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How to create the perfect cup can be a very personal experience
The British claim to know a thing or two about how to make a good cup of tea.
But now, scientists based more than 3,000 miles away in the US claim to have discovered the secret to the perfect cup of tea that many Brits will find completely ridiculous at first: adding salt. ing.
Professor Michel Frankl’s research caused a huge stir in the UK, even prompting diplomatic intervention from the US embassy.
This isn’t the first time this drink has caused controversy on both sides of the Atlantic.
Back in 1773, demonstrators in colonial Boston, Massachusetts, threw 300 boxes of tea into the harbor to protest British taxes. This was a key moment that sparked the American Revolution.
Professor Frankel, a chemistry professor at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, told the BBC: “I never intended to cause a diplomatic incident.”
“My email went crazy today. I didn’t expect to wake up this morning and see so many people talking about salt in tea.”
It turns out it’s not a new idea. This ingredient is also mentioned in his 8th century Chinese manuscript, which Professor Frankl analyzed and perfected the recipe.
“What’s new is our understanding as chemists,” Professor Frankl said.
She explains that salt blocks the receptors, making tea taste bitter, especially when boiled.
Adding an undetectable pinch of table salt will make your drink less bitter.
“It’s not like adding sugar. I think you’re worried you’ll be able to taste the salt.”
“It’s okay to experiment,” she says. “I did an experiment in the kitchen for this – channel your inner scientist.”
Professor Frankl has loved tea ever since his mother brewed him his first cup when he was 10 years old.
Everyone has their own opinion on how to make the perfect cup, but Professor Frankl recommends using loose leaf instead of tea bags and stirring the drink constantly so that the tea has good contact with the water and milk.
A squeeze of lemon juice can also remove the “scum” that sometimes appears on the surface of drinks, she added.
Other suggestions she offers include using a shorter, sturdier mug to keep the tea warmer, and warming the mug and milk, adding the latter only after pouring the tea.
But her main advice is to never heat water in the microwave. “It’s not healthy and it doesn’t taste good,” Frankl said.
“Eventually, you end up with tea leaves on the surface, which contain antioxidants and flavor compounds.”
The concept of heating tea in the microwave may sound a little foreign in the UK, but it’s “totally common” in the US.
“Americans have really bad tea habits,” Professor Frankl says.
“There was tea that tasted better at a service station in Ireland than it did at a fancy restaurant in America.
“I think people just don’t know. [how to make a good cuppa]. People who don’t drink tea don’t realize that they’re making someone a bad cup of tea and making them have a miserable experience. ”
She says she loves coming to the UK. She knows that in the UK she can find good beer.
“I know we’ll have some good tea when we land. It’s good to have something in common,” she says.
So what does the future hold for tea relations between the UK and the US?
The U.S. Embassy has ignored Professor Frankel’s advice and is sticking with the so-called “correct” method of making tea, which is to boil it in the microwave, but the British Cabinet Office is sticking to its policy. Can only be made using a kettle.
