The perfect cuppa

  You can thank google. I've never heard of it myself LOL.

Might have to check it out now!

I can get PG Tips in a British shop here in town (not to mention a good variety of chocolate/candy!).  If you're interested, PM me and I can send a box up to ya!

Awww thanks that's really nice of you but I can order it online for not too much I found. I don't wanna be a bother and who knows with the way the last week has gone I may just be stocking up on chocolate too!  Thanks so much for the offer though! 

FG~ Is Harney and sons worth ordering? I checked out the website and they have some luvley sounding blends and organics. Not that I need more stuff...

I am a tea addict - I drink gallons of the stuff.  And It has to be tea in first, then milk, and never sugar.  Loose leaf tea is so much better too.

My brother lives in canada and can't get loose leaf so we have to send boxes over to him as he refuses to drink tea from bags.  He split one open once and it is clear they are full of the scraggy bits which aren't good enough to go to make loose leaf.

Victoria

This thread makes me laugh. I've only recently come to be able to make a half way respectable cuppa - for years dh was absolutely amazed that even if I did it EXACTLY the same way that he did it NEVER tasted as good. We both agreed and both thought it was completely weird.

DH says milk in first, but a colleague says that blocks up the fibre of the tea bag and keeps it from getting strong enough.... I'm much more a coffee drinker myself, so it doesn't really matter to me all that much. For some reason I think if I were to invest in a pretty tea pot and loose leaf teas I'd enjoy it more.

Oh and as for instant coffee, I only drink it in an emergency but I recently discovered that M&S makes one that is actually tollerable - Fair Trade Italian Style Rich Roast.

So if tea is to be offered to just about anyone who walks through the door, and there is a MIF/TIF debate, what do you do for guests? Do you keep a specific tea on hand or do you just give them what you have? Is that a silly question?

So if tea is to be offered to just about anyone who walks through the door, and there is a MIF/TIF debate, what do you do for guests? Do you keep a specific tea on hand or do you just give them what you have? Is that a silly question?

I just give them whatever I've got. I never ask anything other than "do you take sugar?" when I used to ask if they take milk dh laughed at me - and come to think of it I actually don't know anyone who doesn't.... I do MIF just because that's how dh originally taught me and old habits die hard. 

So if tea is to be offered to just about anyone who walks through the door, and there is a MIF/TIF debate, what do you do for guests? Do you keep a specific tea on hand or do you just give them what you have? Is that a silly question?

I just give them what I have. And that's always decaf tea because I can't have any caffeine. Either no one has ever noticed, or else they've just been too polite to complain!

Oh good. Thank you both.

Yep! It's full of coffee!

What she said.  Long live coffee and coffee shops!

Awww thanks that's really nice of you but I can order it online for not too much I found. I don't wanna be a bother and who knows with the way the last week has gone I may just be stocking up on chocolate too!  Thanks so much for the offer though! 

Anytime!  It's a standing offer, so just let me know.  I could have Galaxy bars in your mailbox in a flash!

FG~ Is Harney and sons worth ordering? I checked out the website and they have some luvley sounding blends and organics. Not that I need more stuff...

I've only had the English Breakfast, which I think is really fantastic.  I can't vouch for the other blends, though, so I don't know how much help I am.  Of course, if it's good enough for Williams-Sonoma it can't be all bad.

Interesting...

I was taught to put milk in the cup first, too.

Then I was told that was nonsense.  Because... if I can remember this correctly...

When the British first started making fine china, it wasn't very strong stuff.  If you poured boiling tea straight into the cups, they would crack.  If you put the milk in first, the cups would be fine.  The habit of putting milk in first/a bit of hot water just never died off.

I think we need to check Snopes.

When the British first started making fine china, it wasn't very strong stuff.  If you poured boiling tea straight into the cups, they would crack.  If you put the milk in first, the cups would be fine.  The habit of putting milk in first/a bit of hot water just never died off.

I think we need to check Snopes.

No need! Just check belindaloo! You're absolutely right. That was the original reason for putting the milk in first. However, nowadays, I've read that it's considered "common" to put it in first. Customs change and I'm never sure why!

I usually put milk in first, but mainly so I have room for it.  I usually forget when I put it in second and fill the cup too full.

However, I'll be sure not to embarass myself next time I'm invited to the Palace for a cuppa with the Queen.

Ok, I dug out my training manual at work today:  The teabag was invented by Thomas Sullivan who was a tea merchant .  He invented the teabag in 1908-1909 by selling indivdual portions of tea in silk bags.  The idea was that people would no longer need to measure out tea themselves but empty the bag  into their pot as a perfect portion, but instead people began to brew the tea without removing it from the bag. They brewed bag and all, hence the teabag was born. The idea caught on and during the war in Britain (around 1940) it was a quick and easy method so there was no wastage in a full pot.  It almost meant it was unpopular with tea merchants as the volume of tea consumed per household went down.  The quality also suffers as the loose tea has to chopped smaller to ensure a quick infusion and the results are an inferior tea