Hello Tea Fans!
Yes I've said it... TEA! I know it is more popular to love coffee today, but I think there are still many people who love a good old cup of tea still. First thing in the morning, you put the kettle on and make a cup of tea. Or with your breakfast you have a cup of tea or if someone visits, you put the kettle on to make a nice cup of tea as Mrs Doyle would say.
Gowan, have a cup of Tea - Mrs Doyle
As Mrs Doyle shows, if someone offers you a cup of tea, the correct etiquette is to 100%, always accept it. To refuse a cup of tea would be received as a great insult. It is always better to accept an offer of a cup of tea and silently not drink it, than refuse it.
As a Brit, I grew up in a world where drinking tea was a commonplace occurrence. This was a time when coffee was mostly only granulated and didn't have the appeal of Starbucks yet. It was also common place that you added milk to your tea, something that can horrify our friends on the continent even to this day.
There have been many questions over when you should add the milk. Before adding the tea? After adding the tea? Still whilst the teabag is in there? The worst thing that can happen after making a cup of tea is that someone says that it doesn't taste right, so getting the preparation correct is important. To avoid these situations, you can ask the drinker how they like to have it to be on the "safe side".
BoJo offering cups of Tea
Drinking tea is not just a privilege of the rich like Boris Johnson who you may think would have a tea set matching those you see in Claridges, but is for all members of society. Having oddly matching mugs to drink it in is also ok.
Some people like their tea milky, some very sweet. Some like to drink creamy tea. You should have the necessary condiments to ensure everybody gets the tea that they want.
My tea collection
The correct way to make British Tea is to first boil the water very hot, then put the tea bag in the cups or pot and poor as soon as it is boiled. You then need to let the tea get stronger, you can squeeze it with the spoon to speed this part up if you are in a hurry.
The next step would be to remove the tea bag and then add a drop of milk to the tea but be sparsam, otherwise you would make the taste milky unless it is requested to do so by the drinker. Be suspicious of milky tea drinkers, they could be the fussy type.
Finally you stir the tea and serve, usually with some biscuits to accompany it. Hobnobs or digestives are the norm here.
Acceptable brands of British Tea are PG Tips, Tetleys and Yorkshire Tea... if you are in Ireland, you can drink Barrys. If none of these are available and you are abroad, you can substitute tea with something exotic sounding such as Darjeeling or Earl Grey so you sound sophisticated and know what you are talking about. A good fall back option is always English Breakfast Tea.
How do you make British Tea?
Thanks for reading.
Credits:
All photos are my own.
The shared youtube videos are not mine and belong to their respective copyright owners.
Title picture created in Canva using clipart (union jack flag) ,used under license of canva pro subscription.
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