I am drinking more and more black tea with milk these days in the morning. Guess my Hong Kong root is coming back

One problem though…how to make the perfect cup with good aroma, tea flavour and strength.

I have been experimenting. So far, my findings are:
1) Don’t use super hot water – that means let your water rest even for 5 seconds after it’s been boiling in the kettle. Super hot water draws bitterness.
2) As soon as the water is in the teapot with the tea leaves, start tossing the tea back and forth a few times between 2 pots or cups. The first 30 second infusion can’t be done in stagnant state – that means move the tea leaves around so it doesn’t have a chance to sit still and make the tea bitter.
3) Pile the tea on! I know this sounds crazy. But honestly triple your tea leaves used and don’t overbrew. You get flavour and strength, but not bitterness (well not too much anyway).
4) Make it black! Yep, I mean it. Very dark brown and loads of milk. I prefer half evaporated milk, half A2 milk.

Tea used:
I recommend large leaf and small cut about 50/50. Ceylon for aroma, Assam for strength, Yunnan for reddish tint. I had a cup of our Captain’s Breakfast blend this morning which is created with all of the above in mind. I had it with evaporated milk and I am a happy camper, ready for another day of chasing kids!

And if you are like me and Peter, sleep-deprived and time-poor parents chasing after our 4 and 2 year olds, a strong cup of tea to start the morning is like essential!