The immediate effect of adding milk to tea is dropping the temperature, which can make a big difference to the steeping process. It only takes 8 degrees to halve the rate of flavour extraction. Black Friday Sale Subscribe Now! Login or signup to continue reading All articles from our website The digital version of Today's Paper Breaking news alerts direct to your inbox All articles from the other regional websites in your area Continue Compounds called catechins bind to casein in milk, which reduces their bitterness.
Picture Shutterstock A connoisseur will tell you that pouring from a greater height increases oxidation as well as lowers the temperature, although whether this is scientifically validated is another story. Most of the bitterness of tea comes from a class of compounds called catechins.Why Australia has a 'Royal Loo' built for Queen Elizabeth II These bind to casein in milk, which reduces their bitterness.
Then of course we can add sugar, or go the full monty and suck it up through a chocolate biscuit, but then it won't taste much like tea. Tea is a complex brew of compounds including phenols, flavonoids, isoflavones, terpenes and other technical words. The biology of bitter-taste perception is poorly understood, and humans are not good at distinguishing them.
It's ironic that the bitter flavours are a plant's way of deterring us from eating them. Perversely however, we've grown to like them and the tea's taste strategy actually encourages us to propagate it. The .
