Weekend recipe: How to make a dashed good cup of tea
And my apologies to those who already know how.
While I have made tea with teabags a million times, when I want some really great tea I follow this procedure from "Great British Cooking" and it never fails.
1. Fill your kettle with cold water. Don't use warm water to speed up the process.
2. Bring the kettle to a rapid boil.
3. Pour a little of this hot water into the teapot, swish it around and pour it out. This is called "hotting the pot." I'm sure there are other names for this.
4. Put one generous teaspoon per person, plus one spoonful for the pot into the teapot. Here I differ. I have a strainer that I use a lot of the time and I put the leaves in that. Then, depending on how you're doing it, pour the water through the strainer or pour the water directly on the tea leaves inside the pot. If you choose the latter method, you can then pour the tea through a strainer when serving. I think some people pour it without employing a strainer, but I never have.
5. Put the lid on the pot and allow the tea to brew for five minutes.
6. Pour out. If you like milk with your tea (I don't), be sure and use milk, not cream. Cream tends to clot or do other weird things. Some people like sugar with their tea. I don't, but sugar cubes and a little pair of tongs are lovely in you're serving guests.
7. Don't forget a little snack to go with the tea. And don't forget to wrap your teapot in a dish towel or a tea cosy to keep the tea hot.
We've had a lot more hot tea than iced tea here this summer simply because the weather refused to warm up.
While I have made tea with teabags a million times, when I want some really great tea I follow this procedure from "Great British Cooking" and it never fails.
1. Fill your kettle with cold water. Don't use warm water to speed up the process.
2. Bring the kettle to a rapid boil.
3. Pour a little of this hot water into the teapot, swish it around and pour it out. This is called "hotting the pot." I'm sure there are other names for this.
4. Put one generous teaspoon per person, plus one spoonful for the pot into the teapot. Here I differ. I have a strainer that I use a lot of the time and I put the leaves in that. Then, depending on how you're doing it, pour the water through the strainer or pour the water directly on the tea leaves inside the pot. If you choose the latter method, you can then pour the tea through a strainer when serving. I think some people pour it without employing a strainer, but I never have.
5. Put the lid on the pot and allow the tea to brew for five minutes.
6. Pour out. If you like milk with your tea (I don't), be sure and use milk, not cream. Cream tends to clot or do other weird things. Some people like sugar with their tea. I don't, but sugar cubes and a little pair of tongs are lovely in you're serving guests.
7. Don't forget a little snack to go with the tea. And don't forget to wrap your teapot in a dish towel or a tea cosy to keep the tea hot.
We've had a lot more hot tea than iced tea here this summer simply because the weather refused to warm up.