AIBU to think this tea is stewed?

[ThisTeaIsBad]

Hopefully there is a picture attached or this won't make any sense.

DH declares this tea to be perfect. I say it is stewed.

YABU - it is indeed perfect
YANBU - it is stewed

By my maths 4 people currently think this is a perfect cup of tea 😱

Does he use the very bottom of the kettle water? That used to happen before we had our filter kettle.

You can leave a teabag in for 15 mins now and that wouldn't happen

Yes, gets very grumpy about overfilled kettle.

It's the limescaley dregs from the bottom of the kettle then. That's why it happens.

Does he only just put enough water in the kettle so he's using the last drips and getting the limescale off the bottom?

For my money, I reckon it's not that it's been left too long with the tea bag in it per se, just that it's been left to settle. If you normally make your tea, stir it, and then drink it straight away, then the agitation of the stirring and moving it to your mouth and back down again etc will keep all that stuff moving and it won't have time to settle and rise to the top.

You will also have less of the limescale if you normally fill your kettle with a decent amount of water and use the 'top' of the water, if you see what I mean. If your husband has only put one cup's worth in the kettle, or he's made multiple cups but used the last bit in the kettle to make yours, you'll have more limescale in yours.

So a few things that can affect it imo. But... filter your water. And LTB, obviously.

Cross posted! 🤣

I wouldn't say that is particularly stewed unless he has put half a mug of milk in it - the problem is him using the dreggs of the water and therefore pouring all the limescale into the cup.
Either way it doesn't look a good cup of tea 😅

Colour of the tea is fine, the nasty float stuff is a limescale issue. Best use a filter kettle, or softened water. Stewing might make it worse but it’s a water issue mainly.

I echo every one else who says it’s not stewed, just strong and made with hard water. See this article for an explanation
https://www.theguardian.com/food/shortcuts/2021/sep/08/tired-of-tea-scum-how-to-banish-it-for-ever-and-make-the-perfect-cuppa

Save yourself. Move to Scotland.

Get a water filter installed - best thing we ever did in our very hard water area. Hardly ever have to descale the kettle now and no limescale on the shower etc. Only costs us a bag of salt once a month too.

That's why I gave up milk in my tea. Whatever it is with the water in London seemed to combine with the milk and make it an oil slick. That's decades ago and I live in a soft water area now but I've never gone back to milk in tea.

I may well head back to Northumberland, never had this problem when I grew up there.

Or Yorkshire. I like London for a visit as long as I don't need to be there long enough to have to drink tap water, wash my hair or look inside any of the appliances.

I have very strong tea and it never looks like this so I wouldn't associate this with the tea bag being left in for a long time?
Looks more like an issue with the water.

Does draw fresh water each time he boils the kettle?
That looks like using non fresh water to me. Also I rinse the kettle each time and never use the water near the element.
That is discarded when I rinse and refill the next time.

That looks boggin. LTB and move to Scotland - I’ve never had to descale a kettle in my life!

The only place for that cuppa is straight down the plug hole!!

Either your kettle needs descaling or the cup wasn't clean. Reminds me of one I got from Greggs after my first COVID jab. I took a pic and posted it in rate my tea on Facebook.😂😂😂

The look on my husband's face when I showed him that cup of tea was priceless. He was horrified and it was hilarious.

Thank you, OP.

Even with a brand new, filtered kettle, my tea looks like this 🤷‍♀️ Living in a VERY hard water area sucks big time! 🤦‍♀️🤢

Yes, descaling the kettle or even getting a new one doesn't really make any difference here either. Only the tea making technique helps.

A filter kettle solved my problem

What does stewed tea taste like, I've just thought about it and not actually sure what that means. <absolutely not being snarky>