A splash of milk, no sugar; two sugars, lots of milk; or even no milk and just lemon; there are myriad ways to drink your tea and most are generally accepted by the tea-drinking masses.
What isn't tolerated, however, is questionable ways of preparing tea, such as microwaving the water instead of boiling it.
This method has allegedly been adopted by Gen Z, and likely borrowed from the Americans, but is there anything actually wrong with making tea this way?
Jenna Logan, Clement and Pekoe's Resident Tea Sommelier, joined Brendan Courtney on the Ray D'Arcy Show to discuss the right and wrong ways to make tea.
Before that, though, if you're wondering how someone becomes a tea sommelier, Logan lifted the lid on the extensive studying and travelling she did for the title, visiting Sri Lanka tea gardens. Now she leads the tea classes at Clement and Pekoe.
"They're all about convenience, aren't they?" she said, about the Gen Z method. "My initial reaction when I heard this was, ew, yuck." When you deep dive into it, however, two things stand out to Logan.
"The practical thing is that when you microwave water, what you're doing is you're heating the water unevenly, and when you take that out, what can happen is the water has become super-heated, that is the phrase. It's not just boiling, it's become overheated, and you have no idea how hot it actually is."
As well as this, she added, "the core of the water, the centre of the water, isn't as hot as the exterior of the water. It's all uneven."
This creates a health and safety issue, she said, as you could scald yourself.
"It's also too hot for your tea now", she added, "and what you've done is all of that temperature is moving around in the wrong way, so you're not letting the flavour of the tea come out as it should."
The bigger issue, she said, is about the role tea plays in our lives. Making and drinking tea can be, for many of us, one of the few stolen moments of peace in an otherwise busy day.
"I think the putting on of the kettle, the preparing of the cup, getting your tea bag or your loose leaf tea, all of that is part of a small ritual in your day, and I think you're cutting it off at the knees if you employ the microwave and you've got the beep-beep-beep going.
"There's something that erases the meditative portion of your tea."
When it comes to making the best cup of tea, Logan said fresh water every time you boil the kettle is a must: "There's a certain minerality in the water that you're looking for."
If you're using tea bags, you can use boiling water, but Logan advised that if you want to preserve the flavour of your tea, you should let the kettle cool off slightly before pouring your water.
For more tips and tricks, listen back to the full interview above.
