I drink 12 cups a day, says Nigella (as she stars in £5m tea campaign)
WHETHER she’s mixing together a chocolate cake or whipping up a souffle, Nigella Lawson knows the key to a dish turning out well is getting the ingredients just right.
And now the chef has revealed she is just as particular about a rather simpler recipe – making a cup of tea.
The 56-year-old admitted she is a ‘complete nightmare’ to make a cup of tea for, saying: ‘I am incredibly precise and I know exactly how I want it.’
Miss Lawson – who revealed she enjoys as many as 12 cups a day – explained: ‘I like it very strong with some milk in it and I have to have it at the optimum temperature, which is just after it’s too hot but before it gets anywhere near room temperature.’
Her revelations could have something to do with her new role as an ambassador for tea brand Typhoo, as part of the firm’s £5million new marketing campaign. Her role includes starring in a TV advert, which shows a casually dressed Miss Lawson curling up on a sofa with a cup of tea and and a slice of chocolate cake.
Lifting the lid on her tea habits, the cook also revealed that she carries her own mug and tea bags with her because she likes her drink just so – and no one else has a mug big enough. She also said she has a ‘slight superstition’ when creating or writing up a new recipe, saying: ‘I can’t wash up the mug that I’m using until the recipe is completed or what I’m writing is completed.’
Helen Bond, a spokesman for the British Dietetic Association, said that everyone has different tolerance levels to caffeine, but that Miss Lawson was not consuming a dangerous amount. She said the cook was probably using the caffeine ‘as a crux for energy throughout the day’.