Scientist finds that tea tastes better when you microwave it

Microwaves might be the least healthy sounding machines anyone could have thought of to use in accordance with food. Emitting radio waves to generate heat which people have referred to as ‘nuking’ doesn’t exactly sound delicious. On top of that, can you remember the last time you took a pre-packed meal out of the microwave and were excited to sit down and eat it?

• If you want to make a cuppa the right way, try one of our best kettles

The one in your office might not be in the best of condition either. There’s always someone who’s forgot to wipe down their mess or left the lid off a definitely NSFW office food (hello mackerel!)

However today brings a reason to give the office microwave a good old dusting down as scientists in Australia have found that if you heat your tea in it, it tastes nicer.

ABC Australia reported that Dr. Vuong at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales found that with green and black tea, blasting the tea in a microwave would ‘extract, isolate and purify the important components’, resulting in an all round better brew.

Vuong specialises in adding value to natural products and has previously nuked various other foods such as lemon pomace and macadamia nut skins in order to bring out the antioxidants and create a functioning food whilst reducing waste. He claims to have found that microwaving the tea ‘activated 80% of the caffeine, thiamine and polyphenol compounds’ as well as generating the best taste, but I won’t be fooled so easily.

So, we gave it a shot. Here’s how:

• Put the boiled water in your cup with the teabag (standard)
• Heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds on half power
• Let it sit for a minute
• If you add stuff, add it now
• Feed it to your tea snob colleague Emily

Verdict, Emily?

(Notice: I didn’t want to try this at all – almost as bad as pouring the milk in first.)

Emily is a keen tea drinker be that original, herbal or loose leaf and decided she couldn’t pass up this opportunity (or the only person actually willing to try a microwaved cuppa – traitor).

“I’d say the tea had a strong, earthy flavour. It was like drinking four cups of tea in one go, a revelation – I will definitely be having this again.”

So there we go, turns out microwaving your brew could be the key to the perfect cuppa. Just don’t tell the Queen!