Tea or milk in first?

[flobadob]

If you are making a pot of tea, do you put the milk into the cup and then pour the tea in or do you pour in the tea first and then add your milk. I think I heard once that if you have the milk in the cup first you may scald it when adding the tea and getting a poor flavour. Is there any truth in that do you think?

[cazzz1975]

there is no scalding possibility that I know of, I have my tea as hot as possible and its never adversely affected me :)

[LoftyLottie]

I am very insistent that the water has to be on the boil when making tea and if (on rare occasions) I use a teapot that the pot has to be warmed. Still, after nearly 40 years, Mr LL and I have arguments about this because he makes tea with water than has been off the boil for too long.

[LoftyLottie]

I think it can lead to cancer of the throat or oaesophogus (sp.!!!) if you constantly drink very hot drinks Cazz.

[Robinia]

I've just found out it was also used to prevent fine bone china cups from cracking when scalding water was poured into them.

If tea's made in a pot it's milk first but made in a mug with a tea bag it's milk last...and always very milky coffee! :o)

[cazzz1975]

..awww :/

[LoftyLottie]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7965380.stm

[cazzz1975]

aww I prefered to be dillusional ;)

[LoftyLottie]

http://www.telegraph....of-throat-cancer.html


:o(



And I drink hot black tea!!

[LoftyLottie]

Makes note not to accept invite to Robinia's coffee morning!!

[DC_FC]

i put milk in last

[chazza]

I remember hearing that it was a class thing that harks back to the olden days when the rich people who owned fine china didn't want to risk breaking it with their hot tea so put the milk in first, whereas the "commoners" were able to put the tea into their sturdier cups first

[flobadob]

cazzz, I meant the milk would be scalded, not your mouth.

[snags]

Never make a pot but tea first then milk. In coffee, milk first... and I can't believe I actually took time out to write this...

[flobadob]

Getting old snags, ha ha.

[jigman1]

I can remember reading a "scientific" report on this subject and it said the opposite of what you have stated flobadob.When you think about it if you pour the tea into the milk it gradually warms the milk up (albeit pretty quickly) .However to do the opposite it stated that you will scald the milk thus affecting its properties and most importantly affect the taste of the tea..

[heathfield]

Quite right, Jigman, that's the difference. Those of us with a discerning palate realise that 'Milk last' tends to give the milk that UHT sort of flavour. Yech!

[boxtops]

I rarely use milk in hot drinks, so when I make for someone else, I always put the milk in last, to get it to the right sort of colour.

[saxy_jag]

I think it goes back to the days when only rich people could afford fresh milk. If you were poor and the milk possibly a bit 'off' then you'd have put the milk in first and the tea afterwards because - supposedly - the boiling water in the tea would kill off the germs in the milk.

If, however. you could afford to keep your own cows and have fresh milk, then it would have been OK to do tea first (and it's said you would have stirred it with your little finger, hence cocking it in the air whilst drinking).

Don't know about the bone china cracking - as far as I'm aware, bone china is incredibly tough stuff.

My preference? If I'm doing t-bag in a mug, then it's hot water first, then t-bag out, then milk in (because I've been told that the fat globules in the milk clog up the little perforations in the t-bag and stop the flavour getting out). If I'm doing it properly with a teapot, then it's milk first.

[modeller]

I found out years ago, before tea bags, that if you put put milk in first you knew how much milk you wanted but more importantly it stopped fine tea leaves floating on the top. It still applies with tea bags to a lesser extent. The milk coats the leaves which causes them to sink.
As far as heat is concerned if tea pots and cups are heated up first there is no appreciable loss of heat . The tea can brew for as long as you wish, ( with a tea cosey ) and cold milk in a hot cup is nice and warm ready for the tea.
I've poured boiling water into bone china and never had one crack. I prefer a mug anyday , small cups especially thin china ones are a dead loss.

[flobadob]

A lot of theories floating about on the subject there. By the way jigman, read what I said again. It's not the opposite you reiterated what I was saying.