Have the nation’s tea-making skills gone to pot?
sir – I think that the findings of the poll relating to the nation’s preference for adding milk to the cup after the tea (report, July 31) are flawed, in the sense that a lot depends upon how the tea is made.
My wife and I make tea with loose leaves in a teapot. Everyone who drinks it puts the milk in the cup first, ensuring that tea and milk mix optimally for a fine-looking and tasting brew.
However, when our children make tea they stick a tea bag in a mug, pour on hot water and add the milk when they remove the bag. I have never seen anyone put milk in a mug with a tea bag and then add water.
The preference of younger tea drinkers for adding milk after tea therefore probably has more to do with their practice of making tea in a mug than with any particular taste preference.
Chris Corrin
Sevenoaks, Kent
sir – Milk should always be added to the cup first. My father, a tea planter in Assam for more than 30 years and a qualified tea taster, was adamant on this point, as putting milk in after the tea meant it did not emulsify properly and thus soured the brew. Patrick Chambers
Rosedale Abbey, North Yorkshire
sir – Why spoil an already excellent beverage, particularly Darjeeling, by polluting it with cow’s milk?
Robert Patmore
Canterbury, Kent