwise tea is “limey” aka undrinkable. We use Clipper Fairtrade teabags with unbleached paper and no microplastic content which seems obvious to me.
Bag in mug, in with hot water. One stir, wait 10 – 15 seconds to taste, one bag press, drop of skimmed milk. Milky tea is also a crime here so no full fat or semi. And definitely not “sterri”.
10 – 15 seconds?!?!? I wait about 5 minutes!
I think 3-5 minutes is normal. 10-15 seconds is a very weak brew indeed.
15 seconds? May as well just drink hot milky water. Yeeuch
Nope, perfect flavour and colour. I’ll time it next time. Maybe I’ve got that wrong. 3 – 5 minutes in a mug would be horribly stewed.
Surely squeezing your bag, I press it against a teaspoon, until the colour is right, means next to no waiting. Tastes essence of tea, without bitterness.
Exactly.
No no, such wanton violence will damage the quality of the tea 😉
(and horror upon horrors the bag could break)
Squeeze my bag baby, till the tea runs down my leg.
☕️
First draft?
Never happened once. Well, once with a herbal teabag.
Honestly officer, I was told it was herbal tea.
That Brew Tea loose leaf you get in Waitrose is jolly fine.
Years ago I worked with someone who, rather than use the instant coffee that was provided free, had his own cafetière and ground coffee. Fair enough except that a) he used boiling water and b) immediately after adding the water he ‘plunged’ the coffee and poured it out so that it brewed for about five seconds.
I think there’s actual laws against this
It was a slightly strange place. Another bloke there would only drink one specific beer at home or in the pub and wouldn’t try any other ones as he couldn’t see the point because he liked that one. When I asked him what he did if the pub didn’t sell that beer he said he wouldn’t drink. What made it particularly strange was that the beer in question was Old Speckled Hen.
See above! I do just that, and the coffee’s just fine – also hotter.
I suppose I could try it out of curiosity but I can’t see how it wouldn’t just be hot brown water. I brew it for about three minutes and have a stainless steel double walled insulated cafetière so it’s nice and hot.
I can definitely say that it’s not hot brown water, assuming you put a sensible amount of coffee in. It’s black, hot and strong.
What my Gran taught me (for loose left tea).
Warm the pot, add one spoon for each person, plus one for the pot.
Boiling water, leave for 5 minutes.
Gran had loose tea, we had Tea Bags – my Mum was annoyed that I employed the “one for the pot” principle with Tea Bags
(despite my “these are the rules” protest).
Stopped drinking Tea at about 11, but according to Mrs D I make a mean cuppa
(no particular technique, just luck I suppose)
Of course here in Yorkshire we like to reuse and not waste.
Always fresh mains water (or FILTERED mains water if you’re in a hard water area).
Water from the hot tap is stored water and may very well be contaminated by stuff that’s fallen into the storage tank. In quite a lot of premises the only fresh mains water is piped into the kitchen (it’s a legal requirement to have at least one tap providing mains water). The cold taps in your bathroom etc. may very well be stored water from the tank.
Although I’m happy to drink tea elsewhere if someone makes me a cup*, I don’t drink tea at home these days. I prefer coffee (from a stovetop Bialetti-style pot, using coffee from beans that I grind myself and filtered mains water) with milk, unsweetened.
*Tea with milk. Ideally it should be roughly the colour of a brown paper bag, hot and unsweetened. Milk in first. I’m not a fan of Earl Grey and the like. Will sometimes drink lemon tea in warm weather.
The trouble with Milk In First (great band names, etc) is the milk is cold, which lowers the temperature, which lessens the brew.
I’m in a very hard water area but routinely descale the kettle, which is (just about) enough without a filter, although visiting friends in soft water areas makes me think I should buy one.
Milk in first only if it’s tea from a pot. Teabag-in-mug tea needs the milk added afterwards, else it won’t be hot enough to brew properly.
I always understood the milk goes in first for a cup of tea as it then warms more slowly as the tea goes in rather than heats quickly and sours (or whatever ) if put into hot tea. The opposite for coffee, for reasons I fail to grasp.
You’re both quite right. I was thinking “bag in mug” not “leaves in pot”.
I have had “pass the sniff test” milk go into lumpy bits when poured into a mug of hot tea.
My understanding was that “milk in first” dated from when people used bone china cups. Having the milk in before the tea prevented cracking due to the thermal shock of the boiling tea. Nothing to do with the taste.
Also, milk in second allows you to judge how much to add based on colour. You’ll only get lumps if your milk protein has already started clumping in the bottle/carton. In other words, if you use “sniff test milk” you deserve what you get!
Have you seen the price of milk nowadays? I could buy a couple of records for that!
Also depends on how much milk. Just a quick splash in my case, enough to take away any bitterness but not have much of a taste of milk. In other words it will remain hot for a good while. Nothing worse than milky tea. Hard to control the right amount of milk if it goes in first. Loose tea? No thanks, it’s seldom quite right in strength or taste and any second cup is usually too strong.
The best way to put milk in coffee is neither before or after the coffee is in the mug. Omit it entirely.
I prefer a hot chocolate.
By association, tea always make me feel like I’m coming down with a cold – because that used to be the only time I’d drink it during the first thirty years of my life.
It’s also always too hot to drink, you stir and stir forever until it’s just right to drink, and then it goes cold in thirty seconds and is undrinkable…
Hot chocolate doesn’t have that problem, because you (well I do) put whipped cream or a dollop of ice cream in it, which cools it down, but the temperature doesn’t exist where it doesn’t still taste delicious, unlike tea.
Of course, chocolate should always be made with milk, not water, and proper, dark, cocoa powder (not some bland ready-mix) with just a little sugar, and a tiny dash of (real) vanilla if you have it, or possibly (but not always) a small amount of instant coffee to get the mocha flavour.
Big mug with a wide edge so you can get lots of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream in the mug. No bloody marshmallows!
I am a recent convert to hot chocolate. I always liked it but it was a treat. Now I like one in the afternoon. I am no connoisseur though – I use a bottle of Chocomel and heat it in the microwave for 2 minutes. Ideally, topped with President squirty cream or, occasionally, Baileys squirty cream. Delish.
I love it on a cold day, skiing etc. it always reminds me of coming in from my paper round. I had a lovely mug of it in the square in Hitchin listening to a jazz quartet last Sunday. I wouldn’t have it for breakfast though.
There’s Baileys squirty cream? Part of me wants to send you a gift and part of me wishes I hadn’t read that *drool emoji*
It’s in the chiller section of all the main supermarkets. Go now.
Milk-added tea gone cold is absolutely disgusting and cannot be reheated in a microwave as the milk in it will react badly.
Milk-added coffee is not quite as bad cold and can tolerated reheated when absolutely necessary.
Strong black coffee gone cold, in small quantities, can be quite refreshing.
I have a black wood tea caddy with 4 metal boxes inside and a serving spoon. In the boxes are Assam, Earl Grey, Ceylon (Nuria Elia) and Lapsang Souchong – by turn malty, elegant, refreshing and like drinking a bonfire.
A spoonful or two into a metal tea filter in a white bone china pint mug. Let it steep with freshly boiled water, then pour in a slug of milk with the filter still in the mug. Lift the filter up and down to mix in the milk, then remove.
In the UK, I’m happy to dunk a Yorkshire Teabag in a mug. My wife has a special Fortnum & Mason’s blend, which is absolutely delicious – a perfectly rounded full flavour.
Classy caddy – also means you can do your own blending.
Every time I go into my local tea shop, they insist on giving me a mugworth of some new flavoured leaves – like any good drug dealer, they know the value of offering free samples. It is nice to have my palette expanded.
“Assam, Earl Grey, Ceylon (Nuria Elia) and Lapsang Souchong” – no, tea! (Bob Hoskyns)
With enough sugar to keep the spoon vertical in the mug, no doubt.
Earl Grey. What a blight on humanity that is. Nerr.
Au contraire. I used to think that (for about 50 years) but once I politely preserved with a cup of EG given to me I ended up quite liking it.
My granny used to blend two parts Darjeeling to one part Earl Grey – I’ve tried it and can recommend it.
*perservered
The Brew Tea Company’s Strong Earl Grey is very good indeed.
Mrs. T and I were sitting outside a salon de thé in France a couple of years ago which also made ice cream. The owner brought us a small bowl of ice cream each on the house and asked our opinion. It’s Earl Grey I flavour, he explained. You’re English – what do you think?
It was bland, flavourless and devoid of character but somehow annoying, just like its inspiration. “It’s just like the tea” we told him. He was delighted.
One of the nicest ice cream flavours I have had was an earl grey and fig from a local artisan ice cream shop.
I was offered a Neuhaus praline flavoured with Earl Grey the other day. It was OK. As I have quites poor sense of smell and taste* generally, it added to the general crunchiness and mustiness of the chocolate, which I found rather pleasant, though I wouldn’t choose it as a preference over other chocolates.
At uni, and on a low budget I went through a phase of choosing vodka and tonic or dry martini as my drink of choice because I didn’t like the taste and wouldn’t just knock it back like i would with wine or beer.
Sometimes I think my choice of music is governed by a similar approach of – “I don’t like this, it must be good”. See lack of taste above for explanation…
How do you feel about Lady Grey?
As I’m mentioned above I don’t drink tea as it’s commonly thought of. I’ve had perhaps ten or twelve cups of tea in my life which is enough to know that it just doesn’t taste very nice.
I am however partial to a cup of camomile before bed, or a ginger and lemon at my desk. To up and expand my herbal tea game I have a testubin teapot (those Japanese metal ones, black with knobbly bits on the outside) waiting for me on Christmas Day. I could carry on using a mug of course but I like the look of the tetsubin. How often I shall use it remains to be seen.
We’ll expect a review in due course…
I spent a long time trying to convince myself I liked herbal tea, but now resigned to the fact that anything but builders just doesn’t do it for me.
Chamomile tea tastes like compost heaps, in my opinion.
It certainly benefits from a little honey – half a teaspoon a mug.
I think I can see where you’re going wrong in your sourcing of substances for tea.
If choosing the herbal route, peppermint is my recommendation for a strong flavour closest to the theft that is proper tea. Hibiscus, being the basis for many herbal mixes, seems to dry out my mouth something rotten, while sage is a complete horror show, though supposedly good for a cold.
(I feel like I’m in a Monty Python Australian wine sketch)
Which herbal tea is best for hand to hand combat?
I’m not sure but gunpowder tea is the best for armed conflict.
Don’t ever order a cup of tea in a cafe or restaurant in continental Europe or North America. You will likely be handed a cup made of glass containing luke warm water with the weakest tea bag known to humanity already in it (probably Lipton’s), ask for milk and you will be given cream. It’s all so horrendous
After a month of Inter-Railing, I got off the Dover ferry and onto the rail station transfer bus. Stopped at the first set of lights I saw a pub, got off the bus, went to the bar and ordered “a cup of tea and a pint of brown beer”. Home comforts…
For some reason Holland is the worst offender – they think they are real tea connoisseurs and Brits are philistines. Yeah, that’s what you do – take a perforated bag of dust that has been swept off the floor, immerse it in a cold glass mug full of tepid water, leave it there for 15 seconds, pour in 2 drops of fridge-cold milk and enjoy….
(…I wonder if BC’s hamper will have some packets of quality leaf tea…)
*rummage*
A packet of Rich Tea biscuits. I’m sorry, but dunking should not be the be-all-and-all.
Circular-shaped teabags. At last – a teabag that isn’t square.
Powdered instant tea, “Try it! You might like it!” was the slogan. That’s what the Khmer Rouge said back in the 70s so, no. No thank you.
Of course drinking tea can lead to that slippery slope of dependency………or even to biscuits.
Happy birthday to Neil whose natal day was today.
Maybe the thread should win a Ringtons hamper. I can recommend their loose leaf teas accompanied by a couple of their ginger biscuits.
That’s enough reading about the stuff. I’m off downstairs to have a nice mug of Russian Caravan Tea.
I’ve put this on before but this makes drinking a cup of tea even more enjoyable.