But Britain was brought to a boil this week over## a suggestion by an American chemist on# how the classic cu GEOFF BENNETT: We asked our own Earl Grey, Malcolm# Brabant, to take a look into this brew-haha.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Is nothing sacred?
The beverage# that for centuries has sustained this nation## through wars and other crises has been assaulted# in the name of science by an American academic.
As newspaper columnist Quentin Letts harrumphs,## salt is for tequila, not the# traditional British cuppa.
QUENTIN LETTS, Columnist, Daily Mail:# I'm not a complete layer down of the## law when it comes to tea, but I# ma king tea with hot milk.
And I must# say it was a thoroughly unpleasant## experience.
It was like the worst sort of# pre-operation laxative that you could drink.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Not since the Boston Tea# Party 250 years ago has Britain's national## drink suffered such an indignity,# so much so that, tongue in cheek,## the U.S. Embassy in London issued# a reassuring statement that salt## in tea was not official American policy and# would not affect the special relationship.
Do you have realized how# much trouble you have caused?
MICHELLE FRANCL, Bryn Mawr College: I am# beginning to understand how much t I have caused.
I had no intentions# of but I woke up yesterday morning to find that# the U.S. Embassy was weighing in on my science.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Michelle Francl is a professor# of chemistry at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.
MICHELLE FRANCL: It begins with an eighth# century Chinese manuscript called "Book of## Tea" by a tea master Lu Yu, who recommended# adding a sort of salt to the tea wa So I wondered what the chemistry literature# had to say.
Turns out the coffee chemists## know that the sodium ions in the# salt block the bitter receptors,## so it makes the tea a little bit less bitter.
MALCOLM BRABANT: To gauge more# British reaction, we t some traditional tea purveyors in# the open-minded SONYA MENDOZA, Yorkshire Tea# Aficionado: Definitely not.
Not for me.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Manager Jay Fry# normally takes his tea black and## straight, tea bag, hot water, no messing.
JAY FRY, Manager, That Little Tea Shop: Yes,# I thought it would seems to kind of blend like saltiness, but not -- it's not very# intense at all.
It's pretty spot on by i I think.
I don't think it needs to be changed.
MALCOLM BRABANT: We then touched base at# El ise Fishpool Grove (ph) reinforced# the need to use boiling, not lukewarm,## water, as some Americans do.
Sacrilege.
ELISE FISHPOOL GROVE, Manager: I# think you don't need to add salt## to your tea.
I think if you're MA LCOLM BRABANT: So could the science# change Elise's preconceptions?
What do you think?
ELISE FISHPOOL GROVE: No.
MALCOLM BR have it with milk without sugar, but I'm# going to do what t just put a couple of grains of salt in, not a# teaspoon full, as I feel like I'm a traitor.
It's not too bad.
(LAUGHTER) QUENTIN LETTS: I'm just a moldy old Englishman# who on thought of even putting a few grains of salt just# is so counterintuitive, it just fries my mind.
MALCOLM BRABANT: That requires an archetypal# British response.
Put the kettle on.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm# Malcolm Brabant in Brighton.
AMNA NAWAZ: All right, online, you can# read more on the science behind making## and flavoring tea.
That is at PBS.org/NewsHour.