What? I'm tired. Did you know on this channel
I've made more than 100 videos on English grammar, English vocabulary,
English pronunciation and I think I'm entitled to a break with a good book and
a nice cup of English tea now I've got an interesting statistic for you did you
know that in 1968 only 3% of British households used teabags as opposed to
loose tea and now it's the opposite ninety-six percent of tea in the UK is
made with teabags now this is a disaster a catastrophe almost as bad as
Brexit. Now whatever happened to the art of making a great cup of tea? We are a
proud tea-drinking nation. Now let me tell you cannot make
great tea from a teabag so how did this happen? Well the truth is that while the
quality of coffee is going up in the UK the quality of tea has been going down
which might explain why Britain is now officially a coffee drinking country not
a tea drinking one that's right we drink a lot more coffee than tea now. Don't get
me wrong I love coffee too I have at home an aero-press I have a French
press, a moka machine everybody knows that freshly brewed
coffee tastes better than instant coffee it's a little bit of extra effort
but it's worth it I'm sure you agree. Most people would agree with that but
when it comes to tea most people especially in England
they still use tea bags just hot water tea easy convenient like instant coffee
but the taste is shall we say pretty mediocre so today we're going to look at
how to make a tasty wonderful refreshing life-enhancing cup of tea follow the
steps in this video and I promise you a perfect brew every time so stay tuned
So to make a good cup of tea you will need: Good tea, good water
a good tea set and, if you're using it, good milk. Now first of all use good
quality tea. I've got some Twinings English breakfast here which is a good,
robust black tea. By the way, I'm not sponsored by Twinings it's
just a brand I like and it goes well with milk you could also use Assam tea
or Ceylon tea but if you're using a flavoured tea such as Earl Grey then I'd
recommend having it without milk certainly if you want to appreciate the
subtlety of the flavour but English breakfast is made to be taken with milk
so that's what I'll be doing today and, as I said, for the best tea never use teabags.
Tea, like people, needs to be free and you'll get a much better tasting cup
of tea. and another reason another reason for not using teabags is environmental
it is estimated that in Britain alone 370 thousand tonnes of tea bags are thrown
out each year and although the tea is organic and biodegradable the teabags
are not they are bleached and they are sealed with a strip of heat resistant
polypropylene plastic. Next let's have a look at the water
This is of the utmost importance according to Chinese tea scholar Lu Yu
the best water for making tea comes from a mountain stream and the second best is
river water. I currently live in Paris and mountain streams are a bit thin on the ground
as for river water, well I'd sooner not use water from the
Seine if you don't mind. So if you do live near a mountain stream - good for you if
not you'll have to find an alternative. And here in Paris as in London, where I
come from, the tap water is perfectly fine to drink from a health point of
view. However for a perfect cup of tea I prefer to you to use filtered water as
improves the taste of the water and thereby the tea. Now the filter I use is
a piece of charcoal called binchotan which is how the Japanese filter their
water. You could use bottled water depending on the quality of the water
where you are, you could use tap water, but I don't use bottled water because I
prefer not to use too much plastic for the sake of the environment.
This is a good environmental solution.
Next the milk I've got jug of fresh milk
here. Fresh milk! From the cow. From the chilled section of the grocery. Do not
use UHT or long life milk it will ruin the taste of the tea better to go
without it entirely if you've got that. Use fresh milk.
Now for the tea set you should use a ceramic teapot and teacup - not metal
and if you really want to enhance the flavor of the tea never wash your teapot
with soap. So let a layer of tea form on the inside you can do it with
the cup as well this disgusts people but it's only tea it won't
make you sick and this is what our grandparents used to do to enhance the
flavour of the tea and believe me, it does make a difference.
so now we have everything ready let's make the tea. So for a robust black tea
like English breakfast you can use pretty much boiling water anything
between 96 and 100 degrees centigrade is ok of course you would use a lower
temperature if you're using oolong tea or green tea but we're not doing that
today so use two grams of tea for each hundred grams of water I'm not measuring it
precisely here. So put it into the teapot and there you are (approximately). Pour
the water that's enough. Now we wait we wait for six minutes to get a good
strong cup of tea. Good things come to those who wait
and now the moment of truth the tea. Pour that. Add milk. Should the milk
go first or last? well frankly, this is a big debate but frankly doesn't make any
difference really it just tastes the same. Give it a stir. Add sugar if you want. By
the way, I don't use a strainer some people use a strainer because they fear
getting some tea leaves in the tea but it's not going to kill you if they do but
don't worry about that. And taste it that is a real cup of tea that is good
tea. That is delicious. It's strong, it's full of flavor. A perfect cup of with
real depth to it. That's it I hope you are found that useful and you're going to
go out and enjoy some good real tea and see you next time