How to serve a British person tea

British people love tea. It's not just a tasty drink. It heals us when we're sad, it warms us when we're cold. It provides a prop for us to console one another, and a talking point when we're socialising. Tea is part of our culture, it's ingrained in who we are.

'Would you like a cup of tea?'

When a British person is sad, or it's raining outside, or it's a little cold - and it does get very cold in Britain quite frequently, be sure to offer them a cup of tea. It's a symbol of care, a way of saying 'hey, things are going to be ok again, just sip this delicious, hot, milky cup of tea, and my affection will melt away all the bad things that are upsetting you.'

Step 1: Select your apparatus

When you make tea for a British person, you need the following apparatus. Do not, I repeat, do not just boil a tea kettle and pour the boiling hot water onto a tea bag in a cup.

A) A teapot (preferably bone china, with a pretty pattern)
B) A tea strainer (because you are going to be using loose leaf tea, not terrible tea bags)
C) Tea cups (not a coffee mug - thin lipped, with a thin handle)
D) Loose leaf tea (somewhere like Whittards in the UK or Teavanna in the US will provide you with what you need, go for something mid-bodied if you're not sure what your British friend likes, for instance Breakfast tea, or Assam)
E) Milk, although don't offer milk if you are serving green tea, Earl Grey or a light tasting tea like Lapsung Oolum as it spoils the taste
F) Sugar because when you're having a bad day, hot tea with sugar is the best thing in the world.

Step 2: Prepare the teapot

Don't boil a tea kettle and pour the scalding water over a teabag. Instead, boil a tea kettle, pour some water into your chosen teapot, pop the top back on, swirl the water around and pour it out. The teapot is now warm and ready for your tea, so pour more boiling water into the teapot and wait.

Step 3: Prepare your tea

Pop a good teaspoon full of loose leaf tea into the tea strainer, and make sure no bits of tea are left around the rim - it'll float in the teapot and transfer into your tea cup and make your tea all grainy.

Step 4: Steep your tea

Now that the water in your teapot has had the chance to cool down to the point it isn't scalding, go ahead and put the tea strainer in. Dunk it a few times, let the tea seep into the water. Don't let it get too dark or leave it too long - the type of tea will determine how long it should be left in the water for.

Step 5: Serve the tea

Just as you warmed the teapot, warm your teacups. Place a teaspoon beside each one. Swill out your tea strainer so that it's clean without bits, and then hold it over the spout of the teapot, above one of the tea cups. Pour the tea from a height, until the cup is three quarters full. Stir in some sugar, milk or whatever your British friend asks for, then sip slowly and enjoy. It's a treat.