How to make the perfect mug of tea

The best accompaniment to a bacon roll is a nice mug of tea. Pretty much everyone - in the UK at least - thinks that they know how to make one. But then again very few of them are bottle divers, and this is a sport which calls for the very highest standards of tea brewing as well as bottom groping.

First consider the leaf. You don't need loose leaf; tea bags are fine. A true mudplugger's brew is thirst quenching, it is not meant to be sipped and savoured. Like the bacon roll it partners with it is designed to hit the spot. For this you need a robust black tea. Do not choose a delicate or scented tea. Darjeeling is too subtle, Earl Grey and Lady Grey too delicate. Most breakfast teas - English, Scottish, or Irish - will fit the bill. In the US Orange Pekoe is a good choice. PG Tips, despite its critics, remains a fair standby in the UK.

Next consider the pot. You don't strictly need one of course, because you could just dunk the teabag straight into the mug. But hear me out because even if you avoid the pot, there is a similar principle you will need to apply with a mug.

Broadly speaking most tea pots are made of ceramic, principally stoneware or porcelain. These absorb heat and so it is important to warm the pot before brewing the tea in it, so that the full flavour can be released at the right temperature. This can be done by boiling slightly more water than you think you will need, and adding some of it to the pot immediately after boiling in order to warm it. This rules out certain types of material, particularly early forms of soft paste porcelain, since it is not vitrified and may crack due to the rapid increase in temperature. You should therefore leave your collection of 18th Century Sèvres in the sideboard.

Hard paste porcelain - also known as true porcelain - is a better material and it is most commonly used today. Royal Worcester, although technically soft paste, uses soapstone in the mix which also seems to handle heat well...as does bone china, a type of porcelain which uses bone ash. Stoneware and other types of pottery are thicker than porcelain, and so absorb more heat out of the water. Note that one of the best choices for a teapot is stainless steel, since it is thin and heats rapidly, taking very little heat out of the water. The downside is that it lacks the character of a ceramic pot.

Whatever your choice of material, you can therefore see that even if you brew the tea in a mug, you should warm the vessel beforehand. Failure to do this will lower the temperature of the water at the point of brewing as it is absorbed by the container, and the attempt will be sabotaged. When warming the teapot, allow the water to sit within it for about 30 seconds. This serves two purposes. Firstly, it allows the pot to come up to temperature, and secondly it allows the water in the kettle to reduce slightly from boiling. That reduction is important since it is essential that the tea is not scalded.

Once the half-minute is up, pour out the warming-water from the pot and add one or two teabags. Now add the remainder of the water from the kettle, put the lid on the pot, and add a tea cosy. Leave the tea to mask for between 3 and 5 minutes. Next remove the cosy, take off the lid, fish out the tea bags and bin them. This is also very important because you don't want the tea to "stew" and for bitter unwanted tannins to be released. Replace the lid, and the cosy if you are not yet ready to drink. You can expect a decent brew to remain in the pot for up to half an hour if you have warmed it beforehand, if you have removed the teabags in a timely manner, and if you are using a tea cosy.

The perfect mug of tea is served with milk but without sugar. Milk should be whole or semi skimmed. Do not use skimmed milk; it is like adding chalk water. Nor should you add cream; it can work with coffee but it is far too heavy for even a robust mug of tea and can smother it. Sugar is for affected types who are afraid of the tea's flavour. Always add the milk to the mug before pouring in the tea. This causes it to mix much more efficiently.

Now sit back with your brew and enjoy!

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