To ask you how you make tea taste good?

[VeronicaM27]

Every now and then I make a cup of tea and it tastes like pure magic. The problem is 99 times out 100 it tastes like soggy cardboard.

I put the teabag in the cup with 2 sugars, pour in the boiling water, leave for 2-3 minutes, take out and then add a splash of milk. I have no idea what I do differently that one magic time but it’s so annoying when I crave a nice cup of tea and it ends up tasting like the aforementioned cardboard.

So what am I doing wrong? How to you get the perfect cup of tea every time?

Use a little teapot. I never make tea in the mug because it tastes funny.

Thanks everyone for the tips.

I feel like I literally do the same thing every time. Tetley tea bags but I’ve also tried Yorkshire and PG tips. Fresh water, semi skimmed milk and I never mash the tea bag, just swirl it a few times.

For the person saying it’s what I’ve eaten beforehand. I don’t think so as I usually have my tea first thing with some toast (don’t even get me started on trying to make the perfect slice of toast!)

I used to only have one sugar but that stopped being enough for some reason so I’ve upped it to two.

Guess I’ll just have to put it down to one of life’s great mysteries 😂

I used to have the same problem, but I think I've cracked it

China cup or mug. Teapot - china also. Loose tea leaves, any brand will do. This works 100 per cent of the time for the 'nice' taste, so I always do it first thing in the morning, or when I have visitors, or when I'm really needing the perfect cup of tea.

If I'm wanting 'quick' tea, I use PG tips in a china mug and it's about 50/50 'normal' and 'nice' - but never 'cardboard'. The china really makes a difference in getting rid of the 'cardboard' thing.

Always use fresh water in your kettle. Use honey instead of sugar. And buy good quality tea bags or loose leaf.

🤮 Burn your stash of Tetleys. The worse tea every! Plus it's full of micro plastics!

Yorkshire tea.
Oat milk

Perfect.

yes you have a point.
Sometimes you will hear lovely cup of tea this is, but not all the time.

Brew your tea in a teapot! Teabag in a mug never tastes as good as when it's properly brewed in a pot. Also china mug or cup is better than a pottery one ime.

PS and Yorkshire Tea is the best for taste.

I don't often drink tea, but the odd time I do have one, I love it.
Second one is never as good and so i find I don't regularly drink tea!

I used to love Yorkshire Tea but I think they changed it somehow a couple of years ago, and I'm not as keen now. I think it was in 2020, bloody Covid I bet grrr

Now I go for PG Tips, sometimes Typhoo if I can get it and then mix it up and keep it fresh with a selection of speciality teas.

I too love a good squeeze. The only problem is, several out of the latest box of yorkshire teabags have bloody split, leaving me with a gobful of grit in the last mouthful. Annoyingly, there was no sign of the tea leaves until that point 🤬

Put brandy in it

Squeezing the teabag adds slight bitterness... I suppose it depends whether you like that, there's no inherent reason it has to be bad but it's not what most people want I don't think.

A lot of teabags are actually plastic now, which might be impacting the taste...

China cup 100%.

Leave out the sugar and the milk. Tea was always urgh to me until someone made it black for me. Gamechanger.

This. It has been a revelation to me, how much better tea tastes when made in a pot. I now have a collection of tea pots.

Hard water area tea tastes different, it does taste better without sugar, took me a while to adjust though. I'm in a soft water area but find sometimes the chemical they add I can actually smell coming out of the tap.

Empty kettle out completely.
Good cup. Milk in first. You see what colour it is properly then.

Wrong thread sorry!!!

If you're making tea first thing in the morning then run the tap for a few minutes to draw off the water that has been standing in the water supply pipe overnight.
Empty any water left in the kettle from the day before and remove any big bits of limescale.
Boil kettle pour onto teabag and add milk.
Don't add sugar- you'll just be drinking a sugar solution flavoured with tea.

Teabag only in the cup and pour freshly boiled water on REALLY slowly, aiming at the teabag. Leave to sit for a few minutes and then add your milk/sugar.

Haven't read through the whole thread but this really is a thing!
Certain cups of tea taste better in a particular cup too. Weird....

Good quality loose leaf tea either in a china pot or in a tea infuser, brewed for two or three minutes in freshly boiled water. Drink from a china/porcelain cup.

The reason china is so important is:

"The ideal teacup should have a smooth surface and be impervious. This stops tannins in the tea from binding to the cup instead of dissolving in the water. That’s where the china cup comes in. It’s smooth, glazed surfaces don’t bind the tannins, leaving the flavour of the tea untouched. So science is telling us what our grannies already knew, tea really does tastes better in a china cup."

www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/healthandwellbeing/arid-40189122.html