I’m from the US so maybe not what you’re looking for, but for black tea you need a few things:
212° water (freedom units) - must be boiling, not boiled-then-left-to-cool. I use an electric kettle. If your water isn’t hot enough your tea won’t steep effectively.
Decent tea. If you’re steeping 15 minutes you might be drinking cheap tea made with fannings (essentially the tea dust that’s left over after the better quality products have been packaged). I drink Yorkshire Gold but this is a matter of preference.
Milk and sugar to taste, but these should complement the tea. Tea should be the predominant flavor, it shouldn’t just taste like milk or sugar.
Here’s what you do:
Heat the water to a rolling boil.
While the water is still boiling, pour over the teabag. Pour slowly enough that you don’t rupture the bag.
Steep for 5 minutes.
Remove the teabag. Don’t squeeze it out - this releases more tannins and your brew will be more bitter.
(CONTROVERSIAL!) Add milk and sugar. Some people will tell you milk goes in first. These people are wrong.
Some people will talk at you about teapots and patinas but honestly if you’re an infrequent tea drinker it’s not worth bothering with.
Signed - an American anxiously awaiting all the UKians who will tell me I’m doing it wrong.
My last couple of electric kettles had various levels for coffee, black tea, herbal tea and then the roaring boil of the 212 of your freedom units. I suspect the roaring is due to all of the freedom.
I’m surprised the coffee setting is so low compared to the teas.
I’ve never really paid attention to how longto leave a tea bag in. Usually it’s stayed in the whole time while drinking it. Recently I’ve started to read the boxes the tea comes in and Earl Grey is like 3 minutes depending on the brand and herbal is 5-10.
As for number 5 I’ve read back when China was becoming more common place it was almost a caste level nod if you put your milk in first or last.
Early cheaper China would crack or break from hot water/tea being poured directly into the cup first. Placing the milk in first helped cover up this flaw by cooling down the tea.
Pouring your hot tea directly into your cups without the milk first was a subtle flex of your superior China quality. I do miss some of this nuance in a world that’s seems to be on full blast most of the time.
I don’t give a shit about patinas and just use a French press I got from Ikea. But I do have a programmable kettle set to 70 or 80 °C, virtually only use loose leaf green and oolong teas, and steep two minutes for the first steeping and 90 seconds for each subsequent one. (For black tea I just crank the temperature to boiling and keep everything else the same.)
That probably makes me snobbish enough to confuse people who don’t drink tea but amateurish enough to annoy the snobs.
In the end any approach is fine as long as you like the result.
I’m from the US so maybe not what you’re looking for, but for black tea you need a few things:
Here’s what you do:
Some people will talk at you about teapots and patinas but honestly if you’re an infrequent tea drinker it’s not worth bothering with.
Signed - an American anxiously awaiting all the UKians who will tell me I’m doing it wrong.
Are your friends firing the water into the cup with a pressure washer?
We’re American, we’re legally obligated to use unnecessary force.
Don’t use boiling water. 195-205F for black tea. Brew time typically varies by preference from 3-4 minutes, but 5 isn’t terrible.
My last couple of electric kettles had various levels for coffee, black tea, herbal tea and then the roaring boil of the 212 of your freedom units. I suspect the roaring is due to all of the freedom.
I’m surprised the coffee setting is so low compared to the teas.
I’ve never really paid attention to how longto leave a tea bag in. Usually it’s stayed in the whole time while drinking it. Recently I’ve started to read the boxes the tea comes in and Earl Grey is like 3 minutes depending on the brand and herbal is 5-10.
As for number 5 I’ve read back when China was becoming more common place it was almost a caste level nod if you put your milk in first or last.
Early cheaper China would crack or break from hot water/tea being poured directly into the cup first. Placing the milk in first helped cover up this flaw by cooling down the tea.
Pouring your hot tea directly into your cups without the milk first was a subtle flex of your superior China quality. I do miss some of this nuance in a world that’s seems to be on full blast most of the time.
I don’t give a shit about patinas and just use a French press I got from Ikea. But I do have a programmable kettle set to 70 or 80 °C, virtually only use loose leaf green and oolong teas, and steep two minutes for the first steeping and 90 seconds for each subsequent one. (For black tea I just crank the temperature to boiling and keep everything else the same.)
That probably makes me snobbish enough to confuse people who don’t drink tea but amateurish enough to annoy the snobs.
In the end any approach is fine as long as you like the result.
Yorkshire Gold FTW