I mean this video is specifically talking about a British cuppa, which culturally means black tea, with milk, sugar optional. From a 2016 survey by The Grocer:
Milk no sugar - 34%
Milk two sugars - 16%
Milk one sugar - 15%
Black no sugar - 8%
Milk with sweetener - 7%
Black with sweetener - 2%
Other - 4%
I don’t drink tea - 14%
It’s this lot you have to keep an eye on…
Never mind this lot:
Probably remainers.
I also thought it was odd that they left the spoon in the mug during the long steep. This is just anecdotal, but I heard you can cool a drink down faster by leaving a spoon in it, something about “wicking” the heat out. Any physicists here can weigh in on the plausibility. Why do anything that could possibly bring the water temp down -including not preheating the mug!
Which, by the way, is one hell of an ugly mug. Could I get the same effect drinking from a black mug while looking at a piece of red construction paper?!
“Inside The Factory” (the show this is from) is an excellent BBC-style “How it’s made” show - With enthusiastic on-screen hosts and access to some fascinating (and often well known) companies.
Science in action!
I’m sure there’s a grant available if you want to do the research…
Lol, only if I can post my results to social media and reap those sweet contemptuous remarks from my fellow tea and coffee drinkers!
TBF, there are some on the market which are lovely with some rock sugar, and some MIF.
ETA link for embedding
This is out of compliance with ISO 3103, which clearly states that the proper brewing time is six minutes. Clearly we need some more tests.
Cream?
Who puts cream in tea?
That’s possibly because the ISO is for the purposes of sensory tests rather than actually drinking tea…
The fat is where the flavor is. Why wouldn’t someone use cream or half & half instead of milk? Milk dilutes the flavor of the tea more.
Not that I’m to be trusted, I drink my tea black. Who has time for all that fussing around?
PG Tips. It’s cheap and not entirely unlike tea.
I am generally a coffee drinker…like my father…and his father before him.
But as of the past year I have begun to substitute afternoon/evening coffee with tea. When I am out to dinner I will still usually go for a glass of port and an espresso as my preferred dessert, but at home I go for a soothing and calming tea. Vanilla tea, or an herbal mint I like best. I rewatched Alton Brown’s take on tea recently and his tips definitely improved my tea for me. I suppose YMMV.
If you steep Barry’s (or Yorkshire) for five minutes you’re not making tea, you’re making mortar.
Oh, no! Not another tea bigotry thread? Oh, well, here goes. Let the flames begin:
Dr Stu is a bit unscientific. Volume of water in mug vs styrofoam cup is different. Styrofoam tea is stirred, mug tea is not. Hardly a fair comparison. Though a fair comparison is hardly needed in order to know that styrofoam cups are awful.
For me, teabag in mug, 2-3 minutes, but with some stirring to agitate the tea leaves (dust) in the bag so they all get a good exposure to the hot water. Dr Stu’s teabag in a mug was just left as it was - with the clump of tea in the bag undisturbed by any stirring. With a good stir or two (when water added and again maybe 60 secs later) the tea gets nicely brewed. It sort of emulates (within the limits of the situation) the way loose tea leaves get to swirl brownianly in a teapot.
For those (I’m looking at you @Bobo and @RexDart) banging on about temperature of water for different teas, did you notice that this video was explicitly about making a good old British cup of tea in a mug with a teabag (and by clear implication, a bag full of typical British tea dust - Typhoo, PG Tips, etc. - not some other fancy tea variety, which if it were in a bag would probably have you equally indignant).
Five minutes? Always? For every variety of tea? NO.
Nobody said that!
I still get perpetually pissed off by places that offer a cup of hot water and a teabag on the side - water being too cold by then. I did not order a “tea making kit” I ordered a cup of fucking tea. If you use teabags, that’s fine, just put the bag in the mug and pour the BOILING water over the bag - never add the bag to the already cooling water.
And @Miros - yeah, 30 seconds is a sick joke (almost certainly played for the purpose of the video), but in a cup with that small a volume of water it may not have been as bad as it might.
You and Ginger Baker should chat:
Thank you. Not come across that before. Definitely getting added to my iPod!
