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A milky storm in a teacup: The Asian Age
London, June 26: Loose Assam tea beat its rivals from across the world as the best ingredient for a good cup of tea.
London, June 26: Loose Assam tea beat its rivals from across the world as the best ingredient for a good cup of tea.
However, months of research by the Royal Society of Chemistry here is expected to create an uproar as it overturns the centuries-old art of tea-making by insisting that milk must go in first.
Commissioned to mark author George Orwell’s birth centenary on Wednesday, the research concluded that the author of books like Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four was quite wrong in his now famous recipe for a perfect cuppa published as A Nice Cup of Tea in 1946.
According to Dr Andrew Stapley, a chemical engineer from Loughborough University, the milk should go in first because it is all to do with denaturing milk proteins. Though the chemists and the author are in agreement on Indian tea being the best, on the issue of milk their views are contradictory.
Orwell wrote: "By putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk, whereas one is likely to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round." Dr Stapley is adamant. If milk is poured into hot tea, individual drops separate from the bulk of the milk, and come into contact with the high temperatures of the tea for enough time for significant denaturation degradation to occur. This is much less likely to happen if hot water is added to the milk.
Physicists stepped into the debate to say that all that matters is the water temperature, not the milk. Trust chemists to make things complicated, Institute of Physics chief executive Julia King said. "When it boils down to it, the physics is more important than the chemical side of things."
The Royal Society of Chemistry’s definitive recipe for the perfect cup of tea lists loose leaf Assam tea, soft water, fresh chilled milk and white sugar as the essential ingredients. Implements: Kettle, ceramic teapot, large ceramic mug, fine mesh tea strainer, tea spoon and microwave oven.
Method: Draw fresh soft water and place in the kettle and boil. While waiting for the water to boil place a tea pot containing a quarter of a cup of water in a microwave oven on full power for one minute. Place one rounded teaspoon of tea per cup into pot. Take the pot to the kettle as it is boiling, pour on to the leaves and stir. Leave to brew for three minutes. Pour milk into the cup first followed by the tea, aiming to achieve a colour that is rich and attractive. Add sugar to taste.
However, months of research by the Royal Society of Chemistry here is expected to create an uproar as it overturns the centuries-old art of tea-making by insisting that milk must go in first.
Commissioned to mark author George Orwell’s birth centenary on Wednesday, the research concluded that the author of books like Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four was quite wrong in his now famous recipe for a perfect cuppa published as A Nice Cup of Tea in 1946.
According to Dr Andrew Stapley, a chemical engineer from Loughborough University, the milk should go in first because it is all to do with denaturing milk proteins. Though the chemists and the author are in agreement on Indian tea being the best, on the issue of milk their views are contradictory.
Orwell wrote: "By putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk, whereas one is likely to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round." Dr Stapley is adamant. If milk is poured into hot tea, individual drops separate from the bulk of the milk, and come into contact with the high temperatures of the tea for enough time for significant denaturation degradation to occur. This is much less likely to happen if hot water is added to the milk.
Physicists stepped into the debate to say that all that matters is the water temperature, not the milk. Trust chemists to make things complicated, Institute of Physics chief executive Julia King said. "When it boils down to it, the physics is more important than the chemical side of things."
The Royal Society of Chemistry’s definitive recipe for the perfect cup of tea lists loose leaf Assam tea, soft water, fresh chilled milk and white sugar as the essential ingredients. Implements: Kettle, ceramic teapot, large ceramic mug, fine mesh tea strainer, tea spoon and microwave oven.
Method: Draw fresh soft water and place in the kettle and boil. While waiting for the water to boil place a tea pot containing a quarter of a cup of water in a microwave oven on full power for one minute. Place one rounded teaspoon of tea per cup into pot. Take the pot to the kettle as it is boiling, pour on to the leaves and stir. Leave to brew for three minutes. Pour milk into the cup first followed by the tea, aiming to achieve a colour that is rich and attractive. Add sugar to taste.