← Nouns Cooking · British & Irish

Ingredients

• 1 l freshly drawn cold water
• 4 tea bags or 4 tsp loose black tea (English breakfast or Assam)
• 100 ml cold milk, to taste
• sugar, to taste (optional)

Method

1. Fill the kettle with fresh cold water (water that has been boiled before tastes flat) and bring it to the boil.
2. While it heats, swirl a little hot water round the teapot to warm it, then pour it away.
3. Put the tea in the pot, take the pot to the kettle and pour on the water as soon as it boils. Put the lid on and leave to brew for 4–5 min without stirring; longer makes it bitter.
4. Pour into cups, straining if you used loose tea, and add milk and sugar to taste. Keep the pot under a tea cosy for second cups.

Tips

• Milk in first or last is an old argument: adding it last lets you judge the colour, which matters when you are making a big pot.
• Use oat or soy milk for a vegan cuppa.

Sources

Adapted from “A Nice Cup of Tea” in the Wikibooks Cookbook, under CC BY-SA 4.0. This adaptation is shared under the same licence.