What makes a great cup of tea

[MagnetoSound]

I think you're asking the wrong question - it should be who makes the best cup of tea?

My first credit on a record was as Nick T. Froome

Unlike JamesT. Kirk (middle name Tiberius) I don't have a middle initial of T - it was a credit for epic tea-making

Nice!

My first credit was as Dan Teabag Sansom. I won't tell you what that was for ... 

 

[abbey road d enfer]

PG Tips all the way.    I've been drinking it since I was a child & it came with the tea cards.  Somewhere around I still have (in the hope they will be worth a  fortune some day) some full sets of tea cards I collected.

I don't like the Yorkshire tea or Tetley so much, probably because  I'm a PG person !!

I'm just back from a week in Spain; what they're trying to pass for tea at the hotel there was so awful I went to buy some at a local market. I saw PG tips and, as someone recommended it here, I bought it in confidence.
I must say I am very disappointed with it.
It has no taste at all, it seems like there is only colorant in it. It's strange, the water gets colored in about 5 seconds, and whatever the time you let it brew, the taste (or lack of it) doesn't change.
All in all, it was not a much better option than the mixture of sawdust and floordust the hotel provided.

 

[claireod]

What an interesting diversion from the usual brewery chat ,
Here in ireland tea is big business ,were one of the top tea drinkers per head  on the planet.
Tea bags ,yuck ,havent done bag tea in years ,not only do they contain floor sweepings ,but the plasticised fibre and adhesive used to keep them together messes with my waterworks ,without being too crude about it I dont piss as freely when I drink tea made from bags .
If its just tea for one ,I'll usually make it in the cup leaves and all ,you do have to learn not  to swig down the last bit in the cup though ,what I really like about that method is the tea gains strenght as you drink it.
The usual 'scalding' of the the pot or cup with boiling water before making it definately helps the brew.
Interesting what Ian said about flask tea ,its quite a bit different to regular pot or cup brewed ,thermos flask ,a proper vacum glass one and you can have great cuppa up in the mountains or by the riverside . if you make it the standard way with milk added to the flask ,the hours at high temprature  kinda cooks the milk ,of course with leaves in the flask its going to brew up strong too .
Theres something very comforting about having a cup of your favorite brew away in a remote location , Ive heard similar things said about whiskey ,even a modeslty priced one away in a picturesque location often tastes better than high priced one at home .

I did get a gift box of chinese black tea from a good friend who's married to a chinesse girl , nice big leaves and very aromatic too . Comes hermetically sealed in foil packets and a cellophane inner bag to prevent oxidation ,doesnt need milk or sugar to counteract the tannins

And yeah the water you brew with makes a big difference too , untreated well water seems to be better than the flourine infused crap that comes out of the tap in populated areas .

They do say that civilisation as we know it couldnt have existed without tea ,course in the days before tea ,men women and children drank a kind of light beer as unboiled  water could make you very sick indeed.

In Ireland there is two big tea companies Lyons is probably the most popular ,but the local Barrys tea is the one most Cork people drink .

I did live away on the continent at one stage and what they pass off as tea there is pure p1ss water ,yellowy acrid and lacking balls in terms of flavour, no wonder Dave P has to get the proper stuff delivered . Id imagine the Northern English tea is more like what we have here.

I also suspect that the chemicals than end up in the mix when you brew from a bag arent good ,plastics leach crap into foods when heated ,then you have the adhesives used to glue the bag as well , in fact I'd challenge any die hard teabager to try loose leaf for a week and then go back and try the bagged variety afterwards , no comparison, for me at least.

Glad to run into a fellow irishman on this thread! Barry's tea all the way ! (yes, I'm from Cork) For anyone who wants to experience the magic; http://www.barrystea.ie/

 

[The Kid]

This!

Being from the north of England, I’m also a fan of strong black tea (water boiling as it hits the PG teabag, as above, brewed - and mashed/dunked - for a good 4 or 5 minutes) with a decent amount of milk. I love some of the interesting fruit blends you get in the T2 shops that are popping up around the place these days (green tea, almond and honey!), but there’s nowt like a good builders’ brew to soothe the soul.

It never fails to tickle me how idiosyncratic the British cuppa seems to much of the rest of the world. Happy memories of ordering “a cup of tea with milk” in Hungary some years ago, and receiving a cup of piping hot lemon tea with a small pot of milk. Much ensuing confusion and hilarity.

Andy

Probably 30 years ago, I was watching the movie Lassie and there was a guy drinking tea with milk or cream, I think they were in Scotland.  I drink coffee with cream, but it hadn't occurred to me to try milk or cream in tea.  I tried it, and ever since, rarely have tea without milk.  Actually, I did have tea without milk couple weeks ago, just for a change of pace.  Still good, but not as good as with milk!!

 

[ln76d]

What makes a great cup of tea?

A good companion

Then it doesn't matter is it black, green, red, white or mate