We put salt in our tea so you don't have to

It's well established that the British are an eccentric people. Among their national obsessions is drinking tea – they consider themselves experts – and one way to trigger the entire United Kingdom is to fuck with the formula. But that is exactly what American chemistry professor Michelle Francl has done with her new book, …

[Bilby]

Who on Earth thought it was a good idea to ask an American how to make tea??

Next week, a vegetarian will give us tips on the best way to cook steak.

Then we shall hear from a fish, who will provide the latest advice on bicycle repair.

And finally, a masterclass in diplomacy, from Vlad the Impaler.

[Lurko]

"Who on Earth thought it was a good idea to ask an American how to make tea??"

Well, given the fact that the overwhelming majority of British peasants use cheap "tea"bags that produce a brown liquid that tastes of sawdust, it's only fair to see what teacrimes other nations can conjur up.

[Chris Miller]

Exactly. The best way to improve a cuppa made with teabags is to pour it down the sink.

AIUI the original US thought was that, if you've 'stewed' your tea by leaving it too long (unlikely in the US, where I've never experienced water hotter than lukewarm), you can rescue it by adding a little salt to counteract the bitterness. But if I stew the tea, I just throw it away and make fresh, it's not as though a couple of teaspoons of tea will break the bank.

For the benefit of overseas readers - how to make a cuppa (it's not rocket science) - you will need:

A kettle; a teapot; some loose leaf tea (M&S Extra Strong for me); milk; cups or mugs for drinking from; sugar (no thanks, but optional).

1. Empty kettle and refill with sufficient fresh water to fill the teapot.

2. Bring to boil.

3. Fill the (empty) teapot.

4. Pour back into kettle and reboil.

5. Add a couple of teaspoons of tea to the teapot (mine's a 1l pot, if you're using a larger one scale up accordingly).

6. Pour on the **boiling** water, stir vigorously and leave for 6 minutes (timing can be adjusted for strength).

7. Add milk to the cups/mugs and pour through a strainer. Some will insist that milk must be added after the tea; I won't argue, but they're simply wrong :)

8. Enjoy!

[cornetman]

This is absolutely correct.

I do often put a teabag into the cup and use the kettle to fill it, but expediency overcomes shame when I'm in a hurry.

[Martin an gof]

Not sure about putting water from the teapot back into the kettle to reboil - after all, the kettle might next be used to boil water for something that won't benefit from a slight undertone of tea. I usually put slightly more water than is required to boil and take a bit off to warm the teapot just before the boiling completes. By the time you've swilled out the pot and put some tea in (personally, good quality tea bags are nearly as good as loose leaf and somewhat more convenient), the boiling is finished and you have near 100 degree water to get the brewing going.

Milk first. Pasteurised, preferably non-homogenised (but well-shaken), full cream or semi-skimmed to taste but absolutely not skimmed, and definitely not UHT. Just a little, though adding more can help make poor quality tea more palatable.

No sugar.

And never* wash the teapot.

The only place where I don't do this is at work where speed and convenience mean bag-in-cup does the job, and lack of fellow tea-drinkers means UHT milk is the only practical solution.

Scum on top of the tea is usually because the water you've boiled is "hard". Around here that is never an issue (some of the softest water in the country - don't even have to put salt in the dishwasher). Not sure if there'd be a benefit to pre-softening water used for tea. I've never lived in a place with water hard enough that I felt it necessary to experiment.

M.

*ok, so perhaps you can wash it once a year or so, but give it a good swill with boiling water afterwards and don't expect the first couple of brews to be quite up to scratch. If bits of stuff start flaking off the inside when you pour the tea, this is absolutely not a problem if you are already using a tea strainer. Oh, and make sure you empty it and swill it out and leave it with the lid off if you're going away for more than a few days. The last thing you need to find when you get back, desperate for a cuppa after a long trip, is that your teapot is rapidly evolving new lifeforms.

[Eclectic Man]

Warming the pot

My friend puts a small amount of cold water into the teapot, and then puts it in the microwave to warm it up for brewing. The microwaved water is discarded before putting the tea leaves in, and if you have a microwave safe teapot, I understand this can save time.

Note: Does not work with steel, sliver or aluminium teapots, and could cause damage to your £2,000 Wedgwood teapot: https://www.harrods.com/en-gb/shopping/riverton-teapot-16850906?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_6fjubWAhAMVMFdBAh2fXwv4EAQYASABEgK_afD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[FIA]

some loose leaf tea (M&S Extra Strong for me);

If you're going to bother with all that faf, at least get some decent tea.

The Buckingham Palace Garden Party is a personal favourite, but if you're after something with a bit more punch then the Dubliners Irish Breakfast or the Rukeri Estate Bio Op from Rwanda are both great too.

[Philo T Farnsworth]

Bag the bag!

I'm an American and, as such, probably have no business sticking my big Yank nose in here but. . . a former British colleague called the contents of a tea bag "floor sweepings" and I tend to agree.

As far as preparation of a proper pot of tea, I learned the correct manner of brewing from an episode of the British telly classic, "The Prisoner."

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: Bag the bag!

It is literally floor sweepings. I've been to Sri Lanka, and seen the sweepings pointed to as "for export to Britain".

[Terry 6]

Reboiling water isn't great for tea.

Warming the pot might be useful, but I'm not convinced and using freshly boiled water is more important IMHO. If you do want to, hot tap water poured in and out is surely warm enough.

I let Ceylon tea steep for 2-3 minutes, Darljeeling 3-5 minutes. (Waitrose own brand leaf tea)

[Roj Blake]

Re: Some will insist that milk must be added after the tea

If you're making tea in a mug, then the milk has to go in after the water, to ensure the correct temperature for brewing.

For the teapot method though, putting milk into the cup before the tea helps prevent your best porcelain getting stained.

[Terry 6]

Re: Some will insist that milk must be added after the tea

helps prevent your best porcelain getting stained.

Originally, breaking through heat shock.

[HMcG]

If you are fussing with all this but still filling your kettle with chlorinated tap-water, you don't know what you are talking about.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Who on Earth thought it was a good idea to put tea in bags?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_bag

...Americans

[Evil Auditor]

Yeah. And who on Earth buys all those tea bags?!

_{...and so do I whenever I get hold of a package of PG or Yorkshire. More for nostalgic reason, as they are not readily available everywhere on the continent.}

[Tim99]

The dreadful tea from bags can be ameliorated by purchasing better quality "pot" bags (without the string), or cutting the string off and using a pre-warmed teapot. If a teapot is not available, an approximation can be made by using a mug that has been heated with boiling water from a kettle. Then add the teabag, pour boiling water onto the bag and fill to within a centimetre (5 mOsman) of the rim. Place a saucer or small plate on top of the mug. Wait 4-5 mins and remove the teabag. If you prefer to add milk take another empty mug and add the required (small) amount of milk, then carefully decant the prepared tea into the mug - This avoids a bitter taste, as the milk will not be denatured as it would be by adding it directly to the first mug (the extra heat interferes with the binding of bitter tannins/polyphenols in the tea). See also: How to make a perfect cup of tea (Royal Society of Chemistry).

[Mark C 2]

Tea

1. Do not use tea bags as they can contain up to 25% plastic so adding boiling warter is likely to leach nasty stuff into your brew.

2. Boiling water was required during the war when the quality of tea was poor but that is no longer the case. Unless using tea bags...

[Terry 6]

Re: Tea

2 Boiling fresh water still is needed for black tea

and

1 You can get plastic-free teabags- we have these for guests* because I don't want the plastic in my compost bin and th environment

*Since I'm usually the only tea drinker during the week I have one of those mugs with a removable stainless steel insert that holds the tea leaves. Like a kind of mini-teapot. But we don't have guests fussy enough to only drink proper leaf tea.

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: Tea

Terry 6,

I'm the only tea drinker in my flat. Except when there are guests. But a teapot allows you to have two cups. The second is usually the nicest. A tea cosy keeps it warm. Although I also have the one cup strainers, for when I'm using unusual teas that I don't want to use my normal teapot for. Black teas with bits of dried fruit in can be really nice for a change, but I'm assuming they'd flavour the teapot.

[Blakey]

I mean, our intrepid reporter apparently thinks you add the milk immediately and then steep the bag in the now much colder mixture of milk and water rather than steeping, removing the bag, then adding milk. A bizarre habit that should be punishable by law.

So maybe the seppos could teach them a thing or two.

[anonymous boring coward]

But it's still a teabag, so "doing it right" is of little consequence.

[Bebu]

Who on Earth thought it was a good idea to ask an American how to make tea??

I don't imagine anyone actually needed to ask.

Of course these insurrectionists have been adding salt to tea since Boston 1773 - ok, more a case of adding tea to salt.

Personally once you get to 3. (adding milk) you lose me* as you could probably get the same result using blacking lead instead of tea (was once a common adulterant.) :) - I suspect Wm Cobbett was right about tea drinking by the polloi.

*My poison: Formosan Oolong.

[steelpillow]

Ramble, blither

Salt? Apparently our esteemed researcher discovered the recipe in an ancient Chinese manuscript. So it's probably true for Chinese tea, which to my palate tastes bitter - unlike the Kenyan tea, of Indian descent, that ends up in our teabags. I prefer my China tea with a slice of lemon and no milk - or salt! Sugar according to the weather.

But then, someone has to be first to recall Arthur Dent's rant at the Sirius Cybernetics AI drinks dispenser on the Heart of Gold spaceship.

I am actually more accustomed to NATO Standard (1. Milk, 2. two sugars, 3. Strong, India-style cheap tea from a very large pot), which is just what you need when you come in out of the storm and tramp across the Portakabin (if you're lucky) in your muddy Doc Martens.

Tibetans traditionally prefer China style tea but with all the twiggy bits left in, to which they add a dob of butter. Most butter in Tibet is rancid (They use it for sculpture in the winter) and His Holiness the current Dalai Lama has said that the quality of the tea depends very much on the quality of the butter.

The best tea I ever drank was a loose-leaf tea, probably from Ceylon, brewed in an ancient aluminium teapot (silver is so gauche, dear boy) encrusted with the brown residues of a thousand such brews.

Salted caramel choccie anybody? Yecch!

[that one in the corner]

Re: Ramble, blither

> Most butter in Tibet is rancid

According to my in-depth studies of an old Journal Of Record[1], the supply of Tibetan rancid yak butter has been endangered by the import of modern detergents, as the yaks are no longer rancid.

[1] The Beano

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: Ramble, blither

The best tea I ever drank was a loose-leaf tea, probably from Ceylon...

served in a fine bone china cup.

That does make a difference to the taste, especially when taken without milk.

Also, unlike wine, which improves with age, tea does not, so, keep a tab on how old it is

[Eclectic Man]

Re: Ramble, blither

On holiday in Bhutan, the locals drink tea with butter and salt. We were warned to think of it more as a kind of soup, and it was ok.

The best tea I ever had was at Cazenove & Co (I had an underling meeting with a 'partner') and it really was very nice, black, brewed but not stewed, and a cup and saucer, not a mug. But then C & Co partners know how to live, and have the money to 'make it so'.

My personal opinion (and it is just my opinion, I don't have your tastebuds) is that tea brewed properly, and not stewed, is best black without sugar, honey or any other additives. For tea which has been stewed I add sugar or milk to make it palatable.

[Aleph0]

Re: Ramble, blither

> Tibetans traditionally prefer China style tea but with all the twiggy bits left in, to which they add a dob of butter.

When I went there five years ago, the "yak butter tea" we were served was invariably just hot water with a crushed very hard white substance (totally different from the yellow stuff we saw burning candle-like in the temples), with no trace of anything vegetal in it. It tasted quite salty, and just a sip was enough for me; it took all I had to not spit it out...

I thought the locals were playing a prank on us tourists, but some in our group that had previously traveled in the Little Tibet region on the Indian side of the Himalayas were very much appreciating that drink and kept on assuring us it was the real deal.

Methinks I've had enough salty tea for a lifetime, thank you very much. Icon is my reaction at the first sip.

[steelpillow]

Re: Ramble, blither, wibble

Fascinating to hear in all these responses how the Himalayans are as variegated, cussed and ornery as we Brits. Restores my faith in human nature. I offer you all a somewhat more palatable icon - just, don't salt it!

[elsergiovolador]

Re: Ramble, blither

I think most likely someone was peeing to their tea and they just added that theory about salt... rationalising and simply denying the reality.

[PhilipN]

Re: Ramble, blither

I beg to point out that there are literally hundreds probably thousands of Chinese teas from all over the country from different climates soils altitudes etc and more ways of brewing it than you can shake a stick at.

For example some years ago I read about the American (I know - I know) scientist who took something like an hour an a half to brew his perfect cuppa of Chinese (NOT Indian) tea.

And don’t even get me started on Japanese tea ceremonies etc. Nobody West of Java stands a chance with ‘em.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

America...

Let's just not tell them about "proper" chocolate

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: America...

Or bacon. Or beer. Or cheese, etc

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: America...

And looking further down the thread, proper mains electricity too.

[Paul Crawford]

Re: America...

Very true, tasted electricity in the USA once before and it was not nice!

[David 132]

Re: America...

> tasted electricity in the USA once before and it was not nice!

For best eating, it needs to be in freshly baked bread.

What? Haven’t you heard of a Current Bun?

[Anonymous Coward]

tasted electricity in the USA once before and it was not nice!...

Its the extra 10 Hz that er... hurts.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: tasted electricity in the USA once before and it was not nice!...

@AC(!) - Too subtle there to garner up votes! It must Hertz.

Have a beer instead

[Peter Prof Fox]

Pointless if potless

If you can't be bothered to make tea in a pot then why bother? Warm the pot first of course. Teabags are fine but save us from bags on a string. Gunpowder Tea doesn't contain any gunpowder. As for microwaves... Don't the Colonials have kettles? I wouldn't put it past them to drink the same tea at breakfast and in the afternoon.

[m4r35n357]

Re: Pointless if potless

Teabags in a pot for me, best of both words, and you can have fun telling the "mug jockeys" that you put the milk in the cup first (so as not to scald it) ;)

[A Non e-mouse]

Re: Pointless if potless

QI claims that americans can't use electric kettles due to their voltage only being 110v

I have no idea how true this is. "Facts" on QI have to be treated with a pinch of salt (unlike tea which must never come into contact with salt)

[werdsmith]

Re: Pointless if potless

I had a working kettle in the Orlando holiday house that I had for two weeks. It was British owned and used mostly for British tourists so it was a given.

I noticed it performed very badly compared to my Blighty kettles but I had just assumed it was a cheapo one.

I should know but but I can’t be bothered to think it through but power is power. Less voltage more amps and vice versa.

[gnasher729]

Re: Pointless if potless

If it was actually British it won’t heat very well with 120 Volt only.

[werdsmith]

Re: Pointless if potless

Definitely locally purchased. KMart have a selection.

[Malcolm Weir]

Re: Pointless if potless

Yup... power is power: Brit 13A socket @ 240V = 3120W. Yankee 15A socket @ 110V = 1650W. Usually each is implemented as a bit less (e.g. 3000W and 1500W, respectively).

The only advantage to using a microwave per advice from the US Embassy London is that you tend to only heat a cupful; functionally the thing is only delivering the same power (granted the power transfer into the water is more efficient, but the generation of the waves is less efficient than just an electric heating element).

[Adrian Harvey]

Re: Pointless if potless

Standard US sockets, cables are 15A, so at 110V that’s ~1600W max kettle power. In the UK kettles are mostly 3000W so boil water in about half the time it takes in the US.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any - but they are less popular. Also, stove-top kettles are more common than in the UK - stoves have lots more power (or may be gas)

[m4r35n357]

Re: Pointless if potless

Mains electricity is "constant" voltage, not current, so dissipated power is proportional to v^2, i.e. British mains gives about 4 times the power for the same element resistance.

[m4r35n357]

Re: Pointless if potless

So heartening to see EE is considered a debatable issue these days!

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: Pointless if potless

Why would you have the same element resistance on a 100V device? That would be stupid.

[m4r35n357]

Re: Pointless if potless

Just an example, that's all. Of course if you lower the resistance by a factor of four to compensate you quadruple the current draw.

[KarMann]

Re: Pointless if potless

Funny how you mention EE being debatable elsewhere. Where I come from, that would mean doubling the current.

[m4r35n357]

Re: Pointless if potless

I = V / R

and we have lowered R by a factor of 4 to preserve power

[KarMann]

Re: Pointless if potless

Praytell, how much have you reduced the voltage?

[m4r35n357]

Re: Pointless if potless

Try reading back up the thread. You appear to be interrogating me despite not knowing what the issue is!

[KarMann]

Re: Pointless if potless

Are you not discussing reducing the resistance to compensate for approximately half the voltage whilst maintaining the same power?

ETA: I mean, after anonymous boring coward discussed using the same resistance with half the voltage, which of course would result in a quarter the power.

[fromxyzzy]

Re: Pointless if potless

I have an electric kettle in the US, purchased a few years ago when I lived in a very small apartment with an ancient electric stove (rusting and older than I) and didn't want to leave the traditional aluminum kettle on the hob 24/7/365 but wanted to be able to boil water quickly. The electric kettle gets water to boiling faster than the hob and wastes far less radiant energy, since the stovetop kettle is incredibly inefficient, but it's rare to find them outside of hotel rooms because they're comparatively expensive given that the vast majority of the time when one needs to boil water it's for cooking, not a beverage or cup noodle.

As a matter of fact, my uncle gave me a ridiculous copper-gilded stovetop kettle for Christmas last month that he'd picked up at some discount store like Costco or Sam's Club. Didn't have the heart to tell him I went electric years ago and had to clear some space in a cabinet for it to rest in for a few years before it goes to charity.

I make my tea the NATO way except in the cup because nuts to your teapots, and I use Twinings because all of the available alternatives are awful.

[Jellied Eel]

Re: Pointless if potless

...the vast majority of the time when one needs to boil water it's for cooking, not a beverage or cup noodle.

Yes, well, Americans aren't that smart. If you need a saucepan of water brought to the boil, it's faster and probably more energy efficient to boil the water in the kettle and then add it to the pan.

As a matter of fact, my uncle gave me a ridiculous copper-gilded stovetop kettle for Christmas last month

Beware cheap copper kettles and pans-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saxga-xm0Rk

even if you aren't unfortunate enough to suffer from Wilson's Disease.

Also seems a bit of a moot point given a lot of left-pondians seem to insist on drinking their tea cold. If you want it salty, just add a dollop of Marmite.

[Eclectic Man]

Re: Pointless if potless

I have a KitchenAid 'artisan kettle, American made but built for use in the UK. It has a temperature control for when a blend of tea needs brewing at something below 100C, and is double-skinned to conserve energy. Very good. I also have a water softener so it has not clogged up at all with limescale.

(Cue lots of people warning me about drinking softened water, and cursing me for making tea with softened water. But it is my kettle and I don't inflict it on other people.)

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: Pointless if potless

Drinking softened water - found this...

https://www.ecowater-softeners.co.uk/for-your-family/drinking-softened-water/

The amount of sodium in the softened water is proportional to the water hardness.

If, however you get a reverse osmosis kit, then, you get pure water, but that's not without problems,

As for the 'artisan' kettle - I know someone who's got the full set, including a KitchenAid Nespresso machine. The electronics on the kettle was on the blink the last time I visited - so, there was no Tea.

[Roland6]

Re: Pointless if potless

Growing up on chalk lands, I appreciated softened water is good for pipe work and fun to wash in, however, I didn’t see the point of drinking it, preferring the health benefits of high calcium intake.

[Brewster's Angle Grinder]

Down South: even the water's hard.

Last time I checked, you could get your entire RDA of calcium from 7.5l of tap water. Which, I guess, is why people bottle it up and sell it as mineral water.

[Eclectic Man]

Re: Pointless if potless

Very interesting link, thanks.

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: Pointless if potless

"The electronics on the kettle was on the blink the last time I visited - so, there was no Tea."

So the person didn't own a pot to boil water in?

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: Pointless if potless

I used to sell water softeners. The NHS won't allow them on drinking water. Because of making up baby milk formula (which already contains salt), and people on low-sodium diets due to heart conditions.

Quick back of fag packet maths:

Chiltern hills water hardness about 450ppm - mostly calcium and magnesium chlorides - there's a few places worse in the UK, but not many.

Soften that (ion-exchange) gives roughly half - so 220ppm sodium.

So that's 0.22g of sodium per litre of water.

Your RDA of salt is 6g a day. Of which c.40% is sodium - so sodium RDA is 2.4g.

So 1L of water is almost 10% of your RDA

A quick Google suggests the recommended sodium intake after heart failure is 1.5g - so you can see how the amount in your water becomes significant at that point.

Personally I'd drink it with no worries. And have in the past. Though I don't like the taste of it much, becuase I grew up on hard water. But you don't notice that when you mix it with any kind of flavouring. Plus it's great in the kettle, because you don't get limescale bits (or scum) in your tea, your cup stays clean even if you drink it black - and your kettle uses less power when not scaled up.

[heyrick]

Re: Pointless if potless

"it's faster and probably more energy efficient to boil the water in the kettle and then add it to the pan"

Technology Connections covered this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c

[Jellied Eel]

Re: Pointless if potless

Technology Connections covered this...

Heh, contains science! Less sure about saying US doesn't use kettles because they don't drink tea. Mine, and I suspect many Europeans gets used as a general water heater and time saver. I microwave rice, and 1 mug rice to 2 mugs boiled water makes that go a lot faster. Same with pretty much any cooking.

But I am curious what the impact would be if the US does decided to modernise and adopt the kettle. So the good'ol Corrie effect where electricity demand surges when the ad breaks come on. I guess for the UK, that's become less of an issue as ratings fall and people switch to non-linear TV, but I guess it would have quite an impact in the US for major events like Superbowl ad breaks.

[Malcolm Weir]

Re: Pointless if potless

I have contemplated getting a 208V socket added to my (US) kitchen, so I can power a BritKettle (tm). I believe I have 208V to the hob, so it's more a matter of ensuring the socket is installed per building regs and the owner (i.e. me) does the dodgy part to put a US plug on a British kettle (or install a US->UK plug adapter on the wall, so I can just plug the BritKettle in).

However, one of the perpetually amusing things with these sorts of tea (or coffee) making rituals is they often get very excited about how the water must be boiling... but who tells the tea leaf whether the water was boiling or just off? Obviously, no-one, so the real message is that the hotter the water, the faster the brew and the less likely the result will taste "stewed", and the "hottest" water (ignoring superheating, etc) means boiling water. This is of some relevance to me, as it's well know that water boils at 93.8C [1]!

Which leads to the conundrum: is it worth getting the 208V socket in order to get water at less than 94C? My suspicion is that it's probably not, and the effort would likely be better spent getting a "boiling tap" added to the sink for the equally important task of making peas...

[jake]

Re: Pointless if potless

It's highly unlikely you have 208V available at your house, unless you are wired for 3-phase.

However, it is pretty easy to run a 240V circuit from most North American household breaker panels, should you care enough. Many newer houses come wired with such circuitry. The sockets are incompatible with 110/120V equipment, so it's safe.

Instant-on boiling taps work well, IF the occupants of the house understand the concept of "hot".

Black, fermented tea works best with boiling water (212F or 100C). Other teas work best at progressively cooler brewing temperatures.

Coffee requires 91-96C. Any hotter and you release the bitter acidic components that some (most?) people find narsty, any less and you miss out on some of the best aromatics (and in fact, the closer you can hold it at 96C (205F) while it brews, without going over, the better your coffee will be).

[1] NMF, but Denver?

[Jellied Eel]

Re: Pointless if potless

Which leads to the conundrum: is it worth getting the 208V socket in order to get water at less than 94C? My suspicion is that it's probably not, and the effort would likely be better spent getting a "boiling tap" added to the sink for the equally important task of making peas...

I have also pondered this, more so having watched that video and them showing off smaller versions. Previously I'd been looking at fancier plumbed-in versions but held off given the price, space needed and being in a hard water area, needing a softener as well. Main thing that puts me off is the tank volume, ie they may be fine for mugs of coffee, but less useful for cooking. So figure on a Sunday lunch for 2+ people, and maybe wanting 3 or 4 saucepans of hot water. Kettle is quite manageable, and a lot cheaper.

Also never really noticed much difference in water temperature, but I drink tea or coffee more for effect than taste. Some day, I'll measure the temps when I turn off the kettle as it's coming to the boil vs letting it shut off. And pondering <100C boiling, how hard it'd be to make a pressurised kettle that adjusts for local altitude. There seems to be a big market for coffee and tea gadgets, so maybe that would sell.

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: Pointless if potless

If you have a gas stove, and UK energy prices, then it's still much cheaper to boil water on the stove.

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: Pointless if potless

" the vast majority of the time when one needs to boil water it's for cooking, not a beverage or cup noodle"

For us it's the opposite. Most boiling of water is for the purpose of making tea and coffee.

But we don't drink soft drinks and such sugary junk during daytime. Just tea and coffee.

[DanielsLateToTheParty]

Re: Pointless if potless

Sorry to burst your bubble... but not so sorry as I'm doing it anyway. Here are exhaustive tests which show that even on 120V the kettle is still faster than the stove. https://youtu.be/_yMMTVVJI4c

The kettle inertia is just a cultural one like circumcision, Americans have been doing it so long that they can no longer tell how cruel and unnecessary it is.

[jake]

Re: Pointless if potless

"Standard US sockets, cables are 15A, so at 110V that’s ~1600W max kettle power."

That's for lighting circuits. Kitchen circuits are nominally 20A@110V ... but many homes also have 30A@220V in the kitchen and garage, along with the 50A@220 for the dryer and oven(s) (and the new-fangled 'leccy car, for those who have bought into the marketing).

"In the UK kettles are mostly 3000W so boil water in about half the time it takes in the US."

Which is a totally, utterly, and completely useless metric on a day to day level. I mean, if your time is so scheduled that taking one or two minutes (while you properly heat the pot and break out the biscuits, etc.) longer to boil screws up your daily routine, you should probably seek help. Relax, wind down, learn to homebrew or bake bread before your blood pressure gets out of hand.

"That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any - but they are less popular."

The only reason kettles are less popular in the US is because America is a coffee culture, not a tea culture. Coffee pots are self heating.

[cryptopants]

Re: Pointless if potless

120 V is the requirement here in the US. It’s been that way for a few decades.

Are the British still using the antiquated ring system? You know, the one that necessitates their overbuilt sockets because they don’t have the protection built into the walls as the US does?

[werdsmith]

Re: Pointless if potless

The British have both overbuilt sockets and fused appliances and protection from RCDs, RCCDs, RCBOs and other stuff now in the regulations.

The ring system replaced the pre-war radial system because of copper shortage and can carry more current over thinner cable.

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: Pointless if potless

"and can carry more current over thinner cable"

Doesn't sound right. Higher voltage allows more *power* over thinner wires.

A wire of a specific thickness (square mm) carry the same max current, regardless of topology used, or voltage used.

[collinsl]

Re: Pointless if potless

As in "the current can transit through both "legs" of the ring to the socket so you're effectively putting in two cables to each socket. Therefore the thickness of the cable is "almost" doubled.

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: Pointless if potless

"As in "the current can transit through both "legs" of the ring to the socket so you're effectively putting in two cables to each socket. Therefore the thickness of the cable is "almost" doubled."

Right. But then the effective cross section area is doubled. And the length of cable to obtain this is doubled. You just spread it out better for more sockets in diverse locations.

For the doubling effect to work perfectly, the load would have to be the maximum distance from the source in both directions (half-way).

According to wikipedia the real savings in copper seems to be about 25%.

[Martin an gof]

Re: Pointless if potless

Are the British still using the antiquated ring system?

As I've argued previously, the ring final layout has several advantages - not least of which is economy of cable use - though it also has one or two disadvantages, particularly in modern times. In the UK, the ring final is still an acceptable way of wiring sockets (nothing else, mind) and radials have also always been possible and are often preferred if you have enough "ways" in your consumer unit (fusebox) for the number of circuits you need.

UK sockets are not "overbuilt", they are "well engineered" (in stark contrast to some common practice in the US) and the plugs which fit them are quite likely the best design of low-power plug other than its unfortunate habit to land pins-up if dropped.

M.

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: Pointless if potless

UK plugs are very bulky, however. And the exposed, when partially inserted, prongs isn't a nice feature.

If Euro plugs and sockets had a keyed Live and Neutral, I would prefer them. From a consumer's perspective, I think they are much easier to use. (God, these UK plugs can take some force to pull out.)

[Martin an gof]

Re: Pointless if potless

the exposed, when partially inserted, prongs

Not since the early 1980s. All 'prongs' (except the earth) are sheathed and do not make electrical contact while any conductive parts are accessible.

[Roland6]

Re: Pointless if potless

> America is a coffee culture, not a tea culture. Coffee pots are self heating.

I remember the ubiquitous filter coffee makers, with the pot that had been left on too long, so contained a warm brown liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee. I fully understood why Americans raved over Starbucks.

If you want to visit a real coffee culture, visit Europe…

[werdsmith]

Re: Pointless if potless

Starbucks is dogshit sugared coffee.

And those diners in the US that give out free coffee fill ups from those filter jugs that stand around all days are repulsive.

[Jellied Eel]

Re: Pointless if potless

The only reason kettles are less popular in the US is because America is a coffee culture, not a tea culture. Coffee pots are self heating.

I've been to Starbucks, and I know this is a lie! However my personal coffee consumption has been cut down to 2 methods since my fancy Krupps automatic grinder/coffee maker wore out. So now it's either expresso, ie instant or a french press. Both do the important thing of introducing caffeine to blood stream faster than most self-heating gizmos that are mostly intended to copy HP and get you wasting a fortune on consumables. Oh, and I also still have an ancient percolator, which I think is the best way to make seriously strong coffee!

[CountCadaver]

Re: Pointless if potless

*Espresso

[Jellied Eel]

Re: Pointless if potless

*Espresso

Nope, Expresso as in fast coffee! :p

[fromxyzzy]

Re: Pointless if potless

They exist, but are only marginally faster than stovetop kettles and considerably more expensive than the chunk of aluminum that comes with the set of cheap pots and pans you get when you move in to your first apartment/home. Kettles also don't get used as much in general.

More common in recent years if you accept those Keurig machines with a separate hot water spigot as an electric kettle.

[cryptopants]

Re: Pointless if potless

110 V?? 120 V has been the requirement since 1994. I live in California where the weather is perfect so I don’t drink a lot of tea. That said, I do occasionally boil water. Yes, it takes longer, but I don’t sit there and watch it boil. I find other things to do for those couple of minutes it takes.

I wonder about the Japanese since they are only on 100 V and drink more tea than the British.

[Bebu]

Re: Pointless if potless

《I wonder about the Japanese since they are only on 100 V and drink more tea than the British.》

Perhaps they use a traditional charcoal heat source (chanoyu) but more likely they have more patience (and longer lives*) than those from the Anglosphere.

*helps if most of the population don't own firearms and aren't trying to kill you.

[collinsl]

Re: Pointless if potless

> *helps if most of the population don't own firearms and aren't trying to kill you.

Like the UK?

[Malcolm Weir]

Re: Pointless if potless

Japanese tea culture generally uses lower-temperature water (about 80C, if I recall correctly). For every Brit asserting that the water must be boiling, there's a Japanese tea guru demanding that it isn't!

[muddysteve]

Re: Pointless if potless

Japanese tea culture generally uses lower-temperature water (about 80C, if I recall correctly). For every Brit asserting that the water must be boiling, there's a Japanese tea guru demanding that it isn't!

Japanese tea tends to be green tea, which requires a lower temperature than the black tea the Brits tend to use. So both are right.

[Joe W]

Re: Pointless if potless

Not true, or basically wrong. I think.... Technology Connections did a test, kettles work in the US. (if I recall correctly)

[Lurko]

Re: Pointless if potless

"Teabags are fine "

No. So much no.

[Tim99]

Re: Pointless if potless

As for microwaves... Don't the Colonials have kettles? - They do have kettles, but they are limited to 110-120V and >15A, unlike the "proper" UK/AU 230/240V and 10/13A so they take about half as long again to boil. A 1kW microwave probably is not much longer, but would have significant safety issues from superheating and manual handling - The superheating issue can be reduced by placing a wooden stirrer in the vessel (or, heaven forbid!) a teabag...

Someone working in our local "Environmentally Friendly" show-house told me that they had found that a traditional wide-bottomed steel based kettle on an induction hob was quicker and used less power than a conventional kettle.

[heyrick]

Re: Pointless if potless

"If you can't be bothered to make tea in a pot then why bother?"

Expediency. It's just before 9am and I'm on my third mug of Tetley (and an hour late as it is Sunday). I now feel almost alive enough to pass as a barely functioning human. Therefore....time to go put the kettle on.

[Terry 6]

Re: Pointless if potless

Re: Don't the Colonials have kettles?

Apparently not. In many/most homes.

[John Miles]

I did know someone that would sprinkle salt in his tea - he said it made it taste sweeter, but there was lots of bemused looks around the table the first time we saw it happen.

I didn't verify whether that was true as I can't stand Tea.

[I ain't Spartacus]

I know it works with popcorn. A small amount of salt added makes sugared popcorn taste sweeter, so you can use less sugar.

[Anonymous Coward]

A missed opportunity to discuss standards

There are well established military standards for tea.

NATO - made in a tea urn. Equivalent of milk and 2 sugars added to the urn and you don't get a choice.

Julie (Andrews) - white nun (white no sugars)

Whoopi (goldberg) - black nun (black no sugar)

[Jan Ingvoldstad]

Barbarians …

… put milk in their tea, drowning the flavors.

Ah, there’s my coat!

[Neil Barnes]

Re: Barbarians …

Five words: lapsang souchong, black, no sugar.

[Paul Crawford]

Re: Barbarians …

Ah yes, smoked sausage tea?

[jake]

Re: Barbarians …

That's not tea, that's gravy.

_{There is a special place in hell for people who waste sausage drippings.}

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Barbarians …

Yep, goes straight in the mashed potatoes.

[ravenviz]

Re: Barbarians …

If people stopped putting milk in their tea, they might actually be able to taste it!

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: Barbarians …

Surprisingly Sainsbury's Red Label was the tea I grew up with. Loose leaf, so made in a pot, my parents aren't animals.

But since I grew up and changed to drinking it black - Sainsbury's Red Label is still my tea of choice. I spent a couple of years experiementing. I do very much like a nice Darjeeling - but not for everyday. I'm also a fan of an Early Gray every so often. I like green tea and jasmine tea, but not had a white tea that I liked yet.

[stiine]

The first thing that came to mind was, of course, the Sirius Cybernetics Company, soon followed by the realisation that you've just taken over Mr. Haines' desk. I do now expect more articles like this one, but preferrably slightly more flippant.

[Excellentsword]

So it has been for some years now. Gosh, I'll try to up the flippancy, but I do get edited.

[DoContra]

Mine's the mate

And the proper one, not from a soft-drink can, not made with teamate bags, no sugar/sweeteners, no other herbs.

(Although I do enjoy the occasional tea/mate cuppa, and my favorites so far have been Ceylon and Darjeeling).

[Doctor Syntax]

I think I can spot two problems in your experimental method at step 3. First you're adding milk. This ruins it. Secondly you mention weird floaty brown stuff. This indicates you're using hard water. If you have the misfortune to be in a hard water area you should try a water softener although this may wll put sodium ions into the tea anyway.

As to Franci's argument for salt, it rests on the assumption that the bitter receptors need to be blocked. Why?

[DanielsLateToTheParty]

Around 25% of people are over sensitive to bitter compounds and hence don't like tea or coffee. I must be in this group because I also dislike beer and dark chocolate, although milk chocolate is good and salted caramel chocolate is heavenly.

Also roughly 25% of people are under sensitive to bitter or cannot taste it at all. Which helps explain the bizarre phenomenon of eating sprouts!

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2016/05/31/super-tasters-non-tasters-is-it-better-to-be-average/

[Doctor Syntax]

"Around 25% of people are over sensitive to bitter ...

Also roughly 25% of people are under sensitive to bitter ..."

That''s normal distributions, for you.

As to sprouts, plant breeding has made great strides over the years. They're not like they used to be when I hated them.

[Phil O'Sophical]

They're not like they used to be when I hated them

Yes, all too often these days they're tasteless.

Kalettes are slowly catching on though (like sprouts, but tiny kales, not cabbages). Very tasty.

[jake]

Kale belongs, well chopped, in soup. Especially at this time of year. Any fule know that.

[Manolo]

No, in mashed potatoes, served with gravy and a smoked sausage.

[jake]

"As to sprouts, plant breeding has made great strides over the years. They're not like they used to be when I hated them."

Same for broccoli. If you think you hate it, and haven't tried it in 30 years or more, try it again.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Yes, shouldn't over boil/stream them.

Some may recall a famous brocolli hater...

"I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid. And my mother made me eat it. Now I'm president of the United States. And I'm not gonna eat any more broccoli!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._W._Bush_broccoli_comments

Following Bush's comments, broccoli saw an increase in popularity, with its sale rising by 10 percent

Another time, Bush said...

"Read my lips: no new taxes"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_my_lips%3A_no_new_taxes

So, increased taxes, and increased sales of brocolli during his tenure

[heyrick]

"Same for broccoli"

I love broccoli. Can't stand the bitterness of cauliflower.

My mother was the same, but the other way around.

Talking to various people at work, it seems that there are often broccoli people and cauliflower people, and their complaints about the other veg are exactly the same - it's too bitter.

Not an empirical test, but I found it interesting.

[CountCadaver]

I find them both as well as cabbage, peas and pretty much all veg bar potatoes and peppers utterly repulsive

[jake]

Name checks out ...

[I ain't Spartacus]

Heyrick,

You appear to have found a new major divide in society. We have the tree eaters, and the brain eaters.

Personally I like to eat both. Though it took my Mum consistent effort to get me to eat broccoli. I don't remember even not liking cauliflower. So I've been trained / bullied into being a tree-eater.

However I will say that cauliflower cheese is one of the foods of the Gods. It goes even better with added potatoes and sweetcorn. Better still with bacon. But as soon as you add broccoli to the mix - it becomes weirdly unpleasant. So I wonder if I'm mostly missing the bitterness of the trees, until I add the cheese - which causes them to release their true evil nature?

[Malcolm Weir]

Apparently, sprouts have been bio-engineered to be less bitter than they were in the last millennium.

(Note in this case the bio-engineering was the boring cross-breeding to produce new cultivars).

[jake]

"it rests on the assumption that the bitter receptors need to be blocked. Why?"

Not sure, but I've heard it all my life. Not that I subscribe to the theory.

For example, when I make ice cream with sugar, vanilla, eggs and cream/milk there is no bitter flavo(u)r at all. When I include a pinch of salt, the flavo(u)r is enhanced. You can try this for yourself at home, even without an ice cream maker (look up "tin can ice cream"). Fun game for a kid's party ... have 'em guess which batch has the salt. Likewise, cookies/biscuits, cakes and etc. (mostly) have no bitter flavo(u)rs, but are essentially inedible without salt. Some bitter foods, on the other hand, seem to get quite a bit more bitter with the addition of salt.

I tried the salt-in-tea/coffee thing many, many years ago. As salt is a flavo(u)r enhancer, it seemed to make sense. Played with the amount, dropping it down past the point of tasting it over about a week. It didn't seem to do anything at all once the salt couldn't be tasted, so I dropped to project as useless.

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems to me that everything in America has lots of salt and lots of sugar in it, and the locals like it that way.

It may also contribute to the prevalence and continued rise of obesity rates, but having your own gravitational field seems to be a matter of some pride amongst the populace.

[collinsl]

> but having your own gravitational field

Anyone who doesn't is a physical impossibility and would also almost instantly cease being someone because their atoms would fly apart. Probably would be the end of the universe at the same time too.

[Anonymous Coward]

Tea?

Horrid stuff.

Sorry.

[werdsmith]

Re: Tea?

You were right to apologise.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Tea?

(Different anon BTW) I stopped drinking tea after thinking "if it stains the cups that much, what does it do to my guts?"

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: Tea?

Reminds me of a line from the original Poldark TV series.

Paraphrased a bit\lot.

Old Lady:Tea wont drink it, turns you brown

Mrs Poldark:Thats silly, on what basis do you draw that assumption,

Old Lady: What colour are the slaves\workers\natives that grow & pick it it?

Mrs Poldark:Brown.

Old Lady: I rest my case.

[werdsmith]

Re: Tea?

(Different anon BTW) I stopped drinking tea after thinking "if it stains the cups that much, what does it do to my guts?"

Yes, it's important to keep your guts looking clean and fresh in case you ever meet "the one".

[FIA]

Re: Tea?

(Different anon BTW) I stopped drinking tea after thinking "if it stains the cups that much, what does it do to my guts?"

Mixes with all the other brown?

[ChrisElvidge]

Tea

My favourite teas are from China, namely Hunnan and Keemun. These are not the green/white teas normally associated with "chinese tea" but black teas. Unfortunately nearly impossible to get in the UK. 3rd favourite Ceylon FBOP. Tesco Gold does as everyday, easily purchased.

[ravenviz]

Re: Tea

“nearly impossible”

So possible then.

[Inventor of the Marmite Laser]

Black tea. No sugar. Occasionally green tea, again no sugar. Ditto Gunpowder tea.

Fruit teas generally smell wonderful but invariably taste as if someone has already drunk them. Earl Grey (and Lady Grey) were work of the Devil.

I did have several trips to India (off the tourist trail) and thoroughly enjoyed the "proper" Indian approach to tea: strong, spicy, with sugar and thick milk and having it's nuts simmered off on the stove until syrupy. Lovely.

[James Anderson]

And don’t forget the cute throw away clay cups. Not sure if Greta would approve but better than paper cups.

[zuckzuckgo]

I am Not sure about tea but I think all these comments should be taken with a pinch of salt.

[Grogan]

Well... if you make your tea properly, you won't have as much of those bitter alkaloids and tannins. If I want strong tea, I'll use (waste) more tea and steep it less. I'm not putting salt in my fucking tea, OR coffee (some people do that too... I've had it).

I prefer coffee, but I also like various teas. Both are always black, nothing in it. I especially don't like milk/cream/whiteners. I don't mind a bit of sugar in coffee or tea, but I don't use it..

[PRR]

Kettle watts matters. The 1,200W warmers in the US heat so slow the water goes stale before it get more than slightly hot. (Yes, a microwave IS better than a US domestic pot, because faster, water not dead-flat by the time it gets to working heat.)

> Standard US sockets, cables are 15A, so at 110V that’s ~1600W max kettle power. In the UK kettles are mostly 3000W so boil water in about half the time it takes in the US.

Actually a "long-running" load here must de-rate to 80% (a historical bad compromise). So 1,440W is the number. Less than half, more than twice as long. BUT if someone has put a US-type plug on a UK-market kettle, Ohms are conserved, not Watts. Half voltage, same R, makes half current. Half voltage and half current makes QUARTER Power, at least 4X the heating time. If you are not going to feed it 200+ Volts, a UK pot on US power is just water abuse. Or boiling a frog.

Salting the Urn: Mess halls and cafeterias in the US often made coffee in 10 gallon (37.8541 liter) urns. After some hours it goes blatantly vile (never mind it often starts vile). Reputedly a shake of salt makes it fresh again. It doesn't; but this is part of why most US coffee was (and is) pretty dreadful.

This the first I am hearing of "...the perceived monopoly of the East India Company." So there was a non-zero number of other merchants? But all obligated to collect tax, of course? Throwing tea in the harbor did not lead to the revolt, the (perceived) high royal taxes (and our piratical culture of tax avoidance) led to revolt.

[CountCadaver]

British East India Company had a monopoly on the supply of tea to the colonies and ergo merchants had no option to buy elsewhere .

There was also the matter of "no taxation without representation" - which raises the point that giving the colonies 2 members of parliament each would have given them a voice but no real power.

Would we now perhaps have "British North America"?

[jake]

"Would we now perhaps have "British North America"?"

Ask the Canadians.

[James Anderson]

The extra taxes were to cover the costs of twenty years spent defending them from the French and their Native American allies. As the French had been thrown out of Northern America and confined to some swamps in the South the ungrateful colonials refused to foot the bill.

[collinsl]

> There was also the matter of "no taxation without representation"

1. Most people in the UK didn't have any representation in parliament at the time. Manchester had no MPs for example but there was a sheep field somewhere in the south that had two, because there used to be a village there. Parliamentary reform was necessary to give representation as the boundaries hadn't been redrawn for hundreds of years.

2. This was a line made up by a bunch of smugglers to justify their rebellion in order to be able to trade in the open by getting their own government. It just so happened that it turned into a major (for the time) rebellion which got turned into an international war when the French got involved and won the war for the Americans.

[HereIAmJH]

Iced

Seriously? Everyone knows the best tea is iced tea.

[VicMortimer]

Re: Iced

As a denizen of the American South, I MUST specify that iced tea is inherently meant to be a supersaturated sugar solution.

Definitely without salt.

Lemon optional.

AND KEEP THE MILK AWAY FROM MY TEA! MILK GOES IN COFFEE!

[Fruit and Nutcase]

STB

Special Projects[Tea] Bureau

Shouldn't these tests have been done under proper lab conditions, including the wearing of standard boffin attire of white lab coats?

For extra authenticity, the water could have been boiled not using an electric kettle, but in an glass beaker atop a tripod, heated with a bunsen burner.

Lester would not be amused

[ravenviz]

Tea is fine taken as it is without adding anything, except using teabags which makes it far too strong and yes, bitter.

[Missing Semicolon]

Milk?

In the cup? With the bag? Augh!

Cup, bag, freshly boiled water. Leave to steep until sufficiently dark. Bag out, add milk if you must.

[Zolko]

Re: Milk?

I prefer with some lemon. Also at the end when the tea is removed, of course (or else it does get bitter ... but I won't try to put salt in there to avoid the bitterness)

[alcachofas]

Re: Milk?

Yes. This. I’m more scandalised by the milk going in at the same time as the bag than any of this salt business. Outrageous behaviour.

[Piro]

Re: Milk?

That would also make it cooler when steeping the tea, which is just going to make it take longer.

Then you'd also have to fish out a milky teabag. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that before.

[david 12]

Her opinon on a perfect cup of tea

FWIW:

The very first thing you want to do is pre-warm the pot. So you want to fill your pot or your mug up with hot water while you bring your water to a boil in a kettle.

Use loose leaf tea in a big tea infuser [that has enough room for the tea to expand]. I have this very prosaic basket that’s roughly the size of the mug. Agitate the tea leaves, stir them with a spoon.

And American tea?

“You get some awful cups of tea in the US. People here often use lukewarm water straight from a tap. It’s horrific,”

[VicMortimer]

Re: Her opinon on a perfect cup of tea

We do WHAT now? Nobody does that unless they've got one of those boiler taps - but that's NOT lukewarm water.

You've got to use really hot water to make tea. Which is fine, because pouring the tea into a pitcher of ice cools it quickly. Remember to add the sugar while it's hot, because you can't supersaturate it cold.

Serve cold, over ice.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Her opinon on a perfect cup of tea

"Nobody does that unless they've got one of those boiler taps - but that's NOT lukewarm water"

The ones I've encountered are, certainly nowhere near boiling.

[Malcolm Weir]

Re: Her opinon on a perfect cup of tea

The most common example of water-from-tap business is where the tap is attached to a coffee maker (usually plumbed-in). The concept is that the water from the tap (usually with a red knob) is the same temperature as the water that hits the coffee grounds in the brew filter.

[Some Random Kiwi]

Similar taste in language and tea?

I had to go and find the US Embassy statement to check that you hadn't mistranscribed it, but no, they really did write "ensure" rather than "assure" in

"Therefore we want to ensure the good people of the UK that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain's national drink is not official United States policy."

Just goes to show that their skill in language matches their taste in tea-making!

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

"if you don't like how tea tastes, no one's forcing you to drink it"

She believes she's improved the flavour, I don't see what the problem is. Whether or not she has, I can almost guarantee everyone telling her she's wrong hasn't performed any sort of systematic blind testing on the issue.

As a totally neutral observer to this whole kerfuffle I have to say I'm enjoying every minute of it. The wailing! The gnashing of teeth! The clutching of pearls! An American ignoring convention and the English being elitist about the whole thing are both very much on-brand.

I needed a popcorn icon for this post but I can't remember if there ever was one.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "if you don't like how tea tastes, no one's forcing you to drink it"

"the English"

You were doing pretty well up to that point, and then you fluffed it. Yes, we're all playing the topic here for melodrama, and faux outrage. But Englishmen are in very rare supply. This is a mongrel nation (and we're mostly proud of that), so you don't have to go very far back in just about any "Englishman's" family tree to find a reasonable does Welsh, Scots, Irish, French, German, and/or other European nations, indeed, the Romans left some DNA around, we had Vikings settle, the nation became Anglo-Saxons as Germanic peoples settled, then had some Norman added, and since forever there's been a steady stream of people coming to the UK and naturalising.

As a consequence, most people who live in England identify as British. The Welsh, Scots and Irish all have a sense of their own national identity, but the English identity probably peaked in Victorian times and has declined ever since. There's still a few who claim to be English, but as noted above, what is that?

[Malcolm Weir]

Re: "if you don't like how tea tastes, no one's forcing you to drink it"

Ho!

Last week I joked to my hosts in India that the whole colonization thing has come full circle! I mean, the UK is run (possibly using that term loosely) by the spouse of an affluent Indian citizen. Granted, her spouse is an ex-pat whose family settled outside the Indian homeland, but that's the case with the Mayor of London, too.

I think it was Tom Sharpe who commented on one of his Little Englander characters that rather than the "<pejorative> begin at Calais", these days they rather end there...

[ To be clear, I don't think the national or cultural origin of Sunak -- or indeed Khan -- has any bearing on their job performance. Everybody deserves to be judged on their abysmal results... ]

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: "if you don't like how tea tastes, no one's forcing you to drink it"

As a totally neutral observer to this whole kerfuffle I have to say I'm enjoying every minute of it. The wailing! The gnashing of teeth! The clutching of pearls! An American ignoring convention and the English being elitist about the whole thing are both very much on-brand.

But someone is wrong on the internet! Dash-it-all! This cannot be allowed to stand!

And there's worse! A method of brewing tea that includes neither teapots nor tea cosies! I mean, what is the world coming to?

These things are important.

Oh, and get off my lawn!

[45RPM]

Surely the bitterness (although I have to say that if someone says ‘Tea’ to me, my first thought is ‘Yes Please’ not ‘Ooh, that’ll be bitter’*) is part of the flavour profile, and not something to be done away with?

I don’t actually like sweet flavours that much, and I certainly don’t want to drink something salty.

*Although, now I come to mention it, I’m quite partial to a pint of bitter too.

[Kevin McMurtrie]

None of the above (please specify)

Are you sure?

Throw a peeled banana into a large cup, scoop some almond butter on to a butter knife and blend into the banana. Sprinkle 70% cocoa chips on top. Pour a bit of very hot coffee on top. Mix well. Top off with whole milk. Stir well.

[cryptopants]

What I find strange about the UK is the lack of ice.

Last time I was in the UK, I ordered a soda and they brought me just a few cubes of ice and the soda was room temperature. It was gross.

Didn’t you know that soda is not meant to be consumed at room temperature? There’s a reason why we put so much ice in it so we don’t taste all that sugar sweetness.. that’s gross.

[heyrick]

What sugar sweetness? It's all artificial sweeteners these days. I find modern fizzy drinks to be rather off-putting, and I can no longer drink 7up (I think my insides might not tolerate stevia).

At least, the one constant in life hasn't changed. Mug, teabag, hot water, time, cane sugar (not that awful white stuff), and a dash of cow juice.

That, with garibaldi, a little moment of bliss.

[VicMortimer]

Artificial sweetener tastes like industrial waste. If it's not got the genuine high fructose corn syrup, don't bother.

(Kidding, of course. It's best to get your Coke from Mexico these days, that way it'll have real sugar in it.)

[I ain't Spartacus]

heyrick,

That, with garibaldi, a little moment of bliss.

Oh for fuck's sake! Now you've gone and bloody done it! You've invited the biscuit-taleban into the conversation! And with the tea-nazis still on the warpath too! As one of the aforementioned - use a bloody teapot!

And you've done it in praise of dead fly biscuits as well. Not even something decent.

Burn the heretic!

[The Oncoming Scorn]

"There’s a reason why we put so much ice in it so we don’t taste all that sugar sweetness."

& there was I thinking it was just a way to minimize product that costs virtually "zero" (so you can give it away with free refills, after the first pour) that goes into the glass by cutting it with ice.

Icon - Like tea no bloody ice.

[Thorsten]

Who on earth would put milk in tea, unless making a masala chai?

The "weird floaty brown stuff" has two sources: using teabags with cheap CTC processed tea (only "usable as filler material for road paving", as someone once quipped), and using bank filtrate as water (looking at you, Thames Water).

It's best avoided by making tea the traditional way: loose green tea leaves in a cast iron pot, using soft water.

[Bebu]

A Pitch...

I am wondering whether the RSC might give me a grant to study the effects of stimulating and blocking the umami taste receptors on the drinker's perception of the flavour of their tea. The american has done "bitter."

Adding monosodium glutamate (MSG) to the great british cuppa might be a bridge too far.

If tea drinkers were substituting aspartamine sweetener and the result was acceptable one might wonder.

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: A Pitch...

I didn't think the Royal Shakespeare Company did research?

[Our Lord and Savior Rahl]

NATO Standard for me.

[Eclectic Man]

Here in Blighty

It is approaching 4:00pm, I shall enjoy a pot of Whittards Chelsea Garden Tea* (brewed at the stated 85C for 4minutes 30seconds) first in a 'Stump' teapot, then decanted into my warmed Wedgwood Hibiscus teapot**, and enjoyed black, no sugar from my Wedgwood Hibiscus teacup and saucer with a scone topped with organic honey and clotted cream on a Wedgwood Hibiscus side plate.

* https://www.whittard.co.uk/tea/chelsea-garden-loose-tea-MSTR315259.html

** https://www.wedgwood.com/en-gb/christmas/christmas-teaware/christmas-teapots/hibiscus-teapot-40003912. Yup, I'm rich. I worked for decades paid around twice the national average salary with no family or mortgage to support, what do you think us 1%-ers do with all that dosh?

[Lurko]

Re: Here in Blighty

"what do you think us 1%-ers do with all that dosh?"

I must say, tea and scones were not on the list I had for the 1%ers. I thought people like you spent their money on loose men/women, sordid orgies, harsh bondage sessions, cosmetic surgery, overpriced fashion goods, and endless eating out at exclusive restaurants.

But I suppose you can't have that many cream teas, so there will be sufficient left over to procure those other essentials.

[Malcolm Weir]

Re: Here in Blighty

Don't you think that Hibiscus design is perhaps a touch gauche? Surely the Intaglio is a preferable choice? Of course, I'm of the school of thought that if one is going to buy luxury items, far better that the hoi polloi don't recognize what they're seeing!

[KarMann]

Re: Here in Blighty

And yet, apparently, not so rich that you can afford proper links, you heathen!

[NXM]

Re: Here in Blighty

Lovely, I'd like one of those. It should be paired with an Excelsior teacup - not a broken one either.

https://www.yourprops.com/USS-Excelsior-Cup-and-Saucer-replica-movie-prop-Star-Trek-VI-The-Undiscovered-Country-1991-YP807983.html

FYI this comment thread is the best one on El Reg for ages.

[Arthur the cat]

Knowing how to make tea properly …

… involves a steep learning curve.

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: Knowing how to make tea properly …

You don't need to trust to pot luck. I find that if you cosy up to someone who has the secret, they'll help you learn with no strainer.

[MJI]

Salt sounds as bad as sugar in tea

NEVER been able to drink sugary tea, it ruins it.

[Boris the Cockroach]

Sorry its

coffee here

freshly brewed in a french press, no milk or sugar.

However, for what the americans have done to our tea, they must PAY and pay dearly

(please note: the germans tried to interupt the tea supply in 1940... look what happened then....)

[KarMann]

Re: Sorry its

(please note: the germans tried to interupt the tea supply in 1940... look what happened then....)

The Yanks came over and saved your tea?

(Yes, I know better than that!)

[Catflyer]

Earl Grey, black, weak. Tis the only way.

[Kimo]

Not all Americans

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest to Episcopalian parents, and there was generally a nice cuppa after church. Most of Oregon and Washington you could get a real cup of tea served alongside hippy herbal crap.

Then my wife and I went through over a decade of hell in Texas, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Her regular fights and taunts and fits trying to get a cup of TEA, not iced sugar water with a few leaves waved in it, were both epic and heartbreaking. On more than one occasion a well meaning but clueless server offered to microwave the Ice tea.

[jake]

Re: Not all Americans

"trying to get a cup of TEA, not iced sugar water"

Oh, gawd/ess ... don't bring up "sweet tea" in here, the British are listening.

Horrid, horrid stuff. All the sugar of a softdrink, with none of the flavo(u)r or carbonation.

_{Disclaimer: I hate softdrinks, too. Sugar is only palatable after appropriate application of yeast.}

[KarMann]

Re: Not all Americans

That seemed a pretty run-of-the-mill tea-in-America story, up until the twist at the end. That's what sold it for me. M. Night Shyamalan would be so proud!

[Boring Bob]

I live in France and for some strange reason the French think that the English are experts at drinking tea. I have to explain to them that you only get 3 types of tea in in the UK and any taste that these might produce is washed out by the milk put in them. In France most large and small towns have specialist tea shops where you have a choice of 50 to 100 teas. Compared to every other nation in the world, I have to admit, the English know nothing about tea.

[meanioni]

Yuk

I used to drink tea until I worked in one place where they used the same insulated jugs for tea and coffee and did not wash them out well enough in between. So you got tea flavoured coffee or coffee flavoured tea - both tasting vile. Put me off tea for life even the smell of it makes me go green now....

[TheWeetabix]

Why stick to one standard?

Canuck here... (Technically I guess I'm GaeliCanadian)

I buy my tea from China (black/red) and Columbia (white) (yes, seriously).

I brew the white tea Chinese style (gongfucha) and I brew the black tea in the British method. Ive tried messing around with methods and tea types, but I always wind up back here. The Chinese brew a delicious white cup and ceremony, however, it took the Brits to really refine the black tea experience.

Not unlike what the Scots did with curry... and I think I've just decided on dinner....

[KarMann]

Re: Why stick to one standard?

I buy my tea from China (black/red) and Columbia (white) (yes, seriously).

Seriously? Not from Colombia?

(To be fair, the recent Register article about the nose wheel coming off the Boeing made the same mistake when discussing the plane's intended destination, last time I looked at it.)

[CorwinX]

Teabags after water

1. Sugar in cup (if desired);

2. Boiling water in cup;

3. Teabags in cup last so the tea doesn't get scalded;

4. If using standard PG/Typhoo/etc, a tiny squirt of lemon.

Last step not needed if using my preferred Earl Grey because the Bergamot it's laced with gives the required hint of citrus.

[JPat]

Tea Party?

Probably got the idea by chucking tea into a saltwater harbour.

And no milk! --->

[M.V. Lipvig]

I know you Brits like milk in your tea, but milk in tea always brings Captain Darling to mind when he asks Baldrick for tea, "and make it a milky one."

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

I used to drink tea (Keemun China black tea for preference) with milk, (as a kid with sugar, later without). Living in a student house where milk could be "interesting" at times (nicked by someone else, or generally lumpy), I started drinking it without milk, and continue to this day (more of a Chinese way of making tea, and they invented the stuff, so I have several Imperial dynasties to back me up).

In my experience, Americans add FAR too much salt to EVERYTHING, so small wonder they want to put salt into their cuppa.

[jmch]

Taste????

The whole concept of "improving the taste" is absolutely wrong for various reasons, but particularly because, everyone has their own taste, and if you like something, who is anyone else to judge?

Equally, if anyone wants to put salt in their tea, who are you to judge? Even reading through all the comments here, there are many different 'proper' ways to make tea, and they can't all be right.

[Bendacious]

Builder’s tea

The most shocking thing about this to me was the survey at the end. It implied that “builder’s tea” doesn’t have sugar in it and adding sugar makes it “babies tea”. Clearly the author has never had a builder in their house. Builder’s tea is very strong with so much sugar the spoon stands up. Tut.

[Lazlo Woodbine]

The worst "tea" I ever experienced was chai in a Pakistani village deep in the North West Frontier Province

I was warned prior to the experience that this is very much like Arthur Dent discovered when drinking from the Nutri-Matic machine, Chai is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.

First the leaves are put in a pan, cold water from the river was poured on top and the pan was placed atop a fire. While the tea was brew / stewing, a villager produced several sugar canes, these were pressed in a mill powered by a pair of oxen, a couple of jugs full of the resultant sugary liquid was added to pan.

After the brownian motion producer had bubbled for an hour or two, the pan was removed from the fire, a goat was produced from somewhere and milked directly into the pan.

All I can say is that if every villager hadn't been carrying an AK, I wouldn't have drunk it.

Sometimes I wonder if being shot would have been better or worse than the chai...

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone using teabags can hardly be an expert on tea. Just drinking lots of it doesn't make you an expert.

Do you ask a wino for expert advice on selecting a wine?

Commence the defensive downvoting.

[Unoriginal Handle]

Boil some filtered water in a kettle.

Straight into a ( preferably warmed ) mug with a teabag already placed.

Leave for 4-5 minutes.

Dash of milk to taste / colour.

Remove teabag.

Drink.

*I have made tea in an insulated mug, and it's both tolerably hot and tasty after anything up to an hour or so...

[Anonymous Coward]

Whilst salt in tea...

...sounds fucking vile.

I question the science here. The appropriate methodology would have been to create two ISO 3103 brews one as control and one containing salt. Then perform a blind taste test to see if the salt improves the control...I'd do it myself, but I don't want to deprive a Cambridge PhD student their millions of pounds of funding to perform this study.

[KarMann]

ISO 3103 for those who don't know...

Obligatory Tom Scott video

[Jrx1216]

Fair warning, I'm American. That said, I drink my Taylors Assam team a few times a week, no sugar, no salt, no milk, nothing but boiling water from the top of the commercial coffee machine in the break room and the tea bag. At home, I drink a decaf breakfast blend from Taylors.

I'll also have some yorkshire gold on occasion, but since finding Taylors Assam blend, I don't nearly as often.

[Uosdwis]

I don't add milk first- you need the final brewed color to gauge how much milk to make it the right brown, duh. But I am trying the salt, so far don't notice much different, probably not useful. Also, I've use a tip I found to microwave the mug, with bag in, after an initial regular steeping of a few minutes, for exactly 1min40 at 50% power.

[Nematode]

I won't repeat the many good posts above about how tea should properly be brewed (in a teapot etc). But a few points:

1. You can always tell a good café when they bring you a jug of boiling water at the same time as serving you the pot+cups etc.

2. You *can* make a good cup of tea in a mug or cup. I'd tell you my secret method but then I'd need to kill you. Oh, ok, then. The proof of this particular pudding is in the compliments I would get at work when it was my turn to make the teas. The key is in realising (i) an ordinary tea bag has far too much tea in it for one cup, so don't overbrew it and then try to tame the result with milk, and (ii) putting milk into hot water shocks it (denatured is the technical term), you need to do it the other way round: take the edge off the boiling water by mixing it into a coldish cup and the right amount of milk. So, boil water, put milk in the cups for those who have it white, tea bag in (each cup if >1), and only then pour the water, slowish, one cup at a time, stirring as you go until the right colour is reached, then get the tea bag out pronto. Then do the next cup, same way... Try it, you'll be surprised.

3. When someone asks "can I ask a silly question?" tell them "Of course you can, the only truly silly question is: 'would you like a cup of tea?' "

[Nematode]

Fergot:

Good tea is also required. (More important than whether in bags or not, but yes, most British tea in bags is rubbish. I don't know how anyone can drink that stuff) Sainsbury's Assam is my personal favourite.

Those moaning about how this method doesn't get the tea/bag hot enough. Rubbish, just pop your finger in afterwards to check. And anyway it's the end result that matters.

[Nematode]

Btw, the Scots know darn well that a wee bitty salt improves porridge. Just sayin'