Melbourne:
You might think that you know how to make a cup of tea, but the truth is you were wrong all this while.
Stick the bag in a cup or the tea in a pot and pour over boiling water is not the way, according to News.com.au.
Making tea is not like some fast fling in the back of a car. That's what coffee is for.
Tea is a slow, meaningful seduction - at least that's the thinking of 10th generation tea man Stephen Twining .
He said that the most common mistake was not recognising there are three separate components to the perfect cup - colour, body (also known as 'mouth feel') and flavour.
Most people are tricked into thinking that when they get the colour right they've got the whole thing covered. Well you are wrong again.
Jiggling the tea bag or swirling the pot until you get that deep, burnt caramel colour is all well and good. But just because you get the colour right, doesn't mean you have the right flavour or body.
The bottom line is there is only one way to make a great cup of tea, and that is slowly and patiently. Seductively. And it all starts with boiling the kettle.
First step - always use fresh tap water. The oxygen in the water is really important to creating a good cup of tea because it releases the flavour.
Then start boiling and don't walk away. You want to pour the water the moment it finishes boiling. If you walk away you will forget and come back to a cooling kettle. And that's not cool.
If you do come back to a cooling kettle it is still probably better to use that (unless you've been gone for hours then you need to start again) than reboil, Twining said. If you boil again you boil off the oxygen.
Next - if you are using a tea pot, pour some hottish water from the kettle half way through the boil and swish it around so it's not stone cold when you pour in your tea.
