Why are some cups of tea completely perfect, and others just a bit meh?

[TeaMystery]

Why is this? When both are made the same way - freshly boiled water so none of the depressing re-boiled water, brewed for the same amount of time, teabage swirled in the same manner before removing?

I don't get it. Why are some cups of tea perfect and everything you dream of in a cup of tea, and others are more akin to sad tasteless brown water?

Incidentally, the first cup of tea of the day is almost always a winner. Chances of inferior tea increase as the day passes. Wonder if I just get tead out but in denial about it?

I like my tea made in a pot. When I'm making it in a mug it's very important that I heat the cup the same way I'd heat the pot to get a decent cuppa

Don’t forget the bedtime cup of tea though. Especially if you have just had a bath and are in clean PJs.

I love the first cup of day. Nothing beats it. I much prefer to make my own tea as nobody can get it just how I like it - hot but not too hot, milky but not too much milk and in a proper cup and saucer. And under no circumstances put UHT milk in my tea. Or even worse vanilla flavoured UHT milk! I think tea making is a work of art.

The only way I'd put UHT milk in my tea is maybe in the apocalypse.

And I NEVER buy tea in a cafe. It's never right is it. Just an exercise in disappointment.

I like it! It adds a frisson to my incredibly dull and otherwise totally predictable life. I mean, no cup of tea that I make myself is a bad cup of tea - but what if this next one is going to be great? Stuff like that gets me up in the morning.
^
(I think it's down to micro variations in milk quantity and time to steep though)^

Do you drink your 'daytime tea' from a travel mug at work? Travel mug tea is always inferior

Yes apart from an Italian cafe in Soho that always gets it spot on. I think they use a tea urn and I reckon they have never cleaned it, they just keep topping it up. It's magnificent tea.

I also think the first cup of tea when you wake up is far superior.

So, for investigative purposes only…..

I shall be having a nap before each cup of tea to see if that makes them all taste superior 😁😴

I'm going to disagree about the first cup of the day being the best. Most needed, yes definitely, but I find that just means that if it turns out even a tiny bit meh, it's more disappointing and matters more than with the later ones.

I try to avoid cafés that don't make tea properly. Must provide: tea pot, loose-leaf tea, jug of cold milk, extra pot of hot water.

I don't like it if the first one is the best. There's nowhere else for the day to go, except down.

I feel like I maybe should get a job not WFH...

Apart from the first cup in the morning, I absolutely love a cup of tea when I get back from shopping in town on a weekend.
Bags dumped, kettle on and feet up!

To be fair, I'd rather be vaporised in a nuclear blast than have to use UHT in my tea.

The only way I'd put UHT milk in my tea is maybe in the apocalypse.

Shudder. About the UHT, not the apocalypse, obvs.

In my house it’s due to Twinings English breakfast tea bags and our own bore hole.

First cup of the day is always the best. But any cup following a looong gap in drinks and/or outdoor activity is usually good. sometimes if I get home after a big walk a cup of tea almost matches the first cup perfection.
I never enjoy tea as much in other peoples houses or cafes.

This post and the replies have cracked me up and cheered up a shitty day, so thanks for posting. 😂

I reckon there should be a study into this (and what the perfect tea making conditions are)

DH brings me a mug of tea in bed every morning, which I hugely appreciate. 9 times out of 10 it will be perfect, but the tenth time something, somewhere will go wrong with the process and it just doesn't taste right. Boiling water, 2 teabags in the pot (always a pot), brief stir, brew for 4 minutes, another quick swirl and pour. So neither of us can understand why mostly it's fine and sometimes it isn't.

George Orwell wrote an essay about tea-making, if anyone's interested:

I do this all the time with tea and coffee , sometimes make myself shit cups and other days it's perfect, but always make them the same way

I often wonder this too. My best cups of tea are the ones dh makes. He makes a superior brew, I rarely get the ones I make myself to taste as good.
He just brings me them randomly too which I love ☕

It also depends on the air pressure which changes the boiling point of water - so for example when Storm Ciaran passed through water boiled at 98 degrees not 100 degrees.

Definitely think you can get tea'd out. Leaving a decent gap between cups of tea and going something that requires a reward always makes for a very satisfying cup.

Doing something, obvs

I can go weeks without drinking tea, but sometimes it really hits the spot. DH offered tonight, I thought yes maybe it's time I haven't had one in at least a fortnight. Really wanted a nice Yorkshire two bag cup with plenty of milk (I know I'm the only one who gets the pot out so no expectation there), I got bloody Yorkshire biscuit tea. It's nice enough, the smell is better than the reality, but it's so insipid and he thinks he's been nice by making the 'special' tea, and I am aware I have no right to expect him to mind read my in the moment tea preference and so appreciate the thought. Probably won't have another cup for a few weeks now