Talking to Brits about brews is very delicate business.
Why? Well, because put simply, Brits love a brew.
Statistically too, Brits have been buying tea more than ever during lockdown – with an additional £24 million spent on the stuff in a four week period – so we’re not joking about this.
Brits love a brew and Brits love a debate, so it makes perfect sense that one of the country’s most long-standing debates would involve tea and how to make the perfect cup. Last month, the Queen’s official tea finally settled the long-standing ‘water or milk first’ battle once and for all, but now a ‘professional tea taster’ wants to chip in too.
Yes, that is a real job.
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Arguably, us Northerners love a brew more than anywhere else in the country too, but are we going to be big enough to at least hear this ‘professional tea taster’ out?
Let’s see what they have to say at least.
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Meet Kevin Gascoyne.
First of all, he grew up in Yorkshire, but he’s also since travelled the world seeking out the perfect cuppa, he works as a taster for a specialist tea shop – Camellia Sinensis in Canada – and has co-hosted the World Tea Awards on several occasions.
Oh, and he drinks about four or five litres of the stuff each day too.
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According to Kevin, when it comes to making the perfect brew the first thing to remember is, how ever you like it is the best way and that should settle a few arguments about whether milk goes in first, second, or not at all.
Secondly, there’s a science to it.
Kevin explained to LADbible that: “Priority number one is getting pleasure from your brew. We are each the expert on what tastes good to us so if you have a preferred method, be it milk first or last, stick to your guns.
“[But] I would say it depend on the infusion technique we are using.
“Scalding water messes with the milk, it curdles into curds and whey getting lumpy. It only takes your water a short time to cool a few degrees for this to be avoided. So, with this in mind, in an ideal world my tea would always be brewed loose leaf in a teapot [because] as the leaves infuse for three minutes or so the temperature has come off the boil a few degrees so in this scenario I’d say milk first.”
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What about the office brew round though?
What about those of us who don’t have teapots at home?
Kevin added: “The teapot method is not always the most practical for a quickie or a large group.
“For such times, we revert to the combat conditions of the line-up of mugs and bags. With this set-up, putting the milk first and pouring water straight from the kettle risks splitting the milk, plus the milky water reduces the efficiency of the tea-water reaction, it just won’t brew as efficiently.
“So, for the ‘bag in mug’ set-up, water first-brew then add milk once the tea is brewed and cooled a few degrees.”
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Well, there you have it.
After all that, the perfect brew is how ever you like to make it – can really argue on that front, can we?
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Manchester band Westside Cowboy release ‘thrilling’ debut album that critics are calling one of the year’s best
Emily Sergeant
One of the UK’s best rising bands have released their debut album today to glowing reviews from critics and fans alike.
Jimmy Bradbury, Reuben Haycocks, Aoife Anson O’Connell, and Paddy Murphy – better known together as Westside Cowboy – formed back in 2023 when they were students at the Royal Northern College of Music, so while they may not all be from Manchester, they definitely have the spirit of our city at the heart of everything they do.
After playing in different bands across the city throughout their student years, the four-piece joined forces to create Westside Cowboy – an indie rock collective credited with self-coining the genre of ‘Britainicana’.
Put simply, Britainicana is a cultural concept that mixes the hazy, mythic feel of American country and folk, with the sound of raw British punk, indie rock, and small-town life.
Westside Cowboy have released their debut album, It Goes On / Credit: Clementine Schniedermann (Press Shots – Supplied)
If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you’ll be pleased to know that Westside Cowboy have released their debut album, It Goes On, to the world today (21 August).
And the reception from critics, arguably, couldn’t be better.
Prior to the release of their debut album, the band had released two EPs, including So Much Country ‘Till We Get There in January earlier this year, and had started to make a name for themselves with their popular debut single ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’ in 2024.
They went onto make even further waves when they supported equally-rising American rock band Geese on their UK and Irish tour back in March – with many fans calling it one of the best support and main act combinations in some time.
Three singles from their debut album were shared with the world ahead of its release – ‘Kick Stones (The Boys)’ came first, followed by ‘Pin Up Boys’ and ‘Dobro’.
So, it’s fair to say the anticipation for album was high… and if the reviews are anything to go by (which we think they are), it looks like the band has very much delivered what they set out to achieve.
Westside Cowboy’s debut album It Goes On is now available to stream, or you can purchase a physical copy in a range of formats from their website here.
Take a listen👇
Featured Image – Press Shot (Supplied)
News
UK set to be battered by storms as ‘unprecedented’ El Niño arrives this autumn
Emily Sergeant
The UK is being told to brace for a series of storms this autumn when the ‘unprecedented’ El Niño weather event arrives.
It’s already been a summer of extremes for the country, with multiple heatwaves over the past couple of months, but now it appears that autumn and winter are set to have some extremes of their own, as the Met Office is warning that this upcoming El Niño could be one of the most significant in recent memory.
El Niño is declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5°C above the long-term average, which therefore impacts global rainfall patterns and average temperatures.
The natural warming of sea temperatures is forecast to reach more than 3°C in the coming months, according to the Met Office, making this year’s weather event have the potential to be ‘the largest since the 19th century’.
The UK is set to be battered by storms as ‘unprecedented’ El Niño arrives this autumn / Credit: Johannes Plenio (via Unsplash)
El Niño will create a heightened risk of drought in the tropics, southern Africa, and north eastern Australia, but over in north western Europe – including the UK – it means we are likely to experience wetter and stormier conditions.
The UK, and of course Greater Manchester, is absolutely no stranger to a storm around this time of year, but forecasters say this could be an entirely different beast.
“We should be clear that this is an unprecedented event,” warned Professor Adam Scaife, who is the Head of Long Range Forecasting at the Met Office.
“I have never seen an El Nino signal this intense in our forecasts.”
Professor Scaife concluded: “A typical El Nino leads to an equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature rise of between one to 2°C, with 2°C being a really big event. This implies that, if the forecast is accurate, and other forecast systems show similar extreme values, then 2026 will far exceed our recent experience of El Niño and its worldwide climate influences.’
Forecasters and officials, however, have warned that it could take months of sustained rainfall before rivers, reservoirs, and groundwaters are ‘completely replenished’ – which is when a drought can officially be declared as over.
It also warned drought conditions could persist into the new year as, despite El Niño, as current forecasts do not suggest this autumn will have the amount of rainfall needed to drive recovery.
Emily Sergeant -
30th September 2020 
