Milk in first or water!

[jurisfictionoperative]

Just for fun this morning, I know it's not really important, but I got into a lively discussion with my friend this morning, when she made a cup of tea, and put the milk in the cup with the tea bag and added the water on top. I said this was wrong, milk in last, we disagree. We finally decided to put it to the mumsnet vote, so come on folks, milk in first or last!?

milk in first with tea or coffee
especially important with coffee as you are not supposed to put scalding water on the granules as it alters the taste

obviously milk goes in last, whether made with tea bag in cup or properly in a pot

otherwise how would you know how much milk to add, since tea can come out in variable strengths?

but tea MUST be hit with boiling water to work properly

Milk in last!!!!

If you put the milk in first, you're immediately cooling down the boiling water and thereby preventing the tea from mashing properly. Also it's impossible to guauge just how much milk is required to get it just that perfect colour!

I always add water to tea first, then the milk.

I remember getting into trouble when I was at school and worked in a restaurant as the owner said that adding milk to the teabag first stopped it brewing properly!

milk in first with coffee, makes it taste creamier imo
last in tea as you dont know how strong it is till the tea bag is out

I'm not a tea drinker so I don't really care except that even I can tell putting the teabag with the milk and then topping up with water is lunacy.

actually I take it back
water in first for tea and milk on first for coffee

I dont even drink hot drinks ever.....

don't understand why anyone would put milk in coffee anyway

it never comes with milk added in restaurants does it? bit of optional cream maybe

ahhh (wise old sage mode initiated) that depends on if your using a teapot or not!

If your using a teabag in the cup, you want the boiling water directly on the bag to release the flavour, so water first, however if your pouring it from a teapot he milk should go in first as theres no need for stirring and so the cuppa tea is hotter

Coffee drinker here - I do coffee-sugar-milk-water.

DH is a tea drinker and hates when I put the milk in first. He asks me not to, but I do anyway! He never notices, so I assume the taste doesn't differ from when he makes it his way..

mil here with tea, dp puts mif so wrong!

take my coffe black but bizarrely always put mif for dp

There are so many things you need to consider.

Tea
Made in mug - bag, hot water (has to be on the boil, as this is the optimum temperature for releasing flavour. Finally, milk and sugar, adjusted to taste/Farrow and Ball colour chart
Made in pot - obviously, bag then water. HOWEVER, how this then goes into the cup is controversial. Some say tea first, as this shows that your china is well made and can withstand high temperatures (for the snob), others say milk.

Coffee
Don't get me started on instant coffee - work of the devil so I will just pretend it doesn't exist.
REAL coffee - (made in cafetierre), either goes. If being made using an espresso machine, then it's coffee then milk.

tea in a pot mif
tea bag water in first then milk
coffee water in first

hot water, as soon as the kettle stops boiling on a teabag, take the bag out, then add milk. If you out milk on the bag the fat clogs up the bag so it can't infuse properly!
with coffee, I always put the milk in first so as not to scald the coffee granules - otherwise it just tastes burnt. If I'm doing coffee without milk for someone, I pour it last to give the water a chance to cool down.

So, tea - water first; coffee - milk first.

Milk on a teabag is just yuk.

Tea - Water first. No arguments.

Coffee - Don't drink instant at home, and fluff my milk, so sugar and milk first, nuke then fluff then add coffee from the pot. If I have it at other people houses I do milk last so I can get the colour right (have a lot less milk if it's flat)

Tea must have a rolling boil to have its full potential but some of the enzymes in milk get ruined if added to a cup of boiling water. This means that the only way to make the ideal cup of tea is add rolling boil water to a teapot, but when you pour your tea out of that teapot into a cup, make sure the milk is already in the cup. It means you can't make the "ideal" cup of tea in a mug with a teabag, technically. I leaned this at culinary college by the way!

Coffee, we didn't learn about but anecdotally I can say if its instant, its better if you put the milk in first then the boiling water as I think the milk sort of protects the roundness of the coffee flavour (!! as much as you get with instant to be fair) and then the thing with milk enzymes would also apply as well.

I'm with stepsideways - if made in a teapot, put milk in cup first and then pour ready-brewed tea from the teapot. If making directly in cup, water before milk. Either way, a quick introduction of the teabag to the water is all that's needed for my tea...

Coffee Drinker here but DH is a tea drinker.

Coffee - Sagar - Water - Milk

You must add the tea bag first and let it brew, if you add the milk first, milky molecules will clog up the holes in your teabag rendering the brewing process inefficient!!

Milk in first for coffee and last for tea. Milk in tea first is disgusting as you can never get it very strong, and I like my tea very strong.

Please consider trying tea without milk. Or, "tea" as I prefer to call it.

The other drink, "tea with milk" is a totally different creature and utterly vile.

Funny thing that coffee with milk or without is still coffee but milk changes the entire nature of tea.

First with coffee, last with tea.

Doesn't it stop the tea brewing properly if you put it in first?

Milk in last for tea.
Milk in first for coffee as I put the milk in the cup and the filter sits on top. So water drips through it.

Water then milk. My mum does it the other way round because she says it prevent the hard water "film" we get on tea in the SE.