Everything you might ever want to know about English tea drinking. This lengthy article is not only informative but delightful and contains several quotable lines that I considered for my weekly quotes post but I couldn’t decide which one so here we are.
I am delighted to learn that most of the British drink tea from mugs, not those lovely, delicate little bone china cups. I always drink tea from a mug. I occasionally feel just a teensy bit bad that I’m “not doing it right” but the tea cools off so fast in those tiny, shallow cups that it’s practically down to room temperature before one can get the cup to one’s lips for the first sip.
I am slightly disappointed to learn that most Brits use tea bags. I’m a bit of a loose tea snob myself. I do use tea bags sometimes but only the better brands like Twinnings. Lipton is not allowed in my house, which greatly surprises people who think it has to be absolutely the best tea on the planet because it’s the most advertised and everyone has heard of it. When I use tea bags I do something like the teabag mashing method described in the article though I do more stirring and swirling than mashing. I always felt a bit guilty about this because I thought it was another way that I was doing it wrong but letting the tea bag just sit in the cup for the recommended three minutes gives it too much time to cool off. This is another delightful discovery – that I’ve independently and unknowingly “invented” a tea brewing method that is used by the people famous for tea drinking.
When I use loose tea I brew it in a French press, which I decided to try after having three tea balls break in less than two years. I let it brew for a minute to a minute and a half with a kitchen towel wrapped around the press to help keep it hot. That works fairly well for keeping the tea hot enough though it doesn’t yield as hot a cup as the tea bag mashing/swirling method.
Finally, there’s the matter of milk in tea. Now that’s weird. I’ve only personally known one person who took milk in her tea. I did try it myself with a vanilla “chai” tea and it was okay. To put milk in plain black tea though… I just can’t. I can’t do that to a perfectly good cup of tea.
My favorite line from this wonderful article though, is “Of course, as every right-thinking British person knows: the only really correct way to drink tea is the way you take it yourself. Everyone else is just Doing It Wrong,” to which I can only say, “Indeed!”
July 31st, 2012 - 4:17 pm
Excellent stuff, Lynn. I was shocked to find out that most English folks use tea bags as well. I am *so* a loose tea snob. If Lipton is all there is I’ll have water, thanks. I don’t use a French press, though, I use a basket infuser (tea balls suck). I have a teapot with a cozy that keeps it warm for 2 cups worth and by then I have to get up to go to the bathroom anyway, so I brew more.
July 31st, 2012 - 5:36 pm
I’ll use Lipton in the summer for iced tea. I always add some good tea from a local shop for flavor and to take the bitter edge off.
July 31st, 2012 - 8:05 pm
Iced tea, sugar, ice, in a mason jar for me. Thanks.
August 1st, 2012 - 3:20 pm
Speaking as an english person, I’d agree that most english, (and, indeed, british) people use tea bags. That’s because we drink a lot of tea, and the teabag method’s easier, tidier, and with less clean-up to do.
I like loose tea. In fact, I like tea-leaves in my cup, I quite like nibbling the bigger bits. But then, I’m considered strange by those who strain.
I do make tea in a mug, with teabags, but I really prefer loose tea, steeped in a preheated teapot. I would, given that I’m a lapsed teapot maker.
Teaballs? What? What the…… No. I’ve never heard of tea-balls. As a male, I assume it’s some sort of malady we males can get from a surfeit of tea. But there’s no such thing as a surfeit of tea, so far as my experiments in saturation can prove.
Lipton? Lipton is that strange phenomenon, something the rest of the world thinks of as quintessentially english, yet almost unknown here.
I’m currently drinking Twinings 1706 blend, I like their Assam too. At work, I like a blend called ‘Builder’s tea’, strong and brown. No nonsense. A brain reviver.
But there are many blends available, sometimes a pale fragrant darjeeling is what’s required.
There are too many teas to even think of listing. One thing. I can’t abide those little teabags with a string attached, in a paper envelope, beloved of hotel chains. It’s almost impossible to get a decent drink out of them.
And in the U. S., I asked for tea in a few places. agh. first of all, so few tea drinkers ask for tea, that the tea you’re given is likely to be old and stale. Tea needs to be kept in an airtight, dark place. If it’s in a clear glass or plastic jar you’re killing it. If it’s not airtight, the aromatic oils evaporate. You might as well throw chopped cardboard in as try to get a good drink from old tea.
What else? Boiling! Boiling! Boiling!.
Heat the pot, throw the tea in, and tip boiling water over it, stir immediately. If there aren’t bubbles rising in the water you pour, it’s not boiling, and you will NEVER get a proper cup of tea that way.
Ha! A louisiana rest stop brought a jug of hot water and a sad little paper-envelope teabag to me. I didn’t have the heart to explain. I just said, on second thoughts, I’ll have the coffee.
The coffee smelled pretty good, but was acidic enough to degrease a truck.
August 2nd, 2012 - 7:17 am
This is a tea ball like one I had. After I had it only a short time it wouldn’t stay closed. On another one I had the little chain broke and I had one with a handle and spring and it didn’t last long either.
It is impossible to get good tea in a restaurant in the U.S. Usually they bring you a tea bag of some inferior brand and a little pot of water approximately the temperature of a baby’s bathwater.
Thank you for mentioning boiling. Yes the water must be BOILING. Most packages of tea bags over here have “brewing instructions” that say not to use boiling water or to use water that is just at the boiling point but not to let it actually boil and as with most instructions for anything it’s written in an authoritative tone that suggests dire results if the instructions are not followed to the letter.
This has been an informative and delightful comment thread. I think I must be a throwback to my British ancestors. (English and Irish)