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Lady tasting tea

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Re: Lady tasting tea

#51

Post by thaumasiotes »

SuperNinKenDo wrote: post #47
thaumasiotes wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, because it's much harder to measure a specific amount of milk in isolation than to eyeball how much of it you've just added to something else. If you were concerned about regulating the amount of milk you were adding, tea first wouldn't even be a possibility.

The line where he points out that you need to stir continuously is important. He's saying that by mixing the milk and tea reliably, you can eyeball the colour of the tea. Indeed, this helps you regulate the flavour over multiple cups as the tea may be stronger (and therefore darker) if you have not removed the tea leaves. Conversely humans are terrible at measuring volumes in isolation in a container thar may differ…

> Conversely humans are terrible at measuring volumes in isolation in a container tha[t] may differ in size.

Most people use their teacups more than once.

Even among people who don't, disposable cups, having been mass-produced, are all the same size.

Re: Lady tasting tea

#52

Post by xandrius »

To solve this debacle, I only brew my tea in milk. Much better taste.

I'd rather just plain tea than water tea + milk, it just seems the worst of both worlds to me.

Re: Lady tasting tea

#53

Post by pclmulqdq »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #21
lr4444lr wrote: post #8

Wasn't this demonstrated by the Royal Chemical Society that pouring the milk into the tea creates a detectable trace of caramelization of the milk sugar or protein denaturation due to the momentary high temperature on the milk while the tea:milk ratio was very high at the initial pour? https://www.vahdam.com/blogs/tea-us/milk-first-or-last-the-s...

I've always preferred the taste of milk-first, and it never crossed my mind that the difference wasn't noticeable. I didn't realise it was a class marker until someone described it as "a bit MBT" (milk before tea.) Apparently where they were from this subtle social shading really mattered.

I drink a fair amount of tea, and I never understood why people put milk in their tea. Can you explain what you like about the sensation of milk in tea?

I am genuinely curious because this seems to be a near-universal thing in Britain, and I just... don't get it.

Re: Lady tasting tea

#54

Post by SuperNinKenDo »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #51
SuperNinKenDo wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The line where he points out that you need to stir continuously is important. He's saying that by mixing the milk and tea reliably, you can eyeball the colour of the tea. Indeed, this helps you regulate the flavour over multiple cups as the tea may be stronger (and therefore darker) if you have not removed the tea leaves. Conversely humans are terrible at measuring volumes in isolation in a container thar may differ…

> Conversely humans are terrible at measuring volumes in isolation in a container tha[t] may differ in size. Most people use their teacups more than once. Even among people who don't, disposable cups, having been mass-produced, are all the same size.

People however don't tend to have perfectly uniform cups even in their own home, and whenever outside one's home, the chances are very low that somebody can make accurate adjustments for a new vessel due to our well documented inability to compare volumes across different vessels.

Further the milk first method cannot account for differences in tea strength across brewings.

If we take the amount of times/chances milk first could lead you astray vs. the amount of times tea first plus stirring as you pour could lead you astray, the former is oviously greater and more likely.

I saw somewhere here somebody talking about the different ways the milk sugars might caramelise with the two methods being a factor, and obviously the article suggests there is a difference between the two methods in terms of flavour, but in terms of reliability of flavour, the latter option is obviously more reliable.

I take my tea black and unsweetened anyway, unless I'm drinking Hong Kong style milk-tea that is... then all bets on my blood-sugar levels are off...

Re: Lady tasting tea

#55

Post by Horffupolde »

jibbit wrote: post #12

> upper classes pour first the tea, while the lower classes poured the milk first this is because of the fear that boiling water will crack your best tea cups?

That’s one reason. The other one is that when you have a small amount of total milk, you have to make sure there’s enough for everyone. By pouring milk first you can more easily measure how much milk you pour per cup.

Re: Lady tasting tea

#56

Post by MengerSponge »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #53
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always preferred the taste of milk-first, and it never crossed my mind that the difference wasn't noticeable. I didn't realise it was a class marker until someone described it as "a bit MBT" (milk before tea.) Apparently where they were from this subtle social shading really mattered.

I drink a fair amount of tea, and I never understood why people put milk in their tea. Can you explain what you like about the sensation of milk in tea? I am genuinely curious because this seems to be a near-universal thing in Britain, and I just... don't get it.

Milk makes tea far less astringent.

It also binds with some other compounds making them less active too, but the astringency is an easy point to understand.

https://www.reddit.com/r/tea/comments/mb1tku/tempering_astri...

Re: Lady tasting tea

#57

Post by markdown »

seoulmetro wrote: post #50
markdown wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume you are being sarcastic. Drinking vessels come in all different sizes, from dainty little tea cups to mugs that hold an entire litre. Measuring the milk requires both measuring the steep time exactly, and using a separate measuring cup. This wastes time and adds unnecessary cleanup. Stirring as you add milk to the tea allows you to tell exactly the right amount for that cup (and for how long the tea was stee…

Measure is not being used as a literal verb. It's being used as an approximate measure. The same way we measure how much time we spend doing a task without a clock.

No it's not. Read again

> measure a specific amount of milk in isolation than to eyeball how much of it you've just added to something else

Re: Lady tasting tea

#58

Post by Loughla »

throwaway984393 wrote: post #13
jibbit wrote: post #12

> upper classes pour first the tea, while the lower classes poured the milk first this is because of the fear that boiling water will crack your best tea cups?

Good tea cups would never crack from boiling water, unless they were frozen first. Tea first is probably due to the fact that everybody wants tea, but not everybody wants milk, and some people want to pour their own amount of milk. You offer tea, they accept, you pour tea, you offer milk.

>lower classes poured the milk first

>Good tea cups would never crack from boiling water

That's sort of the point OP was making, I think. Poor folks wouldn't be able to afford good quality tea cups?

Re: Lady tasting tea

#59

Post by Loughla »

xandrius wrote: post #52

To solve this debacle, I only brew my tea in milk. Much better taste. I'd rather just plain tea than water tea + milk, it just seems the worst of both worlds to me.

Jesus Christ I hope you're joking with the brewing tea in milk.

That's terrifying.

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