Evaporated milk! That was one of the nightmares of being a social worker, tea with evaporated milk.

I've got a feeling your Newfoundland friends might have been pulling your leg... We have Newfoundlanders in Harlow, since St John's University has a campus here for students on placements and research and so forth, and they always seem to like tea the same way it's made in Ireland and England. One spoon of tea for each person and one for the pot (or use a teabag if you'd rather save the mess), and make sure the water is boiling; and add milk or sugar to the cup as you wish.

Mind you there's no agreement between tea-drinkers as to whether the milk should go in the cup before the tea or after. Or rather, there are a lot of people who get it wrong and put the milk in first.