Hi Alex,

When I told someone - in a long-ago lunchtime conversation about favourite sandwich toppings - that I love peanut butter with jam, peanut butter with tomato, peanut butter with honey, peanut butter with lettuce (favourite, have to try it to know what it is like, can't just imagine it!), she said "Don't you like peanut butter?"

My response: Huh? That doesn't make sense.

Her response: Well you keep trying to cover up the taste with other things.

She didn't get it when I tried to explain about the synergistic combination of flavours - the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

So, in answer to you, EBarnacle: I like a little milk in most teas, although some are better without milk. I find that a little milk brings out the flavour more, in most cases. Too much would mask it, and also make it too cold. The hotter the better. If I have no milk available and have to drink most types of my favourite teas without milk I often find that I can't taste it very much. I don't like pots of tar (Lapsang Souchong - grin) or most very strong flavoured teas. I like the more subtle flavoured teas.

Each to her/his own taste, too, of course.

Helen