Also, in addition to sophocleese's instructions: use the boiling water to swill around in the pot to heat it up, then tip that lot out, add the tea leaves and then make sure the water is still boiling or bring it back to the boil briefly so that it is at its hottest when you pour it into the pot. An old saying is to bring the pot to the kettle and not the kettle to the pot - to make sure you get it at its hottest.

After you have poured the water in, leave it to brew for a few minutes and then pour into the cups. I have started a habit of warming the cup too especially in winter, but I like it really hot.

Milk and sugar are a matter of preference, and everyone has a definition of the perfect cuppa - mine is hot, a little milk, no sugar, and not too strong, not too weak. I can't imagine putting cream in tea - coffee, yes, because it has a sort of oily base in the bean, similar to chocolate, but not tea.

Speaking of chocolate, who told me recently - was it at the 'Cat? - that the world's chocolate supplies have the potential to dry up with the increasing loss of arable chocolate farming land in the right climates? gods spare us from that calamity.

Helen