Which comes first, the milk or the tea?

The controversy has finally been put to rest by a British chemical engineer who claims to have devised a recipe for the perfect cup of tea.

The Royal Society of Chemistry asked Dr. Andy Stapley to spend months researching the topic in honour of George Orwell's life.

The writer, who was born 100 years ago yesterday, firmly believed tea should be poured into the cup first.

"This is one of the most controversial points of all," Mr. Orwell wrote in his now-famous essay A Nice Cup of Tea, which appeared in the London Evening Standard in 1946.

"The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round."

Dr. Stapley's recipe, on the other hand, instructs tea drinkers to pour fresh, chilled milk into their mugs before their tea.

If milk is poured into the cup afterwards, individual drops separate and the hot tea damages proteins in the milk, affecting the taste. That process is less likely to take place if the hot liquid is poured into the cold one, he explained.

"I'm still pretty sure that half the planet's going to be putting the milk in second and half is going to be putting it in first," said Dr. Stapley, a lecturer at Loughborough University north of London, who drinks about five cups of tea a day.

"It's kind of a ritual of your existence, and you don't want to change things like that. It could be sort of upsetting."

Ken Agate, owner of the Blethering Place Tea Room in Victoria, B.C., said most of the tea afficionados who visit his shop already follow Dr. Stapley's recommended protocol.

"It's widely accepted that the milk goes in first. It seems to mix better," Mr. Agate said. It also seems easier to measure the milk when it's in the mug by itself, he added.

"I actually feel that it's not imperative. It's not the end of the Earth. Personally, I have tea all the time, more than maybe I should, and when it's gone in afterwards, it doesn't appear to make much difference, if any, truthfully."

DR. STAPLEY'S RECIPE:

Ingredients:

• Loose-leaf Assam tea;
• soft water;
• fresh, chilled milk;
• white sugar.

Implements:

• Kettle;
• ceramic tea-pot;
• large ceramic mug;
• fine mesh tea strainer;
• tea spoon
• microwave oven.

Draw fresh, soft water and place in kettle and boil. Boil just the required quantity to avoid wasting time, water and power.

While waiting for the water to boil place a ceramic tea pot containing a quarter of a cup of water in a microwave oven on full power for one minute.

Synchronize your actions so that you have drained the water from the microwaved pot at the same time that the kettle water boils.

Place one rounded teaspoon of tea per cup into the pot.

Take the pot to the kettle as it is boiling, pour onto the leaves and stir.

Leave to brew for three minutes.

The ideal receptacle is a ceramic mug or your favourite personal mug.

Pour milk into the cup first, followed by the tea, aiming to achieve a colour that is rich and attractive.

Add sugar to taste.

Drink at between 60-65 degrees Celsius to avoid vulgar slurping, which results from trying to drink tea at too high a temperature.