The perfect cup of tea?

[Fuss]

I'll start by saying I rarely drink coffee but do love a solitary cup of tea in a morning. For many years I've made my perfect cuppa with a tassimo Twinings English breakfast tea pod. It dispensed the perfect amount into my mug at the perfect temperature and it was perfect.

Then the bastards stopped making the Twinings tea pods.

Now I'm over my devastation I need to know how to now make the perfect cup of tea. I live in a really hard water area and find anything out of our kettle tastes a bit scaley. I cant find a hot water disk for a tassimo my way so that won't work and am now looking at Teaspresso for an old Nespresso machine I have.

I'm toying with the idea of buying one of those little hot water dispensers, whilst number one son tells me its all about loose leaf.
Help! This is of extreme importance! I'm down to my last tassimo pod and will be without a morning cuppa after tomorrow so you can appreciate the urgency....

you must like your tea weak if twinings makes perfect tea ive never managed to make a brown cup of tea using twinings which is usually on holiday I use aldis tea bags bog standard way boil kettle tea bag and sugar in the cup boiling water on wait two minutes remove tea bag add milk, and pods in coffee machines are bad for the environment all that plastic going to landfill

The twinings pod made it just how I like it. Have tried the tea bags and they aren't as nice as the pod I find.

I recycle my pods.

Proper teapot and loose leaf tea. Hard water is horrible. We've moved to a soft water area, and I hate the way tea tastes when we go to my parents' with their hard water. Can you get a water filter jug or a kettle with built-in filter?

I didn't know there were such things as tea pods . Sounds a bit new-fangled to me, and not in the spirit of a Proper Cup of Tea. With loose leaf and a teapot you can ensure the perfect cup every time by tweaking the amount of tea as well as the brewing time.

You see I'm not a tea aficionado, I'm all about the quickest, easiest route and the pods were great for that. Not at all in the spirit I suspect, but worked for me.
DS has more loose tea than Tesco I think and an array of little pots and strainers etc When this lockdown is over I might get him to have a try and make me something I enjoy.

Definitely need to either change the kettle or get a little one cup hot water thing.

I'm a weird sort I admit. Growing up I was never much of a hot drink lover and preferred a coke or water. Only in my old age have I discovered that actually, a cup of tea with one and a bit sugars is rather nice. I need educating I admit. I'm a very poor English woman.

The water must be boiling, that's the main thing. Apart from that I can't give any more advice, as I like it strong, made with leaves, in a teapot. Just as it was made during my war-time childhood.

Im looking at the Breville Instant Boilers, but now you've said that eddie I'm wondering whether to just replace the kettle for a really good filter kettle.

I love Yorkshire Teas 'biscuit brew' - proper heathen, especially for a northerner

The water must be boiling, that's the main thing.

And preheat the cup or pot.

Use filtered water. Or bottled. I bought a 2 litre bottle of water from Tesco for 17p and it's great for tea. I love tea. Nice, strong tea with very little milk.

Yorkshire teabag in cup, add just boiled water, leave for 4 minutes, take out tea bag and add milk until it's a lovely brown colour. Sit back and enjoy with a biscuit.

You don't need to become an aficionado of lots of types of tea though, OP. Find your favourite loose leaf tea, experiment with how much and how long to brew so it's perfect for you, and Bob's your uncle! You don't even need a teapot really- just one of those meshy things that sit in your cup. To find your likely best tea, go on a proper tea-seller's website and look at the descriptions, or just try a house blend. If you don't like it too strong, don't go for Assam (which is a key

Just interested how the OP recycles their pods as they can’t go in normal recycling waste

Oops, pressed send too soon! Assam is strong and is the main element in lots of bog standard builders' tea blends. Maybe a Ceylon might suit you.

The water must be boiling, that's the main thing.

Depends on the type of tea, but for a strong black tea yes definitely.

Just interested how the OP recycles their pods as they can’t go in normal recycling waste

Correct, they cant go into standard recycling so it does need a little more effort. They go in a box and then I use one of the dedicated Tassimo Terracycle recycling points:

www.tassimo.com/gb/recycling

Thanks for all tea recommendations, and especially the idea of bottled water! I shall visit DS and raid his tea box when this is over.