As the bishop said to the actress...

OM, of course it matters. If you add the milk before the tea is strong enough (brewed properly), it will never reach the correct strength. Milk will lessen the heat of the boiling water.

are you talking mugs and teabags here?? or teapots, cos obviously you dont add milk to the teapot and since you only pour the tea once its brewed then the temperature and strength thing has already happened.

That depends if your posh and brew up in a tea pot or your a heathen and brew up in the mug

Surely one should train one's butler to do both simultaneously - milk jug in one hand, teapot in the other. Impresses the guests no end.

It says in Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy NOT to use boiling water as it 'scalds' the tea.
Not that HGTTG is a bible of any sort to me...honest.

I use boiling water and get the tea to the right colour, add sugar as it will dissolve better in the hot water, then milk.

(I'm guessing you probably can't get PG Tips over there as well. Something else on the 'survival' list.)

edit: heathen and proud.

so then you have to do the milk after thing. but i do it the wrong way when i make MOH tea and he doesnt notice

I'm with Oakvillian on this one. When I were a lad the pater and mater referred to the peasants in the village as "Milk in first" people. With disapproval if I remember correctly.

I think Jonathon Swift wrote a science fiction novel on a similar theme.

one would never put milk in first in public of course. I only do it cos i put the milk in first in my coffee so its easier to put the milk in the tea first. Laziness and I dont have to drink the stuff so I dont care.

PS
I thought all were peasants in Newcastle?

All except near and dear family.

<I almost forgot that you're a bleedin' mackem>

no, not me, murtons miles from sunderland. I like to think of myself as a dunelmian ..

Old Dunelmians would know not to put the milk in first. Especially in private.

Since your adoption of that delightful avatar, you've been a walking food post, regardless of the topic.

What's wrong with Tetley's? Miss Etiquette used to say milk first then tea, but I always do tea first then milk. It doesn't take right if you pour the hot tea (if made in a pot) onto the milk. And if, like me, you mostly brew with a teabag in a mug, then you have to add milk last. I only make a pot of tea when there's more than 2 of us. Heathen, I know. Quite often I don't bother with milk though, unless the tea is really strong.

Boy, the intellectual conversations we have on here, LOL!!

After years of importing tea from blighty, I have now been converted to Roiboos herbal tea.
Tastes & looks much like 'English Tea', but no caffeine or tannin and high in anti oxidants. No milk required, so no dairy allergy problems.
Apparently it is so good for you, I am going to be around for a long time, which delighted my kids, as I plan on living with them in my very old age.