Although typically served with milk, it is also common to drink certain varieties black or with lemon. Sugar is a popular addition to any variety. Everyday tea, such as English breakfast tea, served in a mug with milk and sugar is a popular combination.
People from around the world often wonder why the English drink milk with their tea. The answer is that in the 17th and 18th centuries the china cups tea was served in were so delicate they would crack from the heat of the tea. Milk was added to cool the liquid and stop the cups from cracking.
Britons are the biggest fans of milk in their tea, while Germans have the sweetest tooth. When it comes to how drinkers of English breakfast and Earl Grey take their tea, Brits favour a milkier brew than their European counterparts.
The tea industry estimates that 96% of tea in Britain is made with teabags. Nobody, but nobody, puts the milk in before the teabag, and then adds the hot water. When you make tea with a teabag, you make the tea first, and then you add the milk.
Hong Kong–style milk tea, black tea sweetened with evaporated milk originating from the days of British colonial rule in Hong Kong. Doodh pati chai, literally 'milk and tea leaves', a tea beverage drunk in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Teh tarik, a kind of milk tea popular in Malaysia and Singapore.
In general, the British custom is to pour milk in your cup first, then tea. Whereas, the European custom is to pour the hot tea in first, then milk. So doing something as simple as pouring milk could be a dead giveaway that you are not German.
No tea is too complex or delicate to enjoy with milk. You can put milk in green tea. White tea can be great with milk, and oolong tea with milk can be beautiful. The worst kind of tea to drink with milk is a tea that does not taste good on its own.
London Fog - A tea latte that combines Earl Grey black tea with frothed milk, and often a hint of vanilla. Builder's Tea - A strong black tea with milk and sugar added. The term is still colloquially used in the UK today, and blends are still sold for 'builder's brew'.
Steep for three-to-five minutes, depending on how strong you like your tea. Only add milk to black tea. Green or herbal teas should skip it. Scientistssay you should add milk before your hot water, but you'll find a ton of Brits who disagree with this.
Instead of serving tea at a temperature cooler than steaming hot, they used milk to mellow it. The cold milk went into the cup first, followed by the boiling liquid, which immediately cooled down to a less-destructive state.
EXPERT COMMENT LAST UPDATED : 21 APRIL. Milk in tea has become a tradition in the United Kingdom - but if it's real health benefits you want, then drink it black, says a leading food and nutrition scientist.
A: 57% of tea drinkers add dairy milk, 10% add a plant milk, 27% add sugar and 12% use a low-calorie sweetener.
Adding milk was reportedly popularized by Madame de la Sablière, an important figure in French society who in 1680 served tea with milk at her famous Paris salon. She supposedly added the milk because she wanted to save her delicate porcelain cups from cracking.
Initially, surprisingly enough, milk was not added for taste at all. Instead, it was added as a precautionary measure to ensure that the temperature of the hot tea would not crack the fragile porcelain teacups that it was served in.
Traditional afternoon tea consists of a selection of dainty sandwiches (including of course thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches), scones served with clotted cream and preserves. Cakes and pastries are also served. Tea grown in India or Ceylon is poured from silver tea pots into delicate bone china cups.
Fine china cracks when you pour boiling tea into it, so sticking the milk in first cools the water, which keeps the cup from cracking.
Some people also call this drink a dirty brown sugar milk tea due the messy look from the syrup.
Traditionally, Earl Grey tea is served with a slice of lemon and sugar to taste. According to YouGov, a massive 85% of British Earl Grey and English breakfast tea drinkers enjoy their tea with milk. In the US, they like to add milk and sugar to their Earl Grey tea.
Tea without milk is typically referred to as "black tea."
The story of tea begins in China. According to legend, in 2737 BC, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung was sitting beneath a tree while his servant boiled drinking water, when some leaves from the tree blew into the water.
Some sources credit the French with being the first to add milk to tea. It was also a regular drink of the court and King Louis XIV, the Sun King, who was known for drinking copious amounts of tea. It quickly became very popular among the aristocracy and was associated with royalty, leisure, and wealth.
The Brits started adding milk to their tea somewhere around the 18th century. The ordinary cups of commoners couldn't bear the heat of piping hot tea. Tea, we all know, originated in ancient China, almost as early as 2700 B.C. Back then, it used to be a medicinal beverage.
In Europe, however, they use UHT (ultra-high temperature) pasteurization. In the states and Canada, we use HTST (high temperature, short time.) Here's what that means: HTST kills off most of the bacteria in the milk, which is necessary here because of all the hormones and illnesses.