08.17.07
George Orwell’s 11 Golden Rules
posted by T Ching | 19 comments
A Nice Cup of Tea
by George Orwell
Evening Standard, 12 January 1946
IF you look up ‘tea’ in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.
This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.
When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than 11 outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own 11 rules, every one of which I regard as golden:
First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays—it is economical, and one can drink it without milk—but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase ‘a nice cup of tea’ invariably means Indian tea.
Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities—that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.
Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.
Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes—a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.
Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.
Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.
Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.
Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup—that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one’s tea is always half cold—before one has well started on it.
Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.
Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. 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.
Lastly, tea—unless one is drinking it in the Russian style—should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tea-lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.
Some people would answer that they don’t like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.
These are not the only controversial points to arise in connection with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized the whole business has become.
There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet.
It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one’s ration the 20 good, strong cups that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.
August 17th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Poor George never had the pleasure of drinking a sweet cup of Chinese green or white tea!
August 17th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
I assume there was a lack of availability for decent Chinese teas in 1940’s England. It also sounds like a Colonial propaganda to me.
August 17th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
I love how T Ching decided to republish Cha bei’s Blog post from almost 2 months ago. And it is exactly the same! What an unbelievable coincidence!
August 17th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Hi PerpleXd - No need to be so perplexed. It’s not republished from the blog you mentioned. It’s also actually not that surprising of a coincidence. The material is in the public domain under “George Orwell’s Links”. They probably got it from the same place we did.
August 17th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
PerpleXd - I’m perplexed! Where is this animosity coming from?
Allow me to share exactly how we came to have this interesting essay. One of our regular members sent me the link with this email. She asked that we publish it under T Ching.
Browsing the other day, I found the attached article
by George Orwell, author of “Animal Farm,” and
“1984.” He also fought - and was wounded - in the
Spanish Civil War. The article amused me
tremendously, partially because of the unashamed
overlay of snobbery, and partially because I could
see the good folks of the Tching community getting a
huge kick out of it. In his own arrogant manner, Mr.
Orwell manages to take a swipe at just about every
sacred cow of the serious tea drinker some 61 years
after publication.
Your comment about it being “exactly the same”…… wouldn’t we expect that from a quoted essay?
I suggest you relax and have a nice cup of tea. Smile…..it’s Friday…..the week-end is here.
August 17th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Another lively discussion on T-ching! It is no surprise that an interesting article, written six decades ago by an author almost everyone has read, on a topic we ALL love . . . would be posted by two websites. Thank you Perplexd, for checking the accuracy of the quoted material. It is so important that authors are cited correctly! Congratulations to Cha bei for recognizing this fine essay, and posting it. (First!) Thanks, Tching, for making it available on your website. So many discussions possible with this essay: post-war economies; provincialism; the presence of sugar in beverages; bottled as opposed to tap water; connotation; audience and purpose . . . it is wonderful that two websites are spreading the word.
August 17th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
“I love how T Ching decided to republish Cha bei’s Blog post from almost 2 months ago. And it is exactly the same! What an unbelievable coincidence!”
What has Cha Bei (an excellent tea blog, by the way) got to do with the article? Cha Bei and T Ching republished an article in the Evening Standard from 61 years ago. And it is exactly the same! Now, THAT should be the unbelievable coincidence, which is not.
Actually if you google “A nice cup of tea George Orwell,” there are tons of websites and blogs that republish this same article.
August 17th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Well, That was fun. See perpleXd what you create when you stir up the ire of the faithful. The posting was a joy to read, and “snicker” at the arrogance of Mr. Orwell. Like Michelle said, and I also echo. Relax, and have a nice cup of sweet China White….PJF
August 17th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Setting aside the argument over the source and originality, does anyone know if Orwell said more about tea in his other writings?
I think that the intended audience and time period for this article would be the reason for his more peculiar ideas. An article discussing the pleasures of fine green and white teas would have been useless and somewhat disheartening in 1946 England; knowing what he thought about tea at other times in his life would be interesting for comparison.
August 18th, 2007 at 12:51 am
A master tea taster from India walked into our shop a couple of weeks ago and has been writing me ever since. He also sent me some lovely samples of a very ‘lemony’ (for lack of a better word which you experts might have) Earl Grey, a delightful chai and some others I wasn’t as fond of. He is bursting with knowledge and is the epitome of a gentleman. One of the side benefits of learning about tea for me is getting to meet people who are gracious, intelligent and from other cultures. The founders of T Ching, so far as I can see, are the epitome of class and manners and thank you for this site. I probably never would have found that article if you hadn’t posted it!
August 19th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
I have a parting thought, and a small story to share. This is actually in defense of Mr. Orwell position.
As was pointed out, take a look of the era in which this was written. Attitudes towards orthodox tea preparation and purity of product has changed since the creation in the 70’s of the Specialty Beverage awareness. Now my reflection to a by gone era in my past:
Not to many years after Mr Orwell’s observations, I was re-assigned from Germany to a special intelligence installation just north of London, England.
One frosty, damp, bitter, early winter’s morning, on a not too frequently given 3 day pass, I ascended the rickety old steps to the Bedfordshire’s Train Station, to a room with a pot belly stove glowing cheerfully in the center. Old Flossie minding the huge Tea Kettle that had been steeping since Midnight ( this being 4:30am), with a “black as sin” “hot as hades” mixture of, I would now presume to have been an Assam/Ceylon blend. She prepared it with a great dollop of creamy milk, and big cube of pure cane sugar. A warming delicious treat that would please any of you tea experts. I had the same experience a month or so later, at London Zoo kiosk. With a magnificent raisin scone and marmalade (orange). Both memories staying with me to this day. By the way I went back (If memory serves) two more times to the kiosk that day for more of that wonderfully brewed English Black Tea.
Thought you all would enjoy this just recently recalled memory of tea from the past.
Thank You for your indulgence…..PJF
August 19th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
To All, It is late as I typed the previous. There are several grammatical and spelling errors in it. Please pardon….PJF
August 20th, 2007 at 12:18 am
Five thousand years of tea and fifty thousand authors singing its praise.
Yet we need to read and re-read its virtues put forward by various people, sometimes very nicely done as here in this article.
Tching is praiseworthy for its efforts. Keep it up Sandy & Michelle. We need more and more of such writings.
August 20th, 2007 at 3:29 am
My apologies to T Ching for assuming the worst! I just thought my having seen both posts within 2 months too much of a coincidence. I think I was loathe to see such a fine site resort to republishing things just for the sake of new content, which I now know not to be the case. Keep up the good work
August 20th, 2007 at 4:09 am
reading this article i dreamt of my interview with the gentleman where i could actually explain to him that milk did the same damage to good tea as he mentioned about sugar. adding milk is insane to tea - the best way to spoil a nice cup of tea is to add milk.
secondly i would thank him with folded hands for the respect which he showed towards the great indian tea - which is by far still the best of the best.
August 20th, 2007 at 11:14 am
@Phyll: You’re right – I don’t think much Chinese tea was available, and whatever tea was on the market was heavily rationed during the war (and after). The prevailing British attitudes toward China were not exactly favorable during the time when Orwell wrote this piece. But at the end of the day, I think economics probably played the most important role in the rapid decline of Chinese tea exports (which had previously enjoyed a monopoly). The British had been desperate to find alternative sources of tea in India, Sri Lanka and Africa to fuel their insatiable domestic appetite. But transportation made up about a third of the cost of Chinese exports of tea, most of that going to middlemen, brokers, and merchants along the supply chain. The industrial revolution had made “efficiency” and “low cost production” the mantra, and since the British controlled Assam and Ceylon, no middlemen and merchants had to be paid off and there was a ready supply of bonded labor (yes, slaves!) in India. That’s what probably led to the destruction of Chinese tea exports to Britain. Consider this remarkable statistic:
In 1859, China exported 70,303,664 lbs of tea to England. At this time India exported virtually nothing. Fast forward 40 years, and in 1899, China had dropped to 15,677,835 lbs, and India had risen to 219,136,185lbs!
(The Empire of Tea, Iris and John Macfarlane, p 197 and p 199)
@David: I have not read this book by Orwell, but apparently in “Keep the Aspidistra Flying”, he uses tea as a metaphor for hypocrisy:
“Gordon Comstock, makes tea secretly in his rented room as a means to undermine the oppressive authority of his landlady, who does not allow it. But the ritual and secret delight of Comstock’s evening cup of tea also reveals something about himself: Comstock, an aspiring poet, has attempted to reject everything that he associates with bourgeois society - but he cannot reject its favourite drink.”
(from http://www.tea.co.uk/index.php?pgId=98)
August 20th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Ankit, Many “mea culpas” Now in my old age, and becoming so well educated by you fine people. Milk will never touch any cup of carefully brewed loose leaf tea, that passes my lips ever again.
Cheers….PJF
August 20th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Thanks PerpleXed for your thoughtful apology. Who would have thought you’d create such a stir? We’ve all made mistakes and assumed……..you know what happens when you assume? (I’m referring to the little word game using the word “assume”) I was introduced to this many years ago and it certainly has stuck with me. When something is true, you tend to remember it or are doomed to repeat it again and again.
August 20th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Thank you, Nikhil. My assumption was made without any in-depth knowledge of the then-economic condition or British history, but thought that since Sri Lanka and India were under the British rule at the time (please pardon my choice of words should they be politically incorrect) it was probably logical that England would favor the importation of goods from these 2 countries than from China.
About Orwell’s 11 golden rules, I might add:
1st - doesn’t matter where the tea came from…a good / bad tea speaks for itself.
2nd - I agree with Orwell…hence my preference for small Yixing pots and gaiwans, which probably would be considered “miniature” by Orwell. Regarding which material is best is debatable. Many will agree with Orwell regarding his choice of bone China and earthenware, but would probably debate his opinion on silver. I personally think porcelain is the most versatile material for a brewing vessel. There is the issue of dedicating a Yixing pot to a certain type of tea, which makes it less versatile.
3rd - Yes, it should be warmed beforehand, but I think it’s most efficient to use hot water and the hot tea (first rinse) to warm and prime the teapot and cups.
4th - Tea should be brewed to the strength that one finds most pleasing…that does not mean the stronger it is the better. With each tea, I try to find a balance…not too strong and not too weak for my personal taste.
5th - Agree!
6th - Agree! Although I would have said that the teapot and the kettle should be placed next to each other.
7th - With some types of tea I have been told not to stir the leaves (oolong, red and black teas) because it makes the tea tastes harsher and more astringent. With others, I like stirring the leaves (white and green teas mostly).
8th - Actually, a small cup allows the drinker to savor the tea at its optimum temperature. Tea in a large cup tends to cool down before the drinker can finish it entirely.
9th - No comment, since I don’t add milk to my tea. The last time I drank non-homogenized milk was when I was 5 years old. Good stuff…love the creamy top!
10th - If I had to choose between tea first and milk first, it would be tea first.
11th - Yep, no sugar unless the tea is crappy and needed masking OR if it’s Russian style (I was told that the sugar is kept on the tongue while one sips the tea or it is dipped into the tea — not dropped — and the drenched sugar cube is sucked or bitten a little. This is done repeatedly).