How do I make a cup of tea?

[Kaylia76]

I am so confused by this very simple thing I have been doing for absolutely ages.

When we first bought a place I thought the reason my tea tasted crappy was because of the kettle. We moved house and the tea tasted slightly better (same kettle) but we know upgraded to a SMEG.

The last two cups I've made, there's been almost like a thick tea like deposit at the bottom of the cup (I notice it whilst drinking as I get to the bottom of the cup). What am I doing wrong?

I think I have hard water...is there a solution for that?

[Anordinarymum]

How are you making 'the tea'. Is it in a pot or just a teabag in a mug

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

Filter your water. Brita is a common brand.
Descale your kettle often.

[Kaylia76]

Do you know what the weird deposit is? It's a brand new kettle (cleaned first). Never had it before.

I am putting the teabag in (Yorkshire) and then pouring water in and brewing, then remove tea bag, add milk.

[TwoZeroTwoZero]

Brew it in a teapot. Put milk in the cup and then pour the tea into that. That way you don't get that oily residue on top of the tea. Use a water filter, like a Brita, and that helps with hard water. Use better tea because Yorkshire tea, in my opinion, is awful: it's too bitter. I know that saying that out loud is almost a hanging offence since I'm from Yorkshire but Iuch prefer Twinings or teapigs tea!

[VanGoghsDog]

The scum is from the hard water.

Yorkshire tea is fine, obviously people like different things but it doesn't cause the scum, that's the water.

[HardAsSnails]

Are you using whole milk and quite a lot of it? That would give you a scummy deposit.