Science solves issue of milk or tea first

By PAUL PEACHEY in London

More than 150 years after Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, invented afternoon tea in the garden with dainty sandwiches, she has finally, incontrovertibly, and scientifically been proven right. The milk goes in first.

Despite the protestations of the milk-second brigade, led today by British Labour Party veteran Tony Benn and posthumously by writer George Orwell, a two-month analysis by a chemical engineer has produced evidence that tea tastes better if poured over the milk.

In the 1800s, the Duchess did it to protect her fine bone china.

Dr Andrew Stapley, of Loughborough University in England, said it was to prevent the "denaturation of milk proteins".

If the milk is poured in second, droplets hitting the hot water are more likely to degrade slightly and taste a little stale. Such is the advance of science.

Dr Stapley said it was essential to use soft water, warm the pot properly and allow the tea - loose leaf Assam is best - to brew for three minutes.

When it is drunk, the best temperature is 60C to 65C, "to avoid vulgar slurping".

The findings were published to coincide with the centenary of the birth of Orwell, who wrote about the scourges of totalitarianism and putting the milk in first. He drank tea while writing, and disapproved of scientists.

In an attempt to heal the rift between the sciences and the arts, the Royal Society of Chemistry tried to develop the perfect cup of tea.

Mr Benn tasted the first cup of scientifically approved tea and declared it "very tasty, delicious" - but was not swayed to join the milk-first camp.

"I take Orwell's view - you put the tea in first, then you know how much milk to put in to get exactly the right colour."

- INDEPENDENT