The humble cuppa, a British institution – and a brilliant example of the scientific method in everyday life…

This British Science Week (13 – 22 March), we’re encouraging people in offices, staff-rooms, community centres and their own homes to take part in an every day science experiment: investigating their perfect cup of tea.

Every time people talk about whether to add milk first; wonder how strong or weak colleagues’ take their tea; or ask the 'number of sugars vs "sweet enough already?"’ question; they are contributing to a national discussion about the perfect tea-making method.

 
Much has been written and researched on this topic and there a lot of variables to take into account; so the British Science Week has gathered some of the most commonly recommended methodologies for making the perfect cup of tea to come up with some guidelines which people can use to test their own preferred method.

We're asking people to share their #PerfectCuppa with us on social media via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. 

You can download our guidelines, taster activity flyer and infographic and find out how to enter our comeptition to win a year's supply of tea, thanks to our partners Tetley at www.britishscienceweek.org/perfectcuppa.

To mark the start of British Science Week, we've released a survey into the nation's tea habits, which finds that people aren't brewing their tea for as long as experts recommend... Read more here.