Hot water for tea question?

My grandfather called that "seasoning the pot" I was taught to NEVER clean your tea pot, hot water is all that's needed. I'm Canadian and my family hasn't lived in the UK for over 300 years.

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can't beat a properly seasoned tea pot - do you still have an ancient hand knitted tea cosy - I have my great grandmother's hand-me-down, double skinned one with some random bits of darning holding it together

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Burlington-bloke@reddit

I have a "company" tea cosy, and a knitted tea cosy that came out of the ark! The "company" tea cosy is embroidered and has a firm bottom. It was made by the Anglican Church Women, possibly by Granny. The skanky knitted one is only kept for sentimental reasons. When making tea for myself I just use a bone china cup. I have an ugly earthenware mug for my clumsy neighbour who always spills her tea on my top grade Axminster carpet!

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Peskycat42@reddit

Warming the pot.

First fill of hot water warms the pot up (and consequently the water cools down quickly).

Second fill will therefore not lose its heat to a cold pot, so will keep hot for longer.

Do you not do similar with a thermos of soup? Fill with hot water first, then empty and pour in the soup. Same principles apply.

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disagreeabledinosaur@reddit

The tea will also stew more effectively as the water is hotter when in contact with the tea.

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Working-Response1126@reddit

Maybe not stew, but steep or brew.

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InternationalRide5@reddit

You mean mash.

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Notbadthx@reddit

Stewing is not what you want though.

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MsMcSlothyFace@reddit

I do that w my cup. Fill it w hot water while kettle is set to boil. Keeps the tea warmer longer

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milkshakemountebank@reddit

I think perhaps ypu overestimate the prevalence of thermoses in the US!

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TheNoodlePoodle@reddit

They’re constantly banging on about Stanley cups which I think are the same as Thermos though.

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biggessdickess@reddit

Even for individual cups of tea this is the correct approach...

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QuarantinisRUs@reddit

And why coffee machines have a built in cup warmer

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Former-Toe@reddit

oh you Neanderthal . . . that is how tea is made

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SnooStrawberries2342@reddit

Same reason you might put a plate in the oven for a minute before putting food on it

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llynglas@reddit

Similar to pre warming an oven.....

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72dk72@reddit

It warms the.pot so the hot water you use stays hot.

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HardlyAnyGravitas@reddit

It's called 'scalding the pot'.

https://nicholasmosse.com/en-gb/blogs/news/174865543-how-to-make-a-perfect-cup-of-tea

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Acceptable_Bunch_586@reddit

Yea needs to be made with boiling water, when you add water to a cold pot the temp goes below boiling due to laws of thermodynamics so warm the pot, then add water to lessen the effect and make good tea

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SchoolForSedition@reddit

To warm the pot. Otherwise when you pour boiling water on the tea it goes cold too quickly. This can and should also be done with mugs.

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LegoVRS@reddit

If you don't heat the pot the hot water cools when you fill it meaning the tea brews at a lower temperature and it affects the flavour.

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Felgar36@reddit

It goes back to the early days of bone china teapots you warmed up the pot before you made the tea as if you didn't warm the pot there was a good chance of the pot cracking

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ProfessionalEven296@reddit

We called it scalding the pot…

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betterland@reddit

My mom does this - she does it heat up the pot and "clean" it. I don't think its necessary, personally!

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Bringmesunshine33@reddit

Warms the pot. It’s necessary!

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betterland@reddit

Not at my parents where the teapot is drank in -5 seconds, theres no time for it to get cold! Haha

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clubley2@reddit

The water cools down as soon as you put it in the cold pot, you warm the pot to stop this happening as much when brewing the tea so it brews properly.

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betterland@reddit

I understand the logic, but i personally don't own a teapot so i just do it in the mug. The difference in the brew between a cold mug and a warm mug is not noticeable to the point where its absolutely necessary. Yes its nice, but im not gonna die if I haven't min maxed my cup of tea lmao

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Mental_Body_5496@reddit

Avoids the pot cracking due to heat shock 😲

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wscottwatson@reddit

To wash out the pot and warm it up.

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No_Art_1977@reddit

It feels fancy

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4MuddyPaws@reddit

I'm American and have always done this.

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MadWifeUK@reddit

If you put something hot into something cold, the heat becomes shared between both the hot thing and the cold thing, taking heat away from the hot thing.

If you put something hot into something warm, the heat still gets shared but less heat is taken away from the hot thing. Thus your tea stays warmer for longer.

Kelvin and Clausius wrote scientific papers this concept which had already been known to housewives for many years.

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yosefvinyl@reddit

I'm American and do this on cold mornings for my cup of coffee. Like others have said, it warms the cup/pot so that not as much heat is lost when you put the actual drink in there.

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presterjohn7171@reddit

Technically pre warming the pot helps the brew. A proper pot of tea is not far off from the Japanese Tea ceremony if done properly, but realistically I doubt more than 5% of UK tea drinkers bother and it's been like that for at least the last 40 years. It's a bag in a mug these days. Most people don't even use cups and saucers anymore.

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GreenWhiteBlue86@reddit

It shouldn't be that hard to understand. Bartenders use the same principle in the other direction when serving cold cocktails: they fill the cocktail glass with ice, make the cocktail with ice in a shaker, and then dump out the ice in the now-chilled cocktail glass before straining the cold drink into the glass.

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leighb3ta@reddit

It’s warming the pot so your freshly boiled water will still be boiling to steep the tea.

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Alternative-Emu2000@reddit

Assuming it was a ceramic teapot, the initial hot water was to warm the teapot. Then you discard the water, since it will have cooled down by transferring some of its heat into the teapot.

The new hot (ideally boiling) water is to actually brew the tea, in the now preheated teapot.

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theawesomepurple@reddit

It’s not hot water. It’s water fractionally off the boil. You boil and wait 15-20 seconds.

You heat the pot and yes throw this away as it’s not optimal temperature.

Then add tea and pour on freshly boiled water.

If you use hot water you’ll never make tea, it won’t steep. You’ll just get tea bags in hot water and it tastes vile.

This is why you can’t make a pot of tea from a coffee machine as the temperature is set for coffee which is much lower.

Boil the water in a kettle until rolling.

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Dull-Garage6233@reddit

Pre-heating the pot. It's really only necessary if you plan to have the tea sat in the pot for an extended time. If you are simply using it as transport container for a few minutes then the loss of temperature as heat so transferred from the water will.be barely noticeable

My Gran used to do it occasionally. In cold weather it would make a difference, but in summer, the pot was generally empty before any difference could be noted. Preheating an individual cup or mug can make a difference due to great surface area:volume but this is relatively uncommon.

Its also the same general principle as why plate warmers were once commonplace so the crockery doesnt suck the warmth out the food.

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TequilaMockingbird80@reddit

It keeps the tea warm longer as you have preheated the pot

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qualityvote2@reddit

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