The secret to the perfect cup of tea: Professional taster reveals the three steps to the perfect brew – and why you MUST always use fresh water

When making a cup of you should never pour milk in the cup first, use hot water that’s been boiled more than once or rush a good brew.

But according to Yorkshire Tea’s leading tea taster, Suzy Garraghan, who lives and works out of Yorkshire in the UK, the rest is up to you.

The veteran tea drinker has been tasting brews professionally for over 12 years – she sat down for a virtual cuppa with FEMAIL on Thursday to discuss the do’s and don’ts of a proper brew.

Yorkshire tea’s leading tea taster, Suzy Garraghan, shared her tasting tips with Femail

The veteran tea taster likes hers served the colour of a Werther’s original

Yorkshire Tea’s experts say you should always use freshly boiled water when making a cuppa 

The biggest no, no is using pre-boiled water, according to Suzy who admits she is ‘quite liberal when it comes to tea making’.

She likes to boil fresh water each time and says if you boil the same water more than once the oxygen becomes depleted which can leave the tea tasting flat.

The next thing most people do wrong is rush the brew.

‘I hope you’re not just brewing it for 30 seconds at home,’ she said.

Before revealing the optimum amount of time needed to brew a good cup of tea is four minutes, if you drink it with milk and two minutes if you enjoy it black.  

‘Milk really compliments Yorkshire tea,’ she said, whether it be cow’s milk or a plant-based alternative. 

She said the longer it is left the more likely the malty flavours developed on the bush in East Africa will come through.

The expert says dunking a biscuit into a cup of tea is perfectly acceptable

Suzy, pictured in the tea tasting room, tastes one thousand brews every day

Suzy also doesn’t believe in ‘bashing around the teabag’ when the tea is brewing, preferring to give it a light twirl with her spoon before removing the bag from the cup.

This is when you should add the milk to the tea.

Milk is added last because water needs to be 100C for the tea to brew properly and adding milk to the cup first would bring the temperature down too far.  

Suzy tastes a thousand teas each day, slurping the warm liquid from her tasting spoon before swirling it around her mouth and over her tongue. 

Where do you sit on the Yorkshire tea colour scale?

‘You can feel you like tea long before you can put an attribute to it,’ she said.

‘It is very much a sensory experience, drinking tea.’ 

The core rules about milk, fresh water and brew time are the only three Suzy is really set on – she loves when people make tea the way they like it.

The idea of reusing a teabag and keeping it on a saucer for later didn’t phase the veteran tea taster.

Neither did the idea of dunking a biscuit into a steaming cup of her favourite brew.

‘Unless it is a chocolate biscuit, but that is because I don’t take sugar in my tea,’ she clarified.

Adding ice to cool it down, or waiting for the temperature to drop on its own are both valid options as is adding cool water.

‘You might want to make it a bit stronger if you are going to add ice or cold water,’ she said – because more liquid means weaker tea.

Each teabag can properly service 330mls of water, she said, so if you have a bigger cup more is needed.

She has been a taster for 12 years and travelled all over the world with her job

They have three varieties available in Australia including Yorkshire Tea, Proper Strong and Yorkshire Gold which is their special edition brew

Suzy doesn’t just taste tea, she also travels the world, mostly to East Africa and India to buy tea and build relationships with producers. 

She overseas the farmers picking the crops and checks in on the oxidisation process which transforms the tea leaves into the drinkable beverage loved by most of the world.

‘Tea is the second-most commonly drunken beverage in the world after water,’ she revealed. 

Yorkshire Tea is the number one brand in the UK. They have three varieties available in Australia including Yorkshire Tea, Proper Strong and Yorkshire Gold which is their special edition brew.

What are the key rules to making the perfect cup of tea?

 Never boil the kettle more than once

Brew your tea for four minutes if you plan to add milk

Brew your tea for two minutes if you like it black 

 Keep your tea in an airtight container at all times

Don’t ‘bash’ the teabag

Add milk after the tea has brewed, not before  

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