Making tea – milk first or tea first

food-sciencetea

For those who take tea with milk, opinion seems very much divided about whether to add milk to the cup before the tea or vice versa. I have seen some suggestions relating to the milk protecting the fine china when the hot tea was poured, and even suggestions relating to killing bacteria in suspect milk.
My personal preference is to pour the milk in after the tea, and I do believe there is a difference in taste but I wonder whether this is simply a case of being able to more accurately gauge the quantity of milk being added, as the colour of the the tea serves as a guide.

Is there a measurable (ie scientific) difference between the processes of (i) adding milk to the tea, and (ii) adding tea to the milk that will lead to a different flavour outcome?

This question touches on the issue, but doesn't quite give the answer I am looking for.

Best Answer

I had the chance to ask a tea scientist this very question about 25 years ago, and he said:

  • if you put the tea in first, over decades your cups will be more stained than if you put the milk in first
  • if you put the milk in first, you cannot add less milk on discovering that the tea is weak or there is less of it than you thought

He further reported that the Royal Family always put the tea in first. So, despite being raised milk-first, I am a tea-first person (the milkiness of my tea being more important than possible stains to my cups) and my mother tolerates this when she visits.

Killing bacteria in the milk is really not an issue now and probably never was; even if it were the temperature difference is not important between the two approaches. A little cold milk in a room temperature cup probably won't prevent thermal shock either: many people claim leaving the spoon in serves this purpose, but I think it's just to avoid putting the spoon down on the counter and leaving a dribble.

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