Santiago Dreaming
Very interesting post.
I'll have a stab at the questions.
1. Yes
2. These days they're not... when they were invented, because of the bag material, it needed finer leaves to get the flavour required - and these were often the bits that were at the bottom of the storage containers (so I'm told).
3. Probably has to do with the comparative time it takes to get to 100 degrees and/or the way the microwaves cause the molecules to move around before they get to boiling point - see 7.
4. I will ponder this further. But, it only applies to pot-made tea, not a teabag int eh cup (or the water is not at boiling if there is already mild in the cup).
5. I knew the answer tot his once... forgotten it now!
6. Maybe - or perhaps it has to do with boiling making the dissolved substances (dependent on the geology of the area where your water comes from) in the water recrystalise (eg calcium carbonate).
7. Safety? Not carrying hot water around?
I think....you should read a good book while drinking your morning tea. 
Thanks, BW, all those answer make sense.
I still think it is impossible to "lose" oxygen in water without losing the hydrogen molecules too. Isn't that how water turns into a semi-liquid we call steam?
Maura- I do but I still have little spaces in my brain that allow these kind of thoughts to pop up.
Oh I love these questions. I took up drinking tea -- with a Brown Betty teapot, loose leaves, etc. -- after seeing an Alton Brown Good Eats show about tea. I'm sure he covered all your questions, but of course I can't remember four years back. What I like about his show is that he throws a little science of food/cooking into the mix. (Hah! Pun!)
I'm a cuppa coffee in the a.m. person and a teatime p.m. drinker. 
Really!!??
Then who are you and what have you done with my sister?
Kathryn-I have a brown betty teapot too. Not using loose tea- drink Stash Earl Grey every morning. That is how I found out heating the cup makes a difference in the taste and aroma of the tea. Drank my Earl Grey w/o heating the cup for the longest time and then one morning I decide to heat the cup before putting the tea bag in and adding the water. Made me a believer
Maura- Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?
Milk in first (whether from a pot or with a tebag) so as not to scauld the milk (which would give it a nasty flavour).
This is because by adding the hot water to the milk the temperature of the milk is raised more gradually than by adding the milk to the hot water.
However lots of (ignorant ) Brits nowadays insist on doing it the other way and are used to the favour of scaulded milk.... yuk!
... and as for reboiling the kettle... this is indeed how to deoxygeneate the water. You're not splitting the water molecules apart but simply removing the dissolved oxygen from the water (of which there is sometimes quite a lot).
Excellent stuff
Thanks, NiC, you have just explained why I never liked milk in my tea. My mother always put the milk in last. I will try my tea with milk in it tomorrow morning.
Here via BW, LaP (so I'll copy the comment there, if that's Ok?)
Not a tea-drinker myself, but I believe that the 'milk first' thing relates to pre-fridge days, when milk could go 'off' before it was all used, so pouring boiling water onto it, sterilised it before drinking?
Here via BW, LaP (so I'll copy the comment there, if that's Ok?)
Of course
Interesting theory, Mr.D., but won't the milk curdle when the heat of the tea hits it if it has gone bad? If so it wouldn't matter which is poured in first- milk or tea.
I just was over at BW's and I learned that by pouring bad milk in first you could save yourself from wasting a cup of tea since you would notice right away if the milk curdled. A good reason to pour the milk in first.
here's what i was told about the milk in first then the hot tea routine. it's done that way because in the 1800's most tea cups were made from inferior china and would break if hot water was poured into them directly. this practical routine has become tradition.
and the Star Trek quote is one of our favorites!! great to know that someone else uses it.
That is the most interesting theory so far and like the others it makes sense.
And glad you like the quote.
advice for those who don't use a pot ... only buy expensive tea-bags & you will surely get your money's worth ... pre-heat the cup by filling it with hot water ... throw that water away before using a tea-bag ... leave the bag in hot water a little longer than your intuition suggests ... the flavour will surely come ... only then do i use milk and sugar, or sweeteners
Follow your advise to the tea every morning.
*groan*
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