Two questions have puzzled many tea fanciers. Should the tea be prepared with boiling water or should the water be left to cool for a few minutes after the boiling and before the brewing of the tea? The second question is what milk adds to or possibly removes from the tea.
Let us start to answer the simpler question: How hot should the water be? I think the community of tea drinkers agrees that one should never pour boiling water onto tea leaves. Using water that is too hot for the tea leaves can result in a slightly bitter taste. Over-brewing, leaving the tea leaves too long in the water, can result in a similar effect. The optimal temperature depends on how much the tea is oxidized. Black tea is brewed with hotter water than green tea and green tea is brewed with hotter water than white tea.
I have read reports of people brewing white tea with water of 60 degrees. I find that not hot enough and would start the spectrum with water around 70 degrees. On the high end are black teas (and most herbal teas, as well) which are usually brewed with hot water of 95-97 degrees. This sounds like brewing tea is a science project; it is not. A temperature of 95-97 degrees is reached shortly after you remove the kettle from the stove. Without a thermometer, it is harder to know when the water temperature reaches 70 degrees. Wait two to three minutes after removing the kettle and try the tea this way. If it turns out bitter, then wait longer before brewing. If the taste is too weak, then reduce the waiting time.
Most teas come with some recommendations on how long the tea should be brewed. I start by following these instructions and usually put on an alarm clock. If I don’t, I surely start doing something else in the kitchen and forget the time – I will still drink the slightly bitter tea. My tea blends are too precious to just through away.
Now on to the milk question. Black tea and green tea even more contain substances that are antioxidants. I think that nutritionists agree that these are useful substances because they protect the body from free radicals – sounds radical. Free radicals are produced if the body breaks down some foods, or is exposed to tobacco or radiation. They are somewhat involved in or promote aging, heart diseases, and some cancers. Back to the tea: we don’t want the tea to lose those antioxidants. Unfortunately, there is evidence that adding milk, actually the protein in the milk, ruins some antioxidants. Cream may be the rescue. Because cream is fatter, and more concentrated than milk, one needs less cream to get a similar flavour. Less cream means less protein and thus, fewer antioxidants vanish from the tea.
Again it is similar to wine drinking. We know that alcohol is not good for the body. But a glass of good wine does not kill you and may have other mental and social benefits. I would say it is the same with the milk or cream in the tea. If you like it, then enjoy it.
A sophisticated question involving milk and tea gave rise to a whole branch of mathematics – statistics. According to a story in the book “The lady tasting tea” (David Salsburg, 2002), a group of famous English scientists met regularly, and once one of them claimed that he knew a lady who could tell the difference between milk added to the cup of tea before poring the tea and a cup of tea to which the milk was added at the end. It gave R. Fisher, who became later a famous statistician, the idea to develop a method of testing a hypothesis.
Luckily I drink my favorite teas without milk or cream and thus, I don’t have the dilemma of adding milk or cream, before or after pouring the tea.