How to Make Tea - a Good Cup of Tea the British Way

"I'm not drinking that," snapped Nanna (Nah-naah) with disgust as she clinked her china teacup onto its saucer and then sat back, folding her arms across her chest. A weak or cold cuppa turned darling Nanna terribly irritable in the Market Hall teashop, which sold nothing but cups of tea, in a cubby room inset along an end tarmac lane of many, each with a theme of stalls- bakeries of delectable pastries; bone china ware and figurines; clothing, cloths, and jewelry; sweets, papers, and comics; household tools and gadgets; fresh produce and packaged food; meat and fish in the other end lane, extra-wide and set apart. All there, twice a week, in our British Midlands indoor market.

Shy as a child, I watched Nanna with all eyes on her stand at the service window, slide aside the offensive cuppa, and say, "Make us another cup of tea, Duck, please. Ta." Upon her return, Nanna sat down, sipped her fresh cuppa, and stated in her clear ringing voice inherited from an ancestral opera singer, "Now that's a good cup of tea."

How to Make Tea- a Good Cup of Tea the British Way

'How to Make Tea' Apparatus. Use a stainless-steel teakettle or pot- or a good electric kettle. Never microwave water for tea. Microwaved water tastes odd and doesn't allow the tea to brew properly. Select a favorite teacup & saucer or a mug. Bone china is preferred since it is nonporous and thus retains heat. Lay out the creamer, sugar bowl with spoon, and a teaspoon.

'How to Make Tea' Ingredients. Bottled water is preferred. The tea should be loose and of good quality. PG Tips or Lipton, for instance, are black teas of the Orange Pekoe grade, which means medium grade. Both brands make delicious tea. The milk or cream should be of good flavor. Sugar is your prerogative. Turbinado sugar is natural and nice. Avoid artificial sweeteners. They spoil tea flavor. Drink unsweetened tea, if you can.

'How to Make Tea' Step 1. Pour room temperature water into a teakettle; turn the stove burner up high. Bring the water to a boil. Boiling water is essential to brewing tea.

'How to Make Tea' Step 2. Put a rounded teaspoon of loose tea into a teacup- a teacup is usually 4oz. If using mug, which is usually 8oz., put in a heaping teaspoon of loose tea. If teabags are used instead, use one for a teacup or two for a mug.

'How to Make Tea' Step 3. Pour boiling water over the tealeaves. Stir as you pour, saturating every leaf. Cover the cup or mug with its matching lid- or substitute a saucer. A lid keeps the steam and heat inside the cup. [If water is less than boiling point, the tealeaves will float and the tea will not brew, which makes tea tasteless.]

'How to Make Tea' Step 4. Brew the tea for roughly four minutes. Remove the lid. Then, stir again as you pour milk or cream into the tea according to taste and color. My family prefers the taste of tea that is middling warm golden brown- a rich orangey tone- rather than a pale peach or a dark rust. If using a teabag instead of loose tea, squeeze the bag tightly between two spoons; remove the bag from the cup. If you drink sweetened tea, sugar according to taste.

'How to Make Tea' Variation 1- Extra Piping-hot Tea. Don't put the tealeaves into the teacup yet. Heat up a few tablespoons of milk in a saucepan. Pour boiling water into the teacup, swill it around, and dump it out. Put a teaspoon of tealeaves into the emptied cup. Pour boiling water over the tealeaves as you stir. Cover the tea. After four minutes or so, remove the lid and pour heated milk into the tea- to your taste- as you stir. And there is your extra-piping-hot cup of tea.

'How to Make Tea' Variation 2- Extra Piping-hot Mug of Tea. The method is the same but for one step. Pour boiled water only halfway in the mug, as you stir. Cover the mug. Return the kettle to the burner and turn the heat down. After four minutes brewing-time, remove the lid from the mug and pour in heated milk, as you stir. Top up the mug with the boiled water, as you stir. Add more heated milk and sugar, if you like. This variation of first pouring only half the amount of water makes an extra-piping-hot mug of tea.

Enjoy your good cup of tea the British way with crème puffs and other pastries. Or just by itself. Cheers, Mates!

_{Source: Author experience.}