Another great debate which can keep Brits occupied for hours is tif or mif… when drinking tea is it tea in first, or milk in first? Obviously if you drink lemon with your tea, or don’t take milk then the question doesn’t arise.
As a child tea was always made with leaves as there were no tea bags in those days. Tea was made in a pot and left to stand under its cosy for several minutes. In our house the milk was poured into the cup and when the tea was brewed it was poured through a strainer on top of the milk. My cousin Jackie, however horrified me by telling me that the only way to drink tea was to pour the tea straight into the cup and then add the milk afterwards. It seemed like heresy, tea in first? What nonsense!
The invention of tea bags and living a student life meant making tea in a cup or mug, teabag in water and then… milk in next! It was the only way if you wanted hot tea. When we got married we took tea together and began to use a pot and reverted to loose leaf tea… my husband was a tif… and having had the teabag years when I had been a tif too, I followed suit.
Now I am a convert and would drink it no other way! Tif, tif, tif!
Lois Elsden 
As a tea drinker, I couldn’t resist putting in my two bits here, Lois!
For tea bags, go tif….and for Indian chai made with loose leaf tea, go mif for sure:)
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We went to a south Indian restaurant for lunch the other day and i had chai masala, mmmm, lovely!
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Chai masala has become a favourite of mine. A good cup of chai after an Indian meal is superb.
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Isn’t it just, Jeremy!
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I do tif myself. A friend recently told me that if you want to take the caffeine out of the black tea you let the bag sit in a little bit of boiled water for 30 seconds. After that you dump that little bit of water and then fill the cup with the tea already inside (this works for loose leaf or bag). I tried it and it seems to work without losing the flavour.
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I’m an unashamed caffeine lover… my cousin has caffeine free tea and I just don’t like it! I’ll try the caffeine free method though, always useful to know!
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My Dad used to say that because milk is a colloidal solution it distributes evenly only if it goes in before the tea. For the same reason that if you add milk to tomato soup it seems to curdle, but if you add the soup to the milk it stays smooth. All that aside, I think it tastes better with mif!
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Do you know, I think my dad used to say the same -he was a scientist so I guess it was probably true!
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I am thinking Jonathon Swift would have loved this debate…Biig-Endians and Little Endians…
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But would he have been a mif or tif… I’m thinking he had neither, just black tea!
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I’m definitely a mif!
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