How To: Make The Perfect Cup Of Tea

George Orwell said there were 11 rules for brewing the perfect cup of tea, despite a strong critic of Hitler and Stalin he was known to be quite the dictator when it came to how his tea was made. He made it clear that someone shunned the sugar bowl they could not call them self a tea lover.

As well as the sweet lovers, the great author also despised science. So, ironically, on the 100th anniversary of his birth a group from the Royal Society of Chemistry decided analyse and scrutinise his 11 point formula, intent on discounting his golden rules.

Scientist Dr Andrew Stapley of the University of Loughborough dismissed Orwell’s theory of the cuppa and set about writing new rules for the perfect brew. His first disparagement was that of Orwell’s questionable six spoons of tea in one pot, even during post-war rationing, this was far too strong; Stapley determined that no more than a single spoon of leaves be used.

He determined that pouring cold milk into hot tea distorted the protein strands in the milk thus changing and arguably ruining the taste; this is what occurs in UHT milk and why it doesn’t taste as nice as fresh milk. Instead it is better to have the chilled milk already in the cup awaiting the tea allowing it to cool the tea on arrival.

Also contrasting Orwell, science proved no wrong in adding sugar to tea, as long as it was white. In fact the sugar was proven to moderate the natural astringency of the tea, or simply ‘makes it less bitter’.

The best tea, as determined by the RSC, was brewed with Assam leaves from India, they had the best consistency and the nicest taste compared to all other leading types of leaf. To get the right compromise between heat and brew, the tea and water should be left to brew in the pot for two minutes and NEVER re-heated. Once brewed it should be poured from a ceramic tea pot into a tall mug shaped ceramic cup. If you want to go the extra mile pour the tea over a small teaspoon just above the surface of the milk to avoid it splashing and changing the taste of the milk with heat.

If you wanted to go the extra mile, gently warm the mug with hot water while the tea is brewing avoid pouring tea directly into cold cups and any tea lover would agree that in no circumstances should you use hot paper cups.