http://hjem.get2net.dk/bnielsen/teaorwell.html

One of the essays in The Salmon of Doubt is Douglas Adams' instructions for brewing the best possible cup of tea. Clearly here was another Englishman for whom a good cup of tea was very important. (Adams belonged to the "milk first" side of the argument, however. He stated that while it was socially incorrect to put the milk in first, doing so made for a better cup of tea).

I was told that the 'milk first' school of thought developed for a very practical reason, especially relevant in India. Pouring the milk first it was easier to determine whether it is still fresh or has gone sour without wasting a good cupful of that splendid beverage - tea. No fridges and hot climate in India would indeed increase the chances of milk going off quickly.

(warm) milk first also protects very delicate china, by instantly lowering the temperature of the tea being poured in.

'Milk First' results in a more creamy taste... splendid!

Not that I ever expected this discussion to come up here, but I'll take advantage nonetheless. I've been wondering: We have two grades of cream here in the U.S. -- heavy and light (aka table). I use heavy in my tea for maximum creaminess (also to make butter from once in a while). What, if any, is the general practice in the U.K. -- whole (full-fat) milk, light cream, or heavy cream?

Cream in your tea!?! Never! Whole milk or semi-skimmed, if you please.

Douglas Adams' explanation for putting the milk in first is that if you do this, you initially have a small amount of (hot) tea in contact with a larger amount of (cold) milk: the effect is to cool the tea more rapidly than the milk is heated. If you do it the other way round, you have a large amount of (hot) tea in contact with a smaller amount of (cold) milk. The effect is to heat some of the milk to boiling temperature or close to it and you end up with partially scalded milk in the tea. There is a certain amount of logic in this.

Adriana, I can't imagine using semi-skimmed (our "2 percent", I guess), but I'll try whole milk and see what happens.

BTW, science has apparently come down in favor of milk first. I hate denaturated proteins.

I covered this a while back.
The MIF battle is less important than that between the 'nice cuppa' brigade (lead by Orwell) and the teasthetes (DNA being an example).

Nothing like a discussion on the trivial matter of tea making to excite us English. Lough out loud comment on the Guardian site today where they're having the same discussion:

'You can make tea any way you want, although only people who greedily suck the cum from Satan's cock while taking it up the bum from Alsation dogs put the milk in first.'

The Group Captain will not be amused.

Are you absolutely sure he recommended a cup with a round bottom? Surely such a cup would present insurmountable practical difficulties when the time came to put it down?

Martin

Martin Adamson: From Orwell's essay on making tea -

Eightly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup - that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one's tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.