Can Science Brew a Better Cup of Tea?

Proof

America's Test Kitchen

Cooking, Culinary, Food, Arts, Society & Culture, History

4.4 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On his quest to brew the perfect cup of tea, reporter Jerome Campbell gathers insights from a tea historian and a chemist. Is loose-leaf really worth the hassle? What actually happens when you microwave tea? And can you fix a cup of tea that’s been brewed for too long? Join us in this week’s episode of Proof as we investigate tea truths and tea myths. If you are brewing your tea loose-leaf style, check out our Reviews Team's suggestions for the Best Basket-Style Tea Infusers. Get a 14-day free trial for an America’s Test Kitchen digital subscription here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	There's something special about a cup of black tea.
0:10.0	Listen and learn, son.
0:13.0	Tea is a herb.
0:16.0	It's a simple drink.
0:18.0	Leaves, hot water, occasionally, milk and sugar. It takes almost no time to prepare. It's
0:25.3	relatively cheap and easily offered. But tea is also so much more than the contents in the cup.
0:34.7	The making of tea has created its own culture, which is oh, so fancy.
0:40.4	Tea here, as usual, miss?
0:43.2	Yes, as usual.
0:45.7	It's always been a drink of distinction, from the earliest tea ceremonies in ancient societies,
0:51.5	to the futuristic imagination of Star Trek with Captain Jean-Luc
0:56.7	Picard aboard the USS Enterprise.
1:00.0	Tea? Bell gray, hot.
1:02.9	But if you mess it up, it just won't do, and your guests will be sure to let you know, in the
1:09.7	politest way, of course.
1:11.5	I'll make tea?
1:12.4	No.
1:16.5	Today, on Proof from America's Test Kitchen, we honor national afternoon tea month by gazing
1:24.3	into the tea leaves, so to speak, all in hopes of figuring out how to make the perfect cup of tea.
1:31.2	And after all this time, can a cup of tea be improved?
1:35.1	And why does this simple drink mean so much?
1:46.6	I'm Jack Bishop.
	...

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