Britain drinks an estimated hundred million cups of tea a day, and has opinions about every one of them. The country has formal standards for brewing it, the Royal Society of Chemistry once published its own method, and the question of whether milk goes in before or after the tea has divided households for generations. Tea arrived in the seventeenth century as a luxury, became the drink of the working day in the nineteenth, and is still offered as the remedy for shock, celebration, rain and most sporting results.

A pot made properly is a small ritual: warm the pot, use water that has only just boiled, steep it long enough to be strong, and pour with care. At a cold, wet Silverstone, and there have been several, a flask of it is worth more than a grandstand seat.

The pot

Ingredients

• 4 cups (950 ml) fresh cold water
• 4 English breakfast tea bags

Method

1. Fill the kettle with fresh cold water and bring it to a full boil.
2. Pour a little of the just boiled water into the teapot, swirl it round for 30 seconds, then pour it away. Bring the kettle back to the boil.
3. Put the tea bags or loose tea in the warm pot. Pour in the water as soon as it boils again, which is about 212°F (100°C), or just off the boil.
4. Put the lid on, cover the pot with the cozy and leave it for 4 minutes for a medium strength tea, or 5 minutes for strong builder's tea. Do not leave it longer than 6 minutes, or it turns bitter.
5. Give the pot a single gentle stir. Lift out the tea bags with the spoon, or pour through the strainer if using loose leaves.

To serve

Ingredients

• about 1/2 cup (120 ml) cold whole or semi skimmed milk
• to taste sugar

Method

1. Pour the tea into each cup to about an inch (2.5 cm) from the top, then add a splash of cold milk, about 2 tablespoons, and stir.
2. Put the splash of milk in the cup first, then pour the tea onto it. The milk mixes more evenly and is warmed gently, and it was the custom when fine china was thought to crack from hot tea.
3. Offer sugar at the table and let each person stir their own.

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