To think the milk goes in AFTER the tea has been poured....

[ApocalypseCheese]

Followed by the sugar obviously.....

You do NOT repeat DO NOT dump the teabag, sugar and milk in the (bone china) cup/ mug/ whatever then pour hot water on top and hope for the best ??

Twinings loose leaf, always. PG Tips et al are the work of the devil and disgusting.

YANBU - nothing worse than tea that's just milk and hot water if you put too much milk in first. If you don't put enough milk in first conversely, you end up adding milk after anyhow, so where's the point?

Having spent a few months working on building site recently, I can confirm the only way to make a good cup of tea is teabag in cup, pour on boiling water, stir until inside of cup stained, add at least two heaped spoons of sugar, then milk.

Use same spoon all day, don't worry about washing mugs out, just rinse out any discarded dog ends or part dissolved biscuits from bottom of mugs...

YABU. Tea should always be made in a pot, milk in the cup first, then pour the tea.

Granny sent me a link I've now lost as I wondered about this a while back. She would agree with you. It seems very few know this though.

I may be wrong but originally it was always 'correct' to put tea in first and then milk or lemon would be added. If milk in first - in the posh tea and bone china cup scenario - no chance for those who prefer lemon.

Granny used to say that milk in first was to hide the cracks in the bone china cups for those who couldn't really afford to the Edwardian house/afternoon tea of old any longer.

showofhands you surely don't put milk in Earl Grey?

English Breakfast tea is best. Definitely milk in first. For lemon tea, also better to put the lemon in first for the flavor to infuse.

according to etiquette you should put the milk in last - but I don't because it always gives a horrible film on the tea if you do this.

milk first if you have it at all

Tea bag in teapot, unless at work, milk in cup/mug first. Much better less stewed taste as no bag squeezing.
If teabag in mug then milk after otherwise the water isn't hot enough to penetrate the tea bag properly, hense all the "bring the pot to the kettle" homilies.

It's god damned cunting water in first! and anyone who says otherwise, should have their tea making license revoked!

Tea is made in a teapot.

It doesn't matter if milk is put into the mug/cup first, as the tea is poured in from the teapot so has brewed nicely at the right temp. for long enough.

Milk in last. This avoids the awful boiled milk taste you get if you add boiling liquid to milk. Far better for tea to cool slightly in cup/mug so when you add the milk it isn't basically cooked.

Also, if you add milk before, how do you know how much to put in? Given variability of strength of tea?

I always thought "milk-in-first" and "pardon" were meant to be dead give aways for lower middle class gentility?

(NB all this is irrelevant if you make tea with a teabag in the mug.Obv milk in last Does anyone put milk in first in that case?)

It has to be last ! How else do you ensure you get the correct strength of tea. I hate it when somebody makes me a cup of tea that is too orange or insipid looking. I'm thinking of sticking a colour chart near the kettle with the correct shade of tea circled.

jazzchickens - I second the shade card idea.

It really doesn't matter.

What are the names of the shades? Builder's brew for the strongest going by degrees to gnat's piss for the weakest?

I DOES pointydog.

Nuffink worse than a weak brew.

I bet JustineMumsnet dosen't put the milk in first It's a vile practise which needs to be stopped !

I like a strong brew too.

I suppose I always go for milk in afterwards.

But if anyone offeres to make me a cuppa I just say 'strong please' and I'm not bbothered about the ins and out of the milk.

Alibaba - I agree about Twinings loose tea :)

Sainsbo's Earl Grey doesn't cut it though (the "perfume" isn't quite right) - although their Darjeeling is OK at a push.

My preference is for a 50:50 mix of darjeeling and earl grey, left to brew for c.5 minutes and then poured before the milk - into bone china mugs....

.... not that I am tea snob or anything.....

I find that you don't make 'em, it really doesn't matter what order the components are mixed together!!

At the end of the day, a cup made for ya is still a cup made for ya!!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3103

Sorry guys, we're British so someone has already legislated what constitutes a cuppa

Ha ha that link is hysterical! here
is further freakiness in the world of tea-making

12 sugars and 2 teabags with a a pint of full fat milk, half in first and the other half in last.
Stirred with a biro and slurped.

Oh the horror of this thread. Its like a beverage car crash!

Milk in before or after is not even close to being the most important question.

Teabag in a cup (or a mug) is so very very wrong!

YANBU- milk last in a mug/cup of ordinary tea. Skimmed milk, mind.
Milk first if tea from pot, though this can of course be risky, since some people make such hideously weak tea!