Featured News: With a Pinch of Salt

A Cup of Hot Leaf Water, aka Tea

This week, on the “Day of Love” we are featuring a story that will hopefully bring you a smile. NPR recently featured a bit of international banter between the US Embassy and the UK’s Cabinet Office regarding a high-priority topic, brewing tea. American author Michelle Francl recently published her new book, Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea, which included several hints about the very best way to brew a cup of what some call, “hot, leaf water.” Francl suggests that the best cup of tea can be made by adding just the slightest bit of salt to your boiling water AND heating up your milk before adding it. Well, the absolute wave of British indignation that this caused was so great that the US Embassy released a statement, addressing the book and tea in general.

Robert Ford, the embassy’s public affairs officer told NPR, “We want to assure the good people of the U.K. that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain's national drink is not official United States policy — and never will be.”

Their press release was a little more humorous:

That last line really highlighted the overall energy everyone was bringing to the table. The Cabinet Office fired back that tea could only be made with a kettle and the whole story, with more quotes and additional links can be found HERE!