London: Tony Blair had London cafe owners steaming - after claiming they cannot make a good cup of tea.
The Prime Minister landed in hot water by moaning that it was impossible to find a decent cuppa in the capital any more. "I fear you may be right," he said when asked if he agreed that good mugs of tea were impossible to track down. "It's got to be properly strong, it's got to have the right colour. The trouble is, not many people do it like that."
"This is a British tradition that must not be lost. If I were running for office again, I'd make it a major part of any platform," he said.
But a spokesman for The Ritz, where afternoon tea costs £36 (Dh261) a head, said: "We are confident the several hundred cups of tea we serve a day are great."
A Downing Street spokeswoman declined to reveal who made the tea for Blair at No 10, but insisted: "It's always tea in his tea mug."
How to make the perfect brew
The Tea Council's official guide to the perfect cuppa:
- Use a good quality loose leaf or bagged tea, stored in an air-tight container at room temperature.
- Use freshly drawn boiling water - the water needs to contain oxygen to draw the best flavour from the tea. Let the tea brew for two to four minutes.
- It does not matter if milk is poured first or last when using a pot. But milk must be poured last if brewing from a bag in a mug or it will cool the water too quickly.
