This is curious, not only because tea is one of the mainstays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire¹, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

    When I look through my own recipe² for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On erhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial³. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

    First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese⁴ tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays ——it is economical⁵, and one can drink it with out milk ——but there is not much stimulation⁶ in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase 'a nice cup of tea' invariably means Indian tea.

    Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities——that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn⁷ is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron⁸, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britannia ware⁹ teapots produce inferior tea and enamel¹⁰ pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter¹¹ teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.

    Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.¹²

    Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart¹³, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the w
eek, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes——a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.

    Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are suppo
sed to be harmful.¹⁴ Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.

    Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about.¹⁵The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.

    Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.

    Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup ——that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one's tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.

    Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.

    Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools16 of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.

    Lastly, tea ——unless one is drinking it in the Russian style ——should be drunk ——without sugar ——I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tea-lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make avery similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.

    Some people would answer that they don't like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your teaby sweetening it again.

    These are not the only controver-sial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized¹⁷ the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one's ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.


1. Eire： 爱尔兰 (Ireland的爱尔兰语)。

2. recipe ：（饮料等的）调制法，烹饪法。

3. acutely controversial：有激烈争议的。

4. Ceylonese：锡兰的。

5. economical：经济的，便宜的。

6. stimulation：刺激作用，兴奋作用。这里作者是说中国茶缺少使人兴奋的作用；下一句话是对这一观点的进一步阐述。

7. urn：茶炊，茶壶，比teapot要大一些。

8. cauldron：（尤指带柄的）大锅。

9. Britannia ware：不列颠陶器。

10. enamel：搪瓷；珐琅器。

11. pewter：白 ，锡和铅的合金，通常叫做焊锡或锡 。

12. 此句的意思是说使茶壶预热最好是把茶壶放在火炉搁架上加热，而不是像通常那样用热水冲洗茶壶。swill:用水冲洗。

13. quart：夸脱（液量单位，等于1/4加仑或2品脱，即英制等于1.136升，美制等于0.946升）。

14. 在有些国家人们在茶壶的壶嘴处挂上一个网状物，防止那些浮在上面的茶叶被倒出来，这样做被认为是有害的。

15. 沏茶时应该把茶壶拿到沸腾的水壶旁边，从水壶向茶壶内注水，而不是颠倒过来。

16. school：此处指“派系”。

17. subtilize：使微妙，使变得隐晦。

    乔治·奥威尔是英国作家艾里克·布莱尔(1903-1950)的笔名。他出生在孟加拉，后来回英国就读于伊顿公学。作为一个作家，奥威尔可谓大器晚成，1945年出版的寓言式小说《动物农庄》使他声名大噪，它标志着奥威尔向集权政治正式宣战。他死后才出版的《一九八四》最终确立了他在世界文学中的牢固地位。1968年出版的三卷《杂文集》被称为“时代之声”。不仅一般读者喜欢他脍炙人口的语言，五十年代许多小说家和剧作家亦纷纷效法他那犀利痛快的文风。