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Nagging Question
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If You Add Milk to Tea Does It Stop the Brewing Process?Cooling down the liquid slows the steeping |
Adding milk to tea won’t stop the brewing process, but it will affect the steeping time, says Dr. Stanley Segall, professor emeritus of nutrition and food sciences at Drexel University in Philadelphia and spokesperson for the Institute of Food Technologists.
When you steep tea leaves in hot water, water-soluble materials are extracted to produce the tea. “Changes in brewing temperature affect extraction of color- and flavor-responsible chemicals exponentially,” says Segall, explaining that reaction rates generally double for every rise in temperature of 18 degrees Fahrenheit and conversely decrease by the same factor when the temperature is lowered.
So though milk won’t stop the brewing process, it can still affect the flavor if you add enough to significantly cool the tea down before it’s done steeping. In addition to the temperature factor, Segall says that the presence of other components in the brewing water, such as minerals and proteins from milk, affect the rate of extraction, and therefore the flavor. For most people this isn’t a concern, though, because they judge the strength of the brewed tea based on its color and pour in the milk after removing the bag, according to Dr. William C. Franke, associate director of the Center for Advanced Food Technology at Rutgers University. (And, he says, only about 5 percent of American tea drinkers even add milk.)
Tea experts, like David Wong of Tillerman Tea, confirm that the temperature of the water is important: Wong recommends about 180 degrees Fahrenheit. And for the best-tasting cup, you’ll want to put fresh water in your kettle before you brew.
I've always wondered. This truely has been a nagging question for me! Glad to know my impatience doesn't serverely affect the taste.
Milk also tends to negate some of the health effects of tea. This article has more info: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16540633/.
The most important thing to note here is that a change in temperature does not effect the rate of extraction of all of the flavor and aroma producing compounds equally. That is to say, if you lower or raise the temperature of the liquid the tea leaves are to be steeped in, you're not just making it weaker or stronger, you're totally altering the flavor profile. Take a standard Japanese green tea such as bancha or sencha, and steep two separate cups, one at boiling (212 degrees Fahrenheit) and one at the proper 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Steep both for the exact same amount of time (no longer than 3 minutes). You won't be able to taste much other than grassy and astringent flavors in the tea steeped at 212, while the 180 degree cup will be balanced and well rounded.
The point is, it's not a linear issue. Temperature and time are not the tools to make a stronger or weaker cup (you adjust that with the amount of leaves you use). With a black tea, lowering the temperature or extending the brewing time will make your cup taste less like tea and more like tannins. And don't add milk to your tea, as this will scald the milk. Add fully brewed tea to a cup that has the desired amount of milk in it already. These things do severely affect the taste.
Also, 180 degrees is not hot enough for most black teas. The water should be boiling (not boiled, boiling), and it should have just started boiling. If you let it boil for too long before pouring, or, even worse, microwave it, you'll drive all of the oxygen out of the water, and end up with, you guessed it, bitter, high tannin tea. If the vessel you are steeping in is not pre-warmed, you will lower the temperature of the tea by up to ten degrees, and throw the balance off.
This might all sound like a lot of effort to go to just for a cup of tea, but, after you've done it a few times, it's just as easy as doing it wrong, and it tastes a whole hell of a lot better.
My father was from Scotland, but I was born and raised in New England. The way he made tea is what I was used to (but my friends in southern New England also made tea this way so, it's hard to say what was regional, or what was part of the larger European culture of the area, etc.). BUT we made "bag" tea this way:
Boil water. As soon as it boils, remove from heat, pour into cup or teapot. Steep for about 3 minutes or so, to be a rich color--neither too light (too weak), nor too dark (too strong)--and then remove the tea bag. THEN each person did as s/he pleased, with some adding milk, others adding lemon. But any additive, be it sugar or liquid, was made AFTER the steeping had ended--NEVER while it was steeping. This makes for a screwball cup of tea that has lost flavor.
Also, most of those preferring milk do NOT like cream, instead, which was reserved for coffee, but never for tea. With the lower-fat milks on the market in recent years, however, I've noticed that these do not have enough fat in them to make a decently rounded-out "whitened" cuppa, as these bag teas tend to need just the proper balance of fat in the milk for the correct "mouth feel," something only the fat in the milk provides. (All this said, one would never take any dairy in one's Earl Grey or English Breakfast, for example; and never, ever with lapsang oolong, etc., nor with Japanese green teas, nor with any herbal or medicinal teas. Only with the ubiquitous "tea bag" teas, the Tetleys, Liptons, Red Roses, etc.)
There were also meals that were served solely with tea, but not many of these were your "standard" American fare--so I can't say which area of the world this custom came from for our family. For instance, we would regularly have finnan haddie ONLY with tea and never any other beverage. (It was ages before I realized few outside Scotland are familiar with this fish. Hey, who knew?!) The name is Scots for "smoked haddock," and while it wasn't easy to find in small-town fish markets 30 or 40 years ago, it was always available in some major New England cities and in Fulton's Fish Market in NYC. It's rather difficult to find today, esp. outside of that region. One poaches it in milk; when the fish is nearly done, one adds a poached egg or two to the milk; cooking finished, both items are removed with a slotted spoon, and are served on toast. The loveliest supper on those frequent rainy New England evenings! And one that would be quite incomplete without tea served beside it.
Only 5% of Americans add milk?!??
That has really blown me away. In the UK, I'd be surprised if even 5% *don't* add milk. Obviously I'm not talking about lapsang, green or herbal (we're not that uncouth), but it's still pretty usual to put milk in Earl Grey, and pretty unthinkable to have English Breakfast without. And cream? In tea?! That is insane.
Aside from that mleescott, your method sounds like the absolute standard way of brewing over here in England, though the part of the country you're brewing in does actually make a pretty big difference. When I'm at home, in a soft water area, I would NEVER add the milk until the tea was brewed, and I'd let it brew for at least 2 minutes. However, when I'm at uni in an area with extremely hard water, brewing for anymore the 30 seconds results in a completely 'stewed' cup of vileness, and the only way to avoid a delicious layer of scum on top of your cuppa is to add the milk straight away. Feels sacreligious and certainly doesn't taste as good as the traditional way, but that might just be due to the god-awful water quality.
I'm not claiming that any of this results in a 'gourmet' cup of tea - when I want a nice comforting cuppa, I use a supermarket own-brand bag, brew it strong, then add loads of milk and 2 sugars - but I just thought I'd chime in with an English perspective.
I'm one of the 5% who adds milk and I find what matters to me is whether I steep the tea too long or not long enough. Since adding milk slows it down I am inclined to add it earlier in the process...
Thank you Daniel. My nagging question has always been, how do Americans think you can make tea without using BOILING water? (And could it have anything to do with the Boston Tea Party?) Now I understand just why it tastes so vile and tannin-y done with "hot" water.
Another question--does anyone know why tea made in a styrofoam cup releases all kinds of little bubbles? What are they, and am I right to shun them?
Thye most crucial thing with brewing tea is the temperature. Boiling water is the best and then you reduce the brewing time to thirty seconds.
I have a new patented process www.tea-cha.com.au which explains what happens. It can make any tea without bitterness in thirty seconds.
In April I will publish a book - Tea - how tradition stood in teh way of the perfect cup.
who doesn't boil their water to make tea? I too am in the 5% of Americans who add milk. I love the minority
There is a world of differennce between pouring boiling water over tea in a teapot, cup, mug or plastic cup and the water temperature falling over the next few minutes. That is why there are so many variation s in the flavour of the same tea.
Many recccommendations for Chinese tea are to use water much less than boiling temperature.
I have been called a barbarian for the way I make tea, well black tea or english/irish breakfast teas; I pour boiling water over the bag in the cup and sit it on the counter. I come back 5-10 minutes later once the water has cooled down and only then take the bag out, then heat it back up in the microwave. Any other way and you might as well just drink plain hot water.
“Changes in brewing temperature affect extraction of color- and flavor-responsible chemicals exponentially,” says Segall, explaining that reaction rates generally double for every rise in temperature of 18 degrees Fahrenheit and conversely decrease by the same factor when the temperature is lowered.
This is very interesting.
It means that the extraction rate is doubled between 194F and 212F. I have measured the water temperature in a ceramic cup or mug and it is always below 194F. If you want to make a teabag by placing it on a teaspoon and drizzling the boiling water over it for a short time you will see the immediate extraction of colour in the cup.
If the flavors are water soluble, how do does the "water" dissolve them when the leaves are coated with milk fat?