Poll Tea; Milk In First? (281 votes)
So I saw the Coffee vs Tea thread and it spurred me to create this. I'm very liberal with my views on the matter but what do you think?
When you make a cuppa does the milk go in first or after?
So I saw the Coffee vs Tea thread and it spurred me to create this. I'm very liberal with my views on the matter but what do you think?
When you make a cuppa does the milk go in first or after?
Milk in tea sounds weird to me. I don't think I've ever heard of it. I put a lot of milk+sugar in coffee because I think black coffee tastes kind of bad, but with tea you have so many varieties of flavor. Like even something like green tea I think tastes good without anything added to it. Tea just tastes like hot flavored sugary water.
I've never had tea with milk and it's usually not a practice here in the US (to my knowledge).
What kind of tea usually gets milk? Is it milk or more like a cream? Gimme your tea/milk info.
It's not the first time I've heard that. Here in the UK it's standard really.
That's like, I dunno, English Breakfast tea. For certain types of tea I don't add milk, however.
Depends where I'm at. If I'm at my parents, it's milk first because my folks own a teapot. At home, It's tea then milk. It makes no difference so it's all down to circumstance with me.
This is still incorrect. You put the tea into the cup first, then the milk.
No milk at all. No sugar, pure tea without anything is my way. As for making it, I put the bag in and then water. I drink a ton of tea and pure tea with no additions seems more healthy, it has like very little to no calories.
I usually have a little milk I put in there last, just enough so it's no longer scorching hot, sometimes I also have a spoon of honey in there too.
I mostly drink Chamomile tea by the way, but I'm not opposed to putting some milk in Earl Grey either. Those and more generic herbal teas are the only kinds of teas I'm into though, I've found very few other kinds I can stand at all.
As for the kind of milk, I know most people around here tend to go with whole milk or light cream, I tend to prefer low fat or skim milk though.
Milk in tea sounds weird to me. I don't think I've ever heard of it. I put a lot of milk+sugar in coffee because I think black coffee tastes kind of bad, but with tea you have so many varieties of flavor. Like even something like green tea I think tastes good without anything added to it. Tea just tastes like hot flavored sugary water.
I really dread to think what kind of processed nonsense you're drinking if it's sweet?!
With normal "English Breakfast", Earl Grey and Chai I'll have milk, but I ALWAYS pour the tea first. I wouldn't have it with most other teas eg. fruity, herbal or green.
Whenever I drink hot tea, I like to put a couple teaspoons of sweetener and then add flavored liquid creamer (usually vanilla flavored).
I get a tea at a local coffee shop here (midwest US) and they call it Black Royal Milk. I don't know how they make it though it takes longer to make than a standard drink there. It is the best tea I've ever had. I assume it's a loose leaf black tea of some kind, maybe they brew the tea leaves in hot milk directly? I don't know.
Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round
TIL that people have tea without milk.
For me, it's milk afterward. Although I am more of a coffee drinker than a tea one.
I have been to Britain and other Commonwealth countries so I have definitely had tea with milk, but it would never occur to me to put milk in my tea in the States (where I live.) It's not that milk in tea is bad, it's that it's unnecessary. And I do tend to drink green tea (and iced tea) more than a black English Breakfast so that makes it even more unnecessary.
However, when I am in a situation where you put milk in your tea I am firmly in the "after" crowd for Orwell's reason. Putting milk in your cup followed by tea is like putting icing in a cake pan and then layering the cake on top of it (then flipping it.) The tea is the base so it goes in first, and then you season to taste.
Do "milk first" people also put dressing on their plate before salad? Do they put salt and pepper in the bowl and then the soup?
Milk in tea sounds weird to me. I don't think I've ever heard of it. I put a lot of milk+sugar in coffee because I think black coffee tastes kind of bad, but with tea you have so many varieties of flavor. Like even something like green tea I think tastes good without anything added to it. Tea just tastes like hot flavored sugary water.
I really dread to think what kind of processed nonsense you're drinking if it's sweet?!
Why the hell would you handicap the brewing process by cooling down the water?!?!?!? You're meant to let it brew, take the tea bag out then add milk to taste.
@hayt said:
Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round
I absolutely put milk in first and this quote seems nuts to me. Because I'd say the exact opposite is true. I can put in exactly how much milk I want into an empty cup by measuring the depth against the neck of the spoon resting in the cup. It kind of requires that I always use the same cup and spoon, which I do at home, but it's easy to compensate. But I also like a lot of milk, so it gives a much larger margin for error.
There is culture/folkways to tea. There are systems and knowledge that tea drinkers have that matter for prep. Just as I would not walk up to a freshly killed deer and start slicing off bits without knowing how to dress the kill; others should not attempt tea without knowing what to do.
First off lets me just give my attitude; Herbal teas are not tea and fruit flavored teas are not tea. That does not mean I don't drink them, I just don't think of them when I'm in the mood for TEA. If I am sick and have a cough I will make some Peppermint Tea or Lemon Tea. Peppermint with nothing in it, Lemon tea with honey. I would never put milk nor sucrose in such herbal teas . I would only put milk and sweetener (sucrose, honey) in Black Teas that do not contain oils like Bergamot, Clove, or Ginger. If you don't know what those oils are in relation to tea, I will refer you to my deer kill analogy above. So, only black tea gets milk/cream and a small amount of sweetener. Earl Grey, no milk and no sweetener; it is not a rule I just I don't think Bergamot and dairy mix.
If you make tea in a pot, then it makes no difference if you put milk in the cup first. It was usual to do that in the olden times of our fore-bearers, so as not to crack the best china with hot liquids. In fact it is traditional to warm the pot first too - before making the ideal brew.
But putting milk in a cup with a dry teabag is a crime.
Unlike coffee, which requires a temperature 20 Celsius lower than water's boiling point to produce the best flavour, tea infuses at temperatures much nearer to boiling point and the infusion drastically decreases with temperature, so tea made with milk in the cup first misses out on some great flavours and strength. That much is obvious if you ever try and make a cup from a kettle that has gone off the boil.
I have heard some twaddle from Guy Martin (the mutton-chopped, motorbiking daredevil) about pouring milk first creating "an emulsion" in the cup, but I've never heard such a load of bogus old cods as that!
Let your taste buds confirm that a dash of milk, in a cup, from a pot of tea, is by far the best.
Milk in tea first sounds as bad as those people that put milk in before cereal (and yeah that's a thing apparently).
Milk in tea first sounds as bad as those people that put milk in before cereal (and yeah that's a thing apparently).
I would have rather gone the rest of my life without hearing about these monsters. This post is more horrifying than any version of Stephen King's It.
@shindig said:
Depends where I'm at. If I'm at my parents, it's milk first because my folks own a teapot. At home, It's tea then milk. It makes no difference so it's all down to circumstance with me.
@jesus_phish: This is still incorrect. You put the tea into the cup first, then the milk.
This is 100% accurate
Milk in tea first sounds as bad as those people that put milk in before cereal (and yeah that's a thing apparently).
If I'm using British Tea like Tetley's, first I make the tea in the cup then I add the milk. But I did read somewhere (on the internet of course) that the practice of adding milk originates from the need to cool the tea before it comes in contact with the china cup. Because back then, the average china cup was so thin and delicate that it would crack from having hot tea poured directly onto it. So it's really not wrong to add milk first to the cup.
You always start with the main course (the tea) and then add flavour-stuff in later.
Just like you put whipcream on top of food as last step.
If you use sugar, don't you dare put it in the cup before you pour the liquid. Sweeteners are a last step.
The only tea I have milk in, if I have milk at home, is of the chai variety. I used to have milk and sugar in tea during my teens when I first started drinking tea but I stopped it at some point mainly during a time of wanting to lose weight. But it got me appreciating just regular tea with nothing in it. But to answer the real question; tea first, milk after. I am not a savage.
Please Log In to post.
Log in to comment