Forum Topic

Johnson clearly unfit to be PM

In the middle of Brexit, and other national and international crises Johnson has caused a national disaster!https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-outrage-as-boris-johnson-makes-cuppa-and-adds-milk-with-bag-still-in-mug-11860242

Michael Ixer ● 2555d50 Comments

Well I do this sometimes, if I am making tea for just me, it stops it being too strong.Also, the Guy family are very non-U because we always put the milk in first.We have our dinner at lunchtime and our tea in the evening, too.

Martine Guy ● 2555d

It's a free country Martine! 🙂I was thinking: if I make tea in a pot then I put milk in the cups before pour the tea from the pot, but if I'm being lazy and put a teabag in the cup then I add the milk until after I've removed the teabag so I guess in both cases the tea brews before it is mixed with the milk. (Of course it's the vegan version where "milk" is oat milk 🙂)

Michael Ixer ● 2555d

Tea in a teapot always! If you must make it in a mug definitely take the tea bag out before putting in the milk otherwise you run the risk of  your tea being like dishwater and not a proper brew ;-)

Lucille Grant ● 2555d

Yes Michael it’s a free country, what’s your point?!  I was just making a comment about etiquette, so what?I thought that in certain circles (not mine), that whether you put your milk in before or after the tea is poured was U or non-U.

Martine Guy ● 2555d

I wonder, can we get remainers and leavers to agree on tea making - and something the UK is superior at doing whether in or our of the EU? 🙂

Michael Ixer ● 2555d

No real point, Martine. Just a flippant comment ... yes, I think there is an etiquette but I just make it in the way my mother did - only she didn't really approve of tea bags in cups. All I meant was one should make tea the way one likes it. 

Michael Ixer ● 2555d

I doubt very much we can agree with tea making either.  It’s all a bit like Brexit.

Martine Guy ● 2555d

But have you warmed your pot or cup first, that is the question?

Barbara Stevens ● 2555d

"I doubt very much we can agree with tea making either.  It’s all a bit like Brexit." I remember a bit from Tony Hancock's "The East Cheam Drama Festival", where Bill Kerr plays Jimmy from "Look back in hunger" by John Eastbourne:-"MOTHER: Would you like a cup of tea, Jimmy?JIMMY: Tea? Tea? Is that your answer to it all? Tea? The panacea to the middle class! The answer to all the problems facing mankind today? Have a cup of tea, Jim! You both make me sick. You're dead, both of you. You're both mentally dead. Your souls are drowned in tea. Your minds are clogged up with tea bags. You're like two slop basins swimming around in a sea of tea! Just like this country, the whole rotten system, stained in a tea of apathy!FATHER: What's he mean, Mum?MOTHER: I don't think he wants a cup of tea. Do you want a cup of coffee, then?

David Ainsworth ● 2555d

We are not pot warmers, life is too short imo.  I used to work for a Japanese company and had to make Japanese green tea.  If I remember correctly, we used to warm the pot and the hot water was not supposed to boil before pouring onto the tea. They hated London’s hard water and only used bottled water for the tea.

Martine Guy ● 2555d

Michael here in France they serve tea rarely and when  they do it's either with lemon or HOT milk.

Lucille Grant ● 2555d

Michael, I think Martine has a sense of humour bypass today. Getting one's knickers in a twist over tea!

Lucille Grant ● 2555d

@David Thanks for the  memory and laugh!@ Martine  yes to warming the pot, otherwise the tea gets cold too quickly* and  hard water with some brands of tea = scum on top of the drink.  *Unless you have a tea cosy over the pot, which I don't.

Lucille Grant ● 2555d

Well at least this has turned into an interesting thread, rather than some of the sleep inducing ones we have had lately.  Just joking Lucille!

Martine Guy ● 2555d

In Germany it was usually offered with condensed milk. Ugh!

Jonathan Callaway ● 2555d

We agree for once.Yuk!

Martine Guy ● 2555d

Lucille. Yes, one should warm the pot, and I suppose one ought to have a tea cosy to keep it warm but I could never get used to those. Must admit I always drink coffee in France. I liked those big bowls (usually green?) one gets (or used to) at breakfast and could dip croissant into ...

Michael Ixer ● 2555d

Thank goodness Martine! Love my cuppa.

Lucille Grant ● 2555d

Can't be bothered with a tea cosy! Some French still use big bowls for their breakfast coffee at home Michael, but I can't bear milky coffee so it's a cafe alongee (large black coffee)or espresso every time.

Lucille Grant ● 2555d

No tea cosies in our house.  Surely these were last used back in the 1970’s.  It is like warming the pot, it is something my Nan did.Re: coffee in France, I loved it when I was a child and my French grandmother made me a coffee in a bowl for breakfast.  She also went down about 8 flights of stairs to go to the shops and buy us a baguette or croissant to go with it.  The tea she made us was not very good though.

Martine Guy ● 2555d

Can I add, Jonathan, that when I was a child, some people used sterilised milk in their tea, it was disgusting.

Martine Guy ● 2555d

I always thought you either warmed the milk or cooled the tea!I think the pouring milk first came from using china cups?  Too delicate for hot liquids so the milk went in first....

Ivonne Holliday ● 2555d

Well.I'm anti all of you.  Never touch the stuff.  The smell is atrocious!

Barbara Shillabeer ● 2555d

There was an interesting moment on one of the newspaper review programmes where Tom Dunn recalls being sent to the canteen get teahttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/taken-for-a-mug-by-boris-2sfrtjgxg

Ed Robinson ● 2554d

I remember my first trip to Spain to meet my (now ex) mother in law. She was a great lover of English tea and prided herself on making a good cuppa.In the kitchen I saw a saucepan bubbling away on the hob (they didnt have a kettle) and in the saucepan too was a tea-bag.The marriage didnt last.

Matt Palmer ● 2554d

Mug, teabag, boiling water, milk, remove teabag after a quick squeeze. Drink.  Repeat three times a day but only after lunch. Bliss!As for coffee, a much more elaborate process involving a cafetière possibly followed by a visit to the Bakehouse for an excellent cappuccino and a discount if I remember my Putney Society discount scheme card. For me it’s coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon. The simple pleasures of life!

Jonathan Callaway ● 2554d

Matt, I got to the end of your first line “She was a great lover”* and thought wow this is a bit racy on the Forum, then disappointingly it continues on the next line “ of English tea”. *thats how it appears on my iPad.

Martine Guy ● 2554d

I have to admit I did exactly the same!

Jane Carter ● 2554d

I drink tea black

Elizabeth Balsom ● 2554d

@Jonathan"Mug, teabag, boiling water, milk, remove teabag after a quick squeeze. Drink."We agree, perfect! 👌Morning brew with toast. Any other time of day it will probably be (consciously) coupled with several biscuits for dunking.😽 I think we need a forum poll on the best biccies fit for purpose! I don't get the appeal of posh teas, herbal teas, aromatic teas or any designer nonsense tea. A nice strong brew of navvy tea in a big mug does it for me every time. Earl Grey = insipid slop.@MartineMy Nan always used sterilised milk, I remember it was in a taller, thinner bottle than 'normal' milk. It was horrible but I always forced down half a cup just to be polite. I'm like that.😇Not really a fan of coffee because it leaves a horrible after-taste and stains the choppers.😬 However I do love Nescafé Irish Cream Latte sachets which are frothy and satisfying. Can't understand why people pay over 3 quid for a small cup of prettily patterned froth? 🙄I admit I'm a complete philistine when it comes to tea and coffee. Some might say common ...🙀

Sue Hammond ● 2554d

'I admit I'm a complete philistine when it comes to tea and coffee. Some might say common ...🙀'Ms HammondSome might say they have absolutely no interest in your taste in hot drinks and find it strange you think they should.'Common' ?Quite possibly but your political and social comments are far more revealing  !

John Hawkes ● 2554d

As you are aware I really care what you think Mr Hawkes. About anything.

Sue Hammond ● 2554d

wouldnt it be nice to have one thread that didn't turn into a brexit/general slagging match?I was quite enjoying this one, apart from people thinking i was making comments on the sexual prowess of my ex mother in law! lol

Matt Palmer ● 2554d

Obviously should have said I really don't care. Note to self: check post before hitting submit! 😸

Sue Hammond ● 2554d

Sue, I enjoyed reading about your tea drinking preferences.  Tea/coffee is such a part of our daily lives, it is interesting how people prepare it and the things that we did in the past.I agree Matt, it would be nice if we could keep the B word out of some our threads and make them more fun.  I did chuckle at your post about your mother-in-law!

Martine Guy ● 2554d

Sorry, Matt, I should have put EX mother-in-law.

Martine Guy ● 2554d

thats ok Martine, I can't comment on my current mother in laws prowess either thankfully!

Matt Palmer ● 2554d

Yes, but does she make a nice up of tea?

Martine Guy ● 2554d

Sorry, again Matt, I meant cup of tea.Yes I know I really should go to specsavers, again!

Martine Guy ● 2554d

"Tea/coffee is such a part of our daily lives"Very true Martine, tea especially. In times of upset or stress how many times have you heard a calming voice say 'don't worry love, I'll put the kettle on and make you a nice cup of tea' ...?  Panacea for everything lol.

Sue Hammond ● 2554d

I totally agree. Some of the Brexiteers on this forum will attack and sneer at anything said by a Remainer even when it has nothing to do with Brexit. You would have thought that a cup of tea was a fairly neutral topic!

Jane Carter ● 2554d

No Jane  a cup of tea is very emotive indeed ;-)

Lucille Grant ● 2554d

Clearly! We even have a tea cosy - so 1970s - but I am a coffee drinker. Find tea rather insipid but do like peppermint

Jane Carter ● 2554d

Not really sure exactly what Jane and Lucille are going on about, but it has spoilt a nice thread, along with the comment by Mr Hawkes who clearly took a swipe at Sue without realising it was a thread about tea drinking and so her comments were relevant. 

Martine Guy ● 2554d

Not sure what you're 'going on about' Martine, nor how whatever Jane  and I have posted has 'spoilt a nice thread'? Are tea cosies offensive? Enjoy your tea/coffee/any other beverage tonight everyone. Life is too short to get fussed over a cup of tea or coffee!

Lucille Grant ● 2554d

Sue, yes we always put the kettle on for times of upset or stress, too.We visited a tea plantation in Sri Lanka when we were there to watch a test match.  It was a highlight of our holiday seeing where our cuppa came from.  Tea and cricket, just lovely.  oops I could be getting a bit emotional!

Martine Guy ● 2554d

Not really sure exactly what Jane and Lucille are going on about, but it has spoilt a nice thread ....Thankyou Martine, you have just proved Matt right.You cant even discuss tea with remainers without entering a slanging match!

Jane Carter ● 2554d

Don’t get your teacosy in a twist, Jane.  I was responding to your comment at 15.04.

Martine Guy ● 2554d

Might be time to stockpile. There's trouble brewing (no pun intended) in Kenya, our biggest source of tea: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/10/british-tea-growers-kenya-facing-zimbabwe-style-land-grabs/

Freddie Francis ● 2554d

When I was working in the office the boss would come round and ask would I make him a coffee I said what's the matter with your wife's coffee he said mine tasted better.  Put the coffee in the cup and hold the kettle higher in the air and pour in slowly. It does taste different.

Barbara Stevens ● 2554d