| Title | US Scientist Recommends Adding Salt to Make Perfect Cup of Tea | |
| Date | Monday January 29 2024, @09:26AM | |
| Author | hubie | |
| Topic | ||
| from the even-better-add-7000mg-of-coffee dept. | ||
The British claim to know a thing or two when it comes to making a good cup of tea:
The beverage is a cultural institution in the UK, where an estimated 100 million cups are drunk every day.
But now a scientist based more than 3,000 miles away in the US claims to have found the secret to a perfect cuppa that many Brits would initially find absolutely absurd - adding salt.
Prof Michelle Francl's research has caused quite the stir in the UK, and has even drawn a diplomatic intervention from the US Embassy.
"We want to ensure the good people of the UK that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain's national drink is not official United States policy. And never will be," the embassy said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
[...] It turns out that it is not a new idea - the ingredient is even mentioned in eighth century Chinese manuscripts, which Prof Francl analysed to perfect her recipe.
"What is new is our understanding of it as chemists," Prof Francl said.
She explains that salt acts as a blocker to the receptor which makes tea taste bitter, especially when it has been stewed.
By adding a pinch of table salt - an undetectable amount - you will counteract the bitterness of the drink.
"It is not like adding sugar. I think people are afraid they will be able to taste the salt."
She urges tea-loving Brits to have an open mind before pre-judging her research, which she has documented in her new book Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
"It is okay to experiment," she says. "I did experiments in my kitchen for this - channel your inner scientist."
If you want a deeper dive into the chemistry and nuances of a cup of tea, there is this older article from Chemistry World:
'Now I'm going to teach you how to slurp,' says Kathryn Sinclair, senior brand ambassador at British tea firm Twinings. 'We taste from the olfactory glands and we need to open these up, so breathe in through the mouth, breathe out through the mouth and slurp.' She noisily sucks up the pale-coloured liquid using a soup spoon. I try the same, experiencing a slightly sweet and fresh floral taste. This is tea number one – white tea – in the Twinings tea master class held at the company's 300-year old shop on the Strand in London. Sinclair notes that white tea is a young leaf that is rich in antioxidants and which has the highest caffeine content out of all the tea types because it is the least processed. 'White tea is the purest form of tea,' she explains.
[...] Ultimately, however, the differences in tea types come down to chemistry, and this chemistry is influenced by cultivation, environment, weather and, importantly, processing. 'From the chemistry perspective, tea is the ultimate mystery and challenge to food and analytical chemists,' says Nikolai Kuhnert, a chemist at Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany. 'No food material is more fascinating and chemically diverse and complex.'
[...] However, more research is required into the specific health properties of tea and its chemicals. There are concerns around the health impact of caffeine and, as yet, the US Food and Drug Administration has been slow to recognise the benefits of tea, Melican says. 'Personally, I drink nearly a quart of tea a day. I am 75 years old, healthy, active and still work a 50-hour week – so there may be something in it.'
Drinking tea has been popular for millennia. Slowly the science is starting to reveal the complex chemical nature of our favourite brew. 'In the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the Nutri Matic drink dispenser is unable to provide Arthur Dent with a good cup of tea. Now the science can explain why,' says Kuhnert: 'It's just too complicated.'
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printed from SoylentNews, US Scientist Recommends Adding Salt to Make Perfect Cup of Tea on 2025-07-18 04:22:39