27/08/07
A plea for a decent cuppa
From high street coffee shop chains to a visitor’s café at some attraction (such as the one I went to at Alnwick Castle last week), I’m being left with a bad taste in my mouth.
All that specialist equipment, ‘barista’ training, and trouble spent over making a good cup of coffee – then when you ask for a cup of tea, you get a tea bag dumped in a mug, and over-boiled water from an urn poured over it. The muck you get at other end of this passionless process is fairly undrinkable.
It’s to these folks that I want to get this message across: Boil some fresh water please.
To brew tea leaves, the water needs to be oxygenated. Constantly re-boiling water removes that vital element – the water needs to be freshly drawn (throw out any old water in the urn), and freshly boiled if it’s to stand a chance of getting the flavour out of those leaves. Even with tea bags, you can get a good result.
If the the tea can be made in a pre-warmed pot (a cold pot means a loss of brewing heat), with loose tea, then so much the better. The time the tea is left to brew is down to personal taste and the type of tea (for example green tea needs very little brewing time) – but no longer than 5 mins or the tea will be ‘over-stewed muck’. The ideal is to be handed a freshly made pot and a mug, and leave it up to the customer to finish the job.
All I want is to be able to go out with coffee drinkers, and be able to get a cup of tea, made with the same attention as their cappucinos or lattés. Thanks for listening!
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Walker Hamilton said 264 days ago:
We have a place here called Argo Tea They know what they’re doing and they do pretty much what you propose when serving “for here” hot teas.
Peter said 264 days ago:
It’s even worse in America… A lot of cafes there don’t even have hot water.
But I agree that your campaign is highly worthwhile. And to think they often charge as much as £1.50 for a cuppa crap.
And then how about the lousy hot chocolate the same cafes serve?
Steve Hodgson said 264 days ago:
The Royal Society of Chemists has a very similar view on how to make the perfect cup of tea. Work for me.
Colly said 264 days ago:
Here here, Jon! I share your pain. It is a sorry tale when even the lovely and genuine “real” people of the North-East are being turned into coffee drinkers.
Did you try the little cafe near the entrance to Lindisfarne village? They did good teas two years back – proper tea in china cups.
Time to invest in a new and discreet tea flask methinks.
Rogie said 264 days ago:
I’ve been by a place here in the US, teavana, I believe its called that I love. However, I am just getting into the tea scene after years of coffee snobbery. I’d love to hear what your favorites are. I may just jump the coffee ship.
Simon said 264 days ago:
I feel your pain Jon. At the Vue cinema in Oxford the Ben and Jerry’s stand also serves tea and coffee, and they make the tea with… frothy milk! Noooo!! (Nevertheless, ice cream and a cup of tea at the cinema is a sublimely pleasurable experience.)
Dave S. said 264 days ago:
Really, it’s that hard to find a good cup of tea in any part of the UK? Colour me shocked.
The tips you listed above are fairly common knowledge for anyone who’s spent even 5 minutes looking into how you brew a good cup of tea. Even a more frequent coffee drinker like myself knows how to brew a decent cuppa from time to time. There’s no excuse for someone in the service industry not knowing the same!
Jon Hicks said 264 days ago:
I think the problem is Dave, that it used to be easy to get a good cup of tea in the UK, but it’s less and less the case. It’s easier to get a good coffee though!
There are still places to get good tea of course, but the mainstream now is aimed at serving the coffee drinker.
@Simon – What??!!! :o
John Oxton said 264 days ago:
Well you’ve got the theory cracked at least Mr. Hicks… ;)
Dean Clatworthy said 264 days ago:
Amen Mr. Hicks.
Here at work, I have to endure a nescafé drinks machine every day. They too use frothy milk, and add extra froth on the top of the tea. And after coming in to work on a monday, I hate to think how many times the water has already been boiled! It’s absolutely disgusting, but alas I end up drinking it as there’s little else that tickles my fancy.
I must say, if you’re looking for a nice cuppa, then head to starbucks. It’s surprisingly nice, for a coffee chain :)
Scott O'Raw said 264 days ago:
Well said Mr. Hicks. Personally I don’t get all this Frappe-Latte-Chino bollocks. Quite frankly, I think that coffee is the devils’ brew and its’ consumption should be should be outlawed.
Tea-drinkers of the world unite!
Tom said 264 days ago:
I have become “tea aware” over the past year. I have been ordering from Adagio Tea at adagio.com. My first experience with loose tea. I’ve seen the light. ;-P
lewro said 264 days ago:
That is sad. Where is the good old cup of tea at 5 o’clock what we could see in old British movies.
I drink a coffee a lot but the same way I enjoy the cup of tea. Sounds like you know about a tea… Do you have any suggestions for a tea with a nice flavors?
Matt Wilcox said 264 days ago:
There’s a reason why the Chinese have dedicated sufficient time to Tea to have entire ceremonies dedicated to it. Proper tea deserves the attention and effort. It’s surprising how so few people know how to make a good brew.
John Sutherland said 263 days ago:
Very well said.
There are a few simple rules to making a good cuppa. Orwell wrote an amazing essay: Politics and the English Language which outlines pretty much the rules for making a good cup of tea, and makes a great point in the “milk before/after debate”.
Pierce said 263 days ago:
Same deal in Ireland, I’m sad to say. Impossible to get a decent scald of tea. Not a coffee drinker, so while everyone around me orders elaborate and, I’m sure, delicious foamy, twisted, aromatic concoctions I’m left with a half-pot of luke-warm water and a teabag thrown into it (post-pour, usually).
Most of the stuff you get tastes like tea made out of a Thermos after two days camping. And if I was camping, sure, that’d be fine. But in my local cafe… what’s become of us?
Steve Woods said 263 days ago:
Ah John if i’d known you were up in my neck of the woods, i’d have had the kettle on straight away!
(P.S. Alnwick is overpriced lol)
Jon Hicks said 263 days ago:
@ Steve – I rate the ‘eating place’ in the town though – it was a great place to eat!
David Hughes said 263 days ago:
I was at Bletchley Park yesterday, a grand day out by the way, and had to ask for milk. This may sound strange but upon receiving my pot of tea – water from an urn, but at least a Twining tea bag – I was pointed towards those horrible little plastic conationers of malk. However, they had no malk only creamer (sounds doidgy to me) for coffee!
When I asked for milk, the young chap on the till looked confused, then slightly upset but then did at least get me some real milk in a small jug. As tourist tea goes it wasn’t bad and I’m sure the milk made the difference.
Now, I love my coffee as much as my tea and have my own espresso machine as well as a tea pot at home. Don’t assume that we coffee drinkers get a better deal. Most coffee now is made by automatic machines; the “barista” simply pushes the cappucino button- no skill required. Then the milk is usually either too cool or boiled – both are bad. They will then often ask if you want chocolate on my latte, only as much as I want it on fish and chips and my pet hate – asking if I want a white Americano!!! There is no such thing! Yes I’ll have a white Americano if you can make a black cappucino!
Ahem… sorry..
Find the places that make good tea and coffee and support them!!
Bob said 263 days ago:
Have you ever thought how no one who actually makes tea in a cafe will be reading this?
Jon Hicks said 263 days ago:
@ ‘Bob’ – Duh. this is called a rant, its what you do on personal blogs!
Matt Munsey said 263 days ago:
I really enjoy a good cup of tea. I’m no expert, but I always use freshly filtered water for both my coffee and tea. It is so sad how few people take this into consideration.
If you think it is hard to get a good cup of Tea over there, try it over here in the states. Most places give you a mug of semi hot tap water and a tea bag. It really is a crime.
Kaydee said 263 days ago:
I have had really good experiences here in the States buying loose teas at www.tealaden.com and they have a toll free number that I can ask questions before I buy so I avoid the crappy cuppa I may get elsewhere.
Nathan said 262 days ago:
The situation is no better over here in Australia. Cafes are popping up everywhere, and coffee is all the rage, but no matter where you go – tea is just a lipton black tea bag thrown in some boiling water.
The only exception is a dedicated tea cafe called T-Bar (who also sell a full range of loose leaf teas to take home).
Granted sometimes I go the generic tea bag myself, usually for the 5 free minutes I have before I leave home in the morning. But even then I insist on fresh water in the kettle. For all other times, this is the bomb: http://www.gamilacompany.com/tea/index.html
Dylan Parry said 262 days ago:
My girlfriend isn’t a tea drinker and can’t understand why I need to have so many different types of tea in the cupboard! She’ll never understand though. At the moment I have a pretty conservative selection of English Breakfast, Traditional Afternoon, and Ceylon, which pretty much deals with any time of day ;) On occasion my cupboard has also been host to Assam, Earl Grey, Darjeeling, and a whole lot of other teas all at the same time.
Granted, I drink coffee too, and the same cupboard has a different shelf entirely dedicated to that. My girlfriend bought be a pod machine for Christmas last year, so I usually have 4 or 5 types of coffee to choose from.
If you’re a real tea/coffee drinker you can’t just have a jar of Nescafé and a packet of Typhoo. It just doesn’t work like that ;) And for the same reason, when I’m out, I won’t buy tea unless I’m in one of those tiny tearooms with cakes and stuff as I know I’ll end up with muck in a cup, whereas coffee is usually predictably drinkable.
spigot said 262 days ago:
I’d never quite thought about it, but you’re right. Tea at a coffee shop is usually rather flat. I’ll be asking for a fresh boil from now on.
Simon Clayson said 262 days ago:
As with most things in life, if you can get the basics right – yes! Freshly boiled water! – then you can then argue over milk-first/second, bag/leaves, sugar/no sugar builders/vicars-strength cup/mug and everything else later.
I blame the rise of the “infusion” – hippy-tea – if you will.
Milk has to be semi-skimmed. I’ll leave it at that.
Ben Tollady said 261 days ago:
Here here!
Andy Budd said 260 days ago:
When I moved down to Brighton around 7 years ago, there was a really great tea shop modelled after the coffee chains. Same modern vibe, but instead of coffee you had a range of teas. They were all brewed in these crazy contraptions that kept the water oxygenated for the perfect cuppa. And they did a tea and toast special, with your choice of jams or spreads. Real shame it closed down as I spent much of my first year in Brighton there.
Jon Hicks said 260 days ago:
Andy – was that called ‘Cha’ or something like that? I had a feeling that one of the popular tea companies – PG or Tetley – had tried setting up a tea chain.
Anthony Hicks said 260 days ago:
Rant totally justified. Brewing tea is an art – not using fresh water is a crime, and the mashing time is critical. Despite my best efforts I still bugger it up all too regularly (I blame Ada!!) :o)
~bc said 259 days ago:
It makes me sad to hear of the state of public tea in Britain. I expect what I get here in the states, but I’d expect more on the other side of the pond! For anyone state side, I get wonderful loose-leaf tea from tealuxe.com (actually, I get it from a brick and mortar store in Cambridge, MA) May I suggest the Yin Hao Jasmine Green Tea? It’s my all-time favorite.
Am I right to think they don’t use tea in milk in China? Is that a British invention? I personally don’t get milk in tea. Covers up the flavor, IMHO.
Jesper said 259 days ago:
I don’t drink tea, and in fact I don’t even like it. I did, however, read a Douglas Adams piece on making tea in The Salmon of Doubt. He notes that the secret is that when the leaves (or the bag) hits the water, the water must be boil*ing*, not boil*ed*.
Matthew Johnson said 259 days ago:
I have also been frustrated with the state of tea in most cafes and restaurants. Fortunately we have a top notch tea shop nearby that is owned by a tea expert who imports from all over the world. Since he opened I have been enjoying all varieties of tea and learning lots about it as well. My current favorite is the Organic Sencha. He also has a web site where those who aren’t fortunate enough to be nearby tea shop can order online: http://www.indigo-tea.com/.