Crimes Against Tea

On Monday evening actor David Tennant committed a heinous crime against tea. The wicked act involved a microwave and an innocent breakfast tea bag.

This isn’t the first time microwaved tea has come across our radar. Is it really shocking? Why does it warrant such attention? It’s easy enough to bung a mug of tea in the microwave for a minute, but as a nation of tea lovers tea is something to be savoured and enjoyed. It’s a wonderful beverage and with 165 million cups of tea drunk everyday in the UK, we can’t be wrong.

We spoke about microwaved tea yesterday morning on BBC Radio Scotland with Louise White (skip ahead to 1h 53mins). Discussing the 3 main steps to making the perfect cup of tea (no microwave involved!)

Temperature – water temperature is a key part in making that perfect cuppa / microwaving creates pockets of hot water, meaning there isn’t a consistent water temperature. It can also burn the milk adding to the flavour distortion.

Brewing Time – this stops your tea from over or under-brewing, becoming bitter and just undrinkable /  on average a teabag is brewed for 18 seconds, tea needs at least 3 minutes to get the optimum colour, flavour and caffeine.

Removing The Leaves – Once time is up, it’s a good idea to take the tea leaves or tea bag out.  This stops over-steeping and leaves you with the optimum cup or pot of tea.

Here’s our handy brewing guide for each tea type!

If you can handle the despair, have a look at these pictures that will fill every tea lover with disappointment! Have you had some absolute shockers with tea?  Do you microwave tea? Leave a comment below.

p.s David Tennant’s act is in no way a reflection of how we Scot’s drink our tea, we promise!