Does tea stop brewing when you add milk?

[Scarlette]

Call that a teasmade? This is a teasmade

That is a lovely lampshade with hangy bits. Mmm. Something a bit sinister about it, though!

Just realised, I think my parents' one is a Goblin Teasmade. COOOOL. In fact, this is it. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GOBLIN-VINTAG...mZ150322926937QQcategoryZ101424QQcmdZViewItem I want want want!

 

[cliche guevara]

Since that thread, I have experimented. My anecdotal findings are that tea does still brew with milk added, albeit at a slower rate, and the results are somewhat tainted. Wasn't that interesting?

 

[Dillinger4]

That is a lovely lampshade with hangy bits. Mmm. Something a bit sinister about it, though!

Just realised, I think my parents' one is a Goblin Teasmade. COOOOL.

You are right. There is something sinister about it.

Like it would light up at night with an evil face on the shade and haunt your dreams with bad tea.

 

[Grobelaar]

It has terrible reviews...

It makes you wonder about the apparent progress we've supposedly made in the last half century or so when a brand new product is bested by a vintage version being sold on ebay...

Admittedly that Goblin would make your house look like a Chalet in an episode of Hi-de-Hi...

 

[skyscraper101]

So it slows the brewing process down due to the lower temperature.

Yes it does, but in my opinion it's more to do with the thicker consistency of the liquid not seeping through the teabag (due to the butterfat globules).

My method:

1. Tea bag in cup
2. Sugar in cup if required
3. Add boiling water
4. Stir and squeeze until very dark
5. "Show it the milk"

Some people at work make disgusting tea, far too weak and certainly the result of adding the milk before the hot water.

My method too.

Indeed. Coffee on the other hand, I always add the milk first to stop the water scalding the the beans.*

* Not that it should matter with the cheap instant stuff I normally drink.

I also put milk in first with coffee. No teabag issues here

 

[berniedicters]

...and how do the rules vary when it's condensed milk?

(To explain: I got a taste for chai made with condensed milk while I was out in the ME. Basically, you take a massive copper kettle thing, and hit it with stuff until it's more dents than flat. Heat it over a smoky flame until the bottom half is covered in black soot. This should take place over a period of several years. Then, first thing in the morning, brew up the chai, and leave it on the simmer until about lunchtime. To serve, take the thinnest, cheapest plastic cup you can find, and fill it a third with condensed milk from a tin you opened by stabbing it twice with a vicious looking knife. Then pour in the brew - a chisel may be necessary to get it out of the pot. Drink and enjoy. Yum - it tastes better than I've made it sound. Repeat several times throughout the day).