Making tea - milk first or tea first

Making tea - milk first or tea first - Person in White Blazer Holding Brown and White Cake

For those who take tea with milk, opinion seems very much divided about whether to add milk to the cup before the tea or vice versa. I have seen some suggestions relating to the milk protecting the fine china when the hot tea was poured, and even suggestions relating to killing bacteria in suspect milk. My personal preference is to pour the milk in after the tea, and I do believe there is a difference in taste but I wonder whether this is simply a case of being able to more accurately gauge the quantity of milk being added, as the colour of the the tea serves as a guide.

Is there a measurable (ie scientific) difference between the processes of (i) adding milk to the tea, and (ii) adding tea to the milk that will lead to a different flavour outcome?

This question touches on the issue, but doesn't quite give the answer I am looking for.



Best Answer

I had the chance to ask a tea scientist this very question about 25 years ago, and he said:

  • if you put the tea in first, over decades your cups will be more stained than if you put the milk in first
  • if you put the milk in first, you cannot add less milk on discovering that the tea is weak or there is less of it than you thought

He further reported that the Royal Family always put the tea in first. So, despite being raised milk-first, I am a tea-first person (the milkiness of my tea being more important than possible stains to my cups) and my mother tolerates this when she visits.

Killing bacteria in the milk is really not an issue now and probably never was; even if it were the temperature difference is not important between the two approaches. A little cold milk in a room temperature cup probably won't prevent thermal shock either: many people claim leaving the spoon in serves this purpose, but I think it's just to avoid putting the spoon down on the counter and leaving a dribble.




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Quick Answer about "Making tea - milk first or tea first"

Based on the research conducted by Dr Stapley of Loughborough University, it has been confirmed that putting the milk in before the hot tea is the correct way to make a brew.

Do you put milk in tea before or after?

The answer is: In a formal setting, milk is poured after the tea. You may have heard or read that milk precedes the tea into the cup but this is not the case. You do not put milk in before tea because then you cannot judge the strength of the tea by its color and aroma.

Why do people put milk first in tea?

This is the optimal room temperature, according to science \u201cMaking tea the traditional way - steeping a bag in hot water before removing it and adding milk - results in the tannins turning into solids before they can develop the flavour properly.

What is the correct order to make tea?

Steps to Make Tea
  • Boil water. Different types of tea require different water temperature to brew. ...
  • Warm up teapot. This step is a detail that takes your tea to the next level and almost no one does it. ...
  • Put tea into teapot and add hot water.
  • Cover teapot and steep tea. ...
  • Strain tea solids and pour hot tea into tea cups.




  • Milk first or last? The correct method for hot tea. (GONE MATHEMATICAL)




    More answers regarding making tea - milk first or tea first

    Answer 2

    There may be a difference:

    Some milk sugars are very sensitive to heat and will burn at near boiling temperatures.

    If you are adding tea to the milk, it is possible that you lose some of milk sugars as the boiling tea (~95°C) makes direct contact with the milk.

    If you are adding milk to the tea, the tea is no longer near boiling since the cup + time has absorbed a fair bit of the heat (~95°C -> ~70°C) and you are adding milk to a 70°C cup that will not burn the milk sugars.

    If you can taste the difference (not many people do), experiment with adding milk at various stages of pouring tea and see if there is a clear crossover.

    When it comes to cleaning the tea stain, just use something like an URNEX Cafiza or Tabz Tea Clean. I don't think Tea stain chemically bonds to porcelain and have always been able to bring original look (minus the metal spoon scratches) back.

    Finally, you may also want to not use milk altogether per this article.

    Answer 3

    I always assummed something a bit the oppsite of MandoMando; When pouring tea into milk, when only a bit of tea has entered the cup, the milk/tea ratio are similar, so the tea can only heat the milk up a bit, then more tea being added brings the temperature up.

    Dumping the milk in hot tea moves the milk immediately into a large vessel of hot tea, heating it up faster, perhaps giving it a boiled taste.

    I do like the theory of not being able to subtract milk if put in first though!

    Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

    Images: Anna Nekrashevich, Anna Nekrashevich, Ivan Samkov, Anna Nekrashevich