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Highland coo	As a keen mountain climber and hill walker i always carry with me my trusty thermos of tea with a seperate bottle of milk as otherwise the milk tastes like that manky UHT stuff one finds in hotels. Naturally i cary some small snack to keep my energy up, normally some shortbread or "digger biscuits" (family recipe, 'nuff said tho when it's basiclaly oats and golden syrup). However, recently i was tihnking of taking a trip further afield with som friends, notably the Andes in South America or parhaps the Alps depending on funds, when to my horror i learnt something that should put every tea drinker from ever going to anywhere of notable altitude. A physics frined of mine told me that according to kinetic theory as altitude increases, pressure decreases so the temperature needed to boil water decreases. This doesn't sound too bad, until you realise that at the top of the Alps water boils at 80 degrees Centigrade or at the top of Everest it is a lukewarm 60 degrees. So no tea to stave hypothermia off and, unfortunately, no trip. It does make you wonder how Edmund Hillary got to the top of Everest tho. In the meantime, Explorers BEWARE, tea at altitude is lacking in taste and heat.
	Nicey replies: The highest I've made tea is about 1800M above sea level. It works well enough at that altitude providing one doesn't use the local tea bags.
Chloe Milton Tim Tam vs Penguin Review	TIM TAM MESS(AGE)   Participants, Lizzie age over 30 Paul age over 40 Chloe age 13 and 2 days Elise age 8      First of all I have to say that following my family's TIM TAM SLAM  taste test, the following guidelines should be made widely available to other folk -   1 Tea must be very hot - any cooler and the results are not reliable. 2 Make sure that you bite off diagonal corners - failure to bite off the correct bits will leave the taster in a state of unenlightenment. 3 Suck tea vigorously and noisily through the biscuit, only practice tells you the right time to stop, although any longer than three seconds will almost certainly cause the biscuit to implode into a chocolatey mess. 4 Under nines should only carry out a TIM TAM SLAM test under the supervision of an adult due to the difficulty in removing chocolate stains from clothes and carpets.   Nevertheless. fun was had by all, the Tim Tams were excellent and no creatures including penguins were injured or harmed in any way during the test proceedures.   Best wishes Chloe Milton
Michael Barker	Hi again... I read a mail from Carley about her ex-boyfriend's cups of tea. I've heard this before and am a little sceptical that it makes much difference when milk is added, but it is suggested that you can scald the milk if you add it to hot water. I really doubt that the sugar plays much of a role in the flavour difference. Perhaps you already know, the BSI considered "tea making" worthy of study and won the 1999 Ignoble prize for litereature for their "BS 6008:1980, ISO 3103-1980 Method for preparation of a liquor of tea for use in sensory tests - Procedures for preparation with or without milk.", sadly I have not read it, I consider £11 a bit steep for a six page document... as that buys roughly 10 packs of lovely biccies! So what is the difference between adding milk first or last...? CASE 1:  Milk first A 200 ml cup is pre-loaded with 20 ml milk from the fridge, the cup will bring the milk to room temperature. 20 ml of boiling water is added, so then you might think that the average temperature of the 40 ml of liquid would be 60°C, this is unlikely to be the case as the cup itself will be a nice sink for some of the heat, and this is a non-adiabatic system as it's cooling to the air all the time, I'd guess that the maximum temperature after 1 sec is no more than 40°C. The temperature of the milk then will rise smoothly to 80-90°C as you pour the rest of the water into the cup. CASE 2: Milk last first pour in the boiling water, so you have a cup of black tea sitting at 95°C Then add the cold milk, the milk will cool the tea a little, but the milk itself will go through a very rapid increase in temperature. If the milk comes straight from your fridge it might start at 4°C, when added to the cup, it will reach something like 80-90°C after just 1 sec, hence the term "scald". As to the chemical effect of scalding the milk, and what compounds give the funny taste, I've no idea! Any dairy scientists out there? I'd hazard a guess that it would depend strongly on the thermochemical properties of the milk, and therefore what type you use e.g. skimmed milk is very easy to burn, UHT has already been "burnt" etc. etc. It's more likely that Carley's ex-boyfriend could tast the difference in the type of milk used. My own method is to add the milk first, but that's only so I can put the milk back in the fridge whilst waiting for the water to boil. Cheers, Michael.
Diggle	Now look here, Nicey, Spiffing site and all - best read on the web actually old boy, but we at the TCF (South West branch) feel there are some important, fundamental elements of the tea and biccie way of life being ousted unjustly. Dunking - not just a preference, a way of life! Dunking forms the backbone of tea and biscuit consumption, providing a sloppy essential quick meal for thousands of members of the TCF for many years. NCOTAASD should be promoting the cause, so there. Nya! It has come to the attention of the TCF (South West branch) that certain supermarkets have been unscrupiously sabotaging several biccie types in their 'value packs'. Biccies falling to this heinous crime include the custard cream and bourbon, both mutating into small, sad creations and are an insult to the glory of these workhorses of the biscuit kingdom. Oust these imposters! Act now! Boycott value packs and cheapie own brand biscuits! Instigate a full investigation a la Fig Fest of this un-nice cup of tea and a sit down behaviour! Call in MacIntyre & Cook, get the boys on the job of reporting! Finally, we at the TCF (South West branch) would like to point out that certain in-depth reports on NCOTAASD have confused snacks as biscuits; Penguins being the obvious interloper. Additionally, we at TCF (South West branch) would like to state our support for Jaffa Cakes being classified, quite rightly, as a buscuit despite it's composition. It is obviously a luxury biscuit, and a bourgeois one at that, but it still takes precedence over Pengiuns in biscuit barrel roll call any day. Penguins are found in snack machines, Jaffa Cakes are not - end of story. Incidentally, there are those 6 bar things which appear in snack machines - please investigate the situation and report in the near future. Also, make a note in your diary for discussion on Christmas biscuit tins; topics could include variety, weight, ratio of choccie, foil wrapped and generall naff biscuits, etc. Now the Science Bit Professor spills secret of the dripping teapot A groovy kind of pot Brits take the biscuit No more flunking on dunking Why dunking your biscuit makes scents Diggle, TCF (South West branch) supports the Rich Tea Appreciation Movement
	Nicey replies: Thanks for the long and quite bolshy email. Hoorah! for the TCF. Out of spec Bourbons and Custard creams always cause anxiety amongst the populace at large. However, they do help us appreciate perfection perfect proportion when we encounter that by means of counterpoint. Christmas Tins, yes, good point. Oh and thanks for reading all the BBC site for us it saved us the trouble.
Gordon J. Lowe	Hi Tea 'n' biccy lovers, I was wondering what people thought about some tea bags my mum acquired called "Rocket Fuel". They are regular square bags but fortified with taurine (along with the usual caffeine). The idea, obviously, to get you on the go in the morning a lot efficiently than regular tea. I found a brew with these bags was too weak (two bags allowed some flavour). I did seem to gain added vigour, but that could have been a "placebo effect". There was a free sachet of "Rocket Fuel" coffee, which was very nice. Any views about this product? PS: favourite biscuit for dunking: Fox's Classic (Fox's ARE the biscuit kings!) Bye.
	Nicey replies: They have to put taurine in cat food or else cats go all wrong, that's why you shouldn't give them dog food as they will start to mis-function. So it must be vital ingredient in cats, a bit like tea is in normal human beings. Not sure I would be drawn to the stuff sounds like they are using grotty tea to make them.
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