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“How do you have it?” A question faced by tea drinkers in their thousands on a daily basis. Unless like us here at Perception, you have a convenient tea chart to keep track! Us Brits love our tea. So whilst we were enjoying a lovely afternoon tea at The Vicarage Cheshire, we caught up with the team to get to grips with the ‘proper’ way to drink it.

Notepads at the ready…

Prep It

Use fresh, cold water to make your tea. Throw out pre-boiled water from a previous team-making session. There’s more oxygen in cold water which makes the tea taste better.

Make sure your pot is clean, then warm it by swirling around a small amount of boiled water inside.

Brew Up

One teaspoon of loose tea per person and one teaspoon for the pot is considered about right, but hey, feel free to add as much or as little based on how strong you like yours.

Leave the tea to brew for up to seven minutes. This allows the flavour to fully develop. The general rule is, the larger the leaf, the longer the brewing time. Earl Grey and Lady Grey need five minutes, while a smaller leaf tea will only need about four minutes.

Tea should be served in a cup (preferably china) and passed through a strainer if you’re using loose leaf tea (which they do at The Vicarage Cheshire)

Milk is added to black tea, such Assam, but Lapsang Souchong is usually enjoyed with a slice of lemon.

Sugar goes in last, after the milk.

When stirring, try not to clink the spoon against the edges of the cup. It’s noisy, can damage your lovely china cup and spill your tea over the sides. Make small ‘swishing’ movements back and forth to stir your tea.

Sip Away

Pinky up? No! There is no need to leave your little finger sticking out. Your index finger should be in the handle of the cup and your thumb on top. Tuck that little piggy away.

Don’t cradle the cup in your hands, the handle is there for a reason.

What about biscuits? Can we dunk? No dunking! Take a bite of your biscuit then a sip of your tea – you’ll get the same mouthful.

All duly noted, thanks very much to the team from The Vicarage Cheshire! Let’s get the kettle on…

 

Wordsmithery by Siân | Perception Sales & Marketing

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