h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm trying to research whether people stir their tea (or any liquid) in a clockwise or anti clockwise direction.
I'd appreciate any researchers who could help me out by voting on my site at http://www.davemcnally.com/h2g2/teavote.asp
Thanks
Dave

I stir both clockwise and the other way... without spilling a drop. It's an art, I guess

so do I!

I stir from side to side, across the diameter of the cup. Since if you stir in the classic circular motion, the tea begins to move in the same direction and doesn't mix properly. Stirring in a linear motion ensures that the spoon is always moving in a different direction to the liquid.

I guess stirring alternately clockwise then anti-clockwise would also have the same effect.

Hooloovoo (an astrophysics graduate )

I am right handed which may or may not be significant.
I stir, initially, clockwise then widdershins then side to side then front to back.
Pretty thorough, eh?
Especially when you consider that I haven't taken sugar in my tea since Lent 1955.
Honest.

Richard (my husband) is right-handed and so am I. I can stir either clockwise or anti-clockwise, just by moving my fingertips. Richard stirs anti-clockwise, just by moving his fingertips, but moves his whole arm when he tries to stir clockwise. I don't understand this. Can anybody help?

Why stir tea? Do you put sugar in it or something? Yuck.

Well you might accidently add milk after you've poured the tea.
Thanks for everyones feedback by the way, it seems that the people who have posted in this forum are the kind of people who really know how to stir their tea. I get furious when my mum simply gives my tea one stir and thinks that is enough to dissolve the sugar!

I've just remembered Bob.
Great bloke - a Geordie. Oops sorry Bob! No, he was from Durham.
It was his wont to say:
"I'd like six spoons of sugar, but don't stir it cos I don't like it sweet."
The world was a much better place when he was with us.

I don't take sugar in my tea, but Richard does in his. It wouldn't be fair for me to just make myself a cup of tea and not make some for him (assuming he's there), so I end up stirring his tea for him. He does like it thoroughly stirred, though. None of this 'couple of times round with a spoon' nonsense. I've never timed it but he stirs for at least 10 seconds, but not too briskly as he doesn't like tea slopping out of the cup.

I... 'scuse me. I drink nuffin' but lager.



I'm sorry, I felled offffffffffff my chair. Chairs. Anywho, I don't stir my lager. Unless I'm very, very, very, very, very, very, very pissssssssed (Drunk to all yanks). Stand still please. Uh-oh here comes the floor ow!!!

Bye bye

This may be a man thing. I'm male, and right-handed, and I find it more difficult to stir clockwise, though I wouldn't go as far as to say that I have to move my entire arm. Several of the female members of my family, to my certain knowledge, share your ambi-orientationist(?) traits. On the other hand (no pun intended) you could just be double-jointed.

Interestingly, another post used the word "Widdershins". This is a very old English word for "anti-clockwise", and once had negative connotations, as Widdershins was opposite to the (apparent) direction of the sun and moon. I once went through a superstitious phase (not like me at all - didn't last long), when I would only stir my tea clockwise, but I hurt my wrist after a while, so I decided not to be superstitious any more.

Incidentally, does anybody know the strict (Old English) antonym of "Widdershins"? I know of the word "deosil" (Jeh-shul) - but that's Gaelic, although both are referred to in works on Paganism.

Oops, bit of a digression, sorry!

This question really begs another one, which is "Is it best to put the milk in first, or after the tea?". I don't stir it at all, so perhaps you can see my attitude. What say you?

It is best to put the milk in first. This, however, is not possible if the tea is being made in the mug you are going to drink it from.
William Jenkins, Patron Saint of Tea
May your Tea always be sugarless!

MILK IN TEA
Contrary to any scientific theories or poo-pooing of various people, adding milk first or afterwards produces two completely different drinks. One is hot, watery and tasteless (milk poured in as an afterthought) with an unwelcoming dark brown not quite opaque colour and a film of something on the top (chemists help! is it connected with the lime scale content/hardness of the water?) and the other:

Now, putting in the milk first

a) saves having to wash up a spoon (unless you have sugar) as it
a) produces a homogenous, homely, not-too-hot-not-too-cold, beverage, which
c) makes it nectar of the gods.

STIRRING BY MEN

Men are more interested in making a noise than dissolving the sugar. The racket they can produce with a spoon and a cup is equivalent to putting your head up in Big Ben's works at midday.

Lady relatives (i.e. wives and daughters) have been heard with comments like "you're not supposed to push it through the bottom of the cup you know" and I have even heard of one exasperated wife who grabbed the cup, tipped the contents into the food processor, gave it a whirr on full power for a few minutes and said "Is that stirred enough for you?"


ADDICTION

Has anybody else discovered they're addicted to milk. After a long backpacking trip with no decent food, or after a very strict diet or fast, the first thing I hanker for is a cup of tea. But I have discovered it's not the tea I'm pining for, but the milk. A friend of mine puts this down to the British School Milk that we were made drink every day in the 60's.

Hello out there, this is Nuuna.

I have a quite different way to stir my tea. I don´t stir it in circles at all. I just direct my spoon from one side of the cup to the opposite site. Maybe you try out this way, then you will see, that it is best way to stir your tea. And after done that, you can add some milk. Condensed one.

I hate to contradict (actually, to be honest, I love contradicting) but not all men make a noise when stirring tea. Richard likes his tea stirred thoroughly, but not necessarily vigourously as it can make the tea slop out of the cup.

As for 'milk first' or 'milk afterwards', it's so long since I did 'milk afterwards' that I can't remember whether there is a taste difference and, if so, how great it is. We've been making tea in a pot for the last few years because it doesn't stain the cups so much. I'll have to try it when I get home this afternoon.

As for the 'film' on the top of the milk when tea is added second, I suspect you've got a limescale problem. Try a water filter jug. It makes one heck of a difference to the appearance of the tea, which doesn't go so dark to get the same strength and doesn't have that nasty film on top. However, if you want a drink of cold water, take it straight from the tap, not from the jug. Filtered water tastes odd. Perhaps I'm just used to the taste of Redditch water.

Ladies and Gents (and Et Ceteras): Here's Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About My Tea Habits But Were Probably Too Unconcerned To Even Bother With It:

Preferred Utensil: Fork. Spoon is a close second.

Technique: I sort of whisk it around. The utensil touches the botom of the cup at least once, but does not drag there for the entire stirring duration. Sometimes, I stir a half-stroke in each direction, alternating for a few strokes, and raising the utensil a bit as I stir, so as to cause motion at all levels within the tea.

Sound: It clinks, but minimally. (I have sensitive ears and don't like clinking teaware.)

What To Put In The Tea, and When: I prefer my tea either plain or with a dab of honey or a pinch of sugar. Milk is all right once in a while, but only in black tea, and I don't prefer a lot of it... just enough to barely lighten the color. To me, it doesn't matter when sugar goes in. If I use milk, it goes like this: steep the tea, remove the bag, and add the sugar (warmer solvenrs dissolve crystalline solutes faster), and finally the milk. Cold milk. I don't prefer cream in tea. I don't prefer cream in general.

To Stir or Not To Stir: I stir my tea regardless of what i put into it because dispersion principles and convection currents don't allow for proper dispersion given the recommended steeping times, unless you swish the tea with the tea bag/infuser...in which case, you're stirring... or if you steeped the tea in the kettle, where the tea infuser/bags were probably swished somewhat, which brings us back to the original point.

Steeping Times: I leave green tea and herbal tea bags in the tea while i drink them, but not black tea because it gets too bitter for my taste.

Preferred flavors of tea: I like black tea. Once in a while, fruit flavored or with bergamot (ie Earl Grey), but not much else. For herbals I like lemon, mint (any), chamomile, strawberry, and raspberry. I am still trying different flavors of green tea, so I have no specific preferences at the moment.

Other Remarks: I neither have used, own, nor have ever owned, a tea infuser. I plan to purchase one soon. Please do not ostracize me for this fault, I am an American who has only recently seen a real tea infuser and not one in a picture, and it is not always easy to purchase tea here that is not already bagged. However, I prefer unbleached tea bags, which should be somewhat respected, as the flavor remains unspoiled by additional bleaching chemicals that may remain in the teabag fibers.

I wish you luck with your tea research.

This data respectfully submitted,
Random Element, Saint Hez of Bruce

I'm too lazy to read all the posts but I was always told that if you stri something anti-clockwise it'll taste bad -No I don't know why either!- Don't know if any one else has said it, so I always go clockwise.

i am a boy, but iwas raised by my mum and sister, so it would seem i picked up feminine habits, as i neither make much noise, and i stir in any direction by just moving my fingers. i don't put milk in tea (that's yucky) so i don't know when i'd put it in. acctually, i don't put sugar in either, but sometimes honey, plus i always stir it as i generally make it in the cup, and am too impatient to wait the prescribed 3-5 minutes. though i prefer it out of a glass mug. also, i only drink herbals at the cottage, or when i'm sick. often i make brews out of blueberries, by just boiling them in water for likle five minutes. green tea is great (okay, i don't consider that a herbal, but iguess it is) but i was told by an asian friend of mine that if you drink too much at once, it can make you really sick, but i've never put this to the test. it does give you a nice mellow feeling, though, so it can be nice to chill out to. who cares, there's always a lager about.