Should the tea or milk go in first?

How you like your tea is as individual as you are, but the question of whether the tea or the milk goes in first is one that continues to raise eyebrows or even an accusatory sideways glance from someone who thinks they know better.

No lesser institution that the British Standards Agency has had a go at trying to come up with a definitive answer to the thorny question of tea or milk first? They produced a ten page report on the subject in 2002 and their assessment was:

Adding cold milk to hot tea can spoil the taste.

But that is by no means everyone’s view. In George Orwell’s 1946 essay A Nice Cup of Tea, he argued for tea first, so that you can add the right amount of milk.