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Milk before tea or tea before milk? How to make the perfect cuppa, according to an expert

There’s a correct way to stir your cup of tea, FYI [Photo: Getty]
There’s a correct way to stir your cup of tea, FYI [Photo: Getty]

It’s perhaps one of the most hotly-debated topics in Britain, but the best way to make our cup of tea is still up for debate.

Well, if there’s any person we can glean some knowledge from it’s a former royal butler who has actually made countless cuppas for members of the British Royal Family, no?

Grant Harrold – who was a member of the household of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, and still lives on their estate in Highgrove – has some opinions about the process. And we’re here to listen.

Speaking on BBC Three comedy series ‘Miss Holland’, Harrold listed the steps, saying first and foremost, you pour in the tea and add milk to the cup afterwards, NEVER before.

But the interesting part comes here: Harrold told viewers your should then stir “back and forth” and should “never use a circular motion and never touch the sides”.

Erm, we’ve pretty much only ever stirred in a circular motion – anyone else?

Speaking to Business Insider, he explained that his “back and forth” stirring is all about etiquette: “If we stir in a circular motion we can create a storm in a tea cup and see the tea coming over the sides which we should never allow.

“If the spoon touches the sides it makes a clinging sound and we don’t want that at the afternoon tea table.”

He went on: “I am sure the Queen enjoys her Assam or her Earl Grey the traditional way, made with tea leaves in a teapot and poured into a fine bone china teacup. She will also use a strainer.”

He also shut down the age-old stereotype that members of the royal family stick their pinky finger out when they sip their tea, saying: “I have never seen that happen once.”

So there it is – back and forth stirs only please.

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