tea.

In many conversations since I have returned from the UK comments have been made like "So I'm sure you drank a lot of tea there" and "I'll bet you know how to make tea the right way now huh?". Yes, yes I do.

I choose now to share that with you, in the hope that your tea drinking experience will be greatly improved. Now, the English aren't huge fans of green tea or fruit teas. So mostly this works with black teas like English and Irish Breakfast, Earl Grey, Gunpowder Black, Constant Comment, Mango Ceylon and the like. If the tea has citrus in it, it will likely curdle the milk, no fun.

Step 1) Boil water in a pot or electric kettle. After it boils let it sit for a minute or two. Boiling water actually burns tea leaves, so let it cool down just a tad.

Step 2) Add boiling water to tea bags in a tea pot, let them steep for 3-5 minutes, depending on how dark you like your tea. (I like mine rather dark)

Step 3) Put 1/4 cup of milk in a coffee cup, followed by 1 and a heaped half teaspoons of sugar. (Less sugar is ok, but this is what I do, as does the British man who taught me how to make tea)

Step 4) Put the cup in the microwave for 19 seconds. This apparently warms the milk and helps it to caramelise with the sugar a bit, it will bring out the creamy flavor of the milk better as well.

Step 5) Pour in the steeped tea over the milk (The posh in Britain do this. It came from when the wealthy drank tea out of porcelain that breaks when hot tea is poured directly into the cup, the cream in first prevented it from breaking)

Step 6) Stir once more.

Step 7) Enjoy with a book, a few biscuits (cookies) and a friend.