Tea purists divided over new 60-second brew
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We can't be sure how long it took this drinker to brew up
A thoroughly British storm in a teacup is coming to the boil after a leading brand claimed it has devised a tea bag that can brew the perfect cuppa in 60 seconds.
PG Tips says its new blend delivers a "more flavourful and refreshing" drink quicker, thanks to faster infusion.
The two-year, £50m creation - borne out of a desire to target drinkers who have one eye on the clock - has divided some experts.
"£50 million to create a fast brew 60-second teabag?" asks Nigel Melican, president of the European Speciality Tea Association.
"Astounding, I could do that for free - just jiggle or stir the regular bag in the mug and it halves the brewing time," he told the BBC.
"In fact, quality cannot be rushed, nor can the brewing of a premium tea."
'Just want a quick brew'
Dr Andy Stapley, who devised an 11-step method for what he says is the perfect cup, external, believes "speed is very important".
"Normally I just want a quick brew," explains the senior lecturer in chemical engineering at Loughborough University.
His is one of 100 million UK cups of tea drunk every day, according to the UK Tea & Infusions Association.
How you make the perfect cuppa can be an intensely individual experience
"There is a four- or five-minute brigade who have the time to brew the larger loose leaf tea leaves - that is also fine," Dr Stapley tells the BBC.
"When it comes to it, so many people have tea in different ways that it's impossible to be too prescriptive as to a 'best way' because everybody has got their own preferences."
Diaz Ayub, managing director of the Tea Group, which organises National Tea Day, strongly disagrees.
"Teatime is an experience and an art," he argues.
"Looking back at our British history, one must respect the time-honoured technique and ritual that tea requires."
'An insult to teatime'
He wants to go back to teapots, tea cups, tea strainers and "those all-omitting tea timers".
Of PG Tips' new bag, he says: "Trying to shorten the time of brewing is in my opinion an insult to teatime.
"Leave tea to those who understand and respect its virtues."
George Butlin, director at the UK Loose Leaf Tea Company, echoes that sentiment and professes a "profound aversion to this kind of innovation".
He told the BBC that the new bag was a significant backward step from what the experience should "truly" be.
Mr Butlin went on: "Our enjoyment lies in the deliberate three or four minutes it takes to prepare an authentic cup of tea, allowing us to relish the serene essence it imparts."
Amid what can be for many a chaotic and busy day, he says the slow art of tea brewing creates a "magical interlude".
Some research suggests that most Brits do not see tea that way any more - reports last month pointed to coffee overtaking it as the nation's favourite drink.
Dr Stapley says tea bags in general, not just PG Tips, are "really well designed to keep the really small tea particles in and allow the tea flavours to infuse out".
But he feels that the 60-second claim seems a "bit strange" as many bags already offer an "acceptable" brew in that time.
"Maybe they have just further optimised it - but without testing them it is hard to know," the academic adds.
'An art in Asia'
UK Tea Academy director Jennifer Wood does not believe the latest PG offering is an innovation.
She said: "The 60-second teabag is about creating a strong, quick cup of black tea from minute particles of tea leaf - which is already available off the shelf in every supermarket. It's not wrong to cater to what people want but if 85% of tea-drinkers steep the bag for less than a minute, why develop a bag that requires 60 seconds?"
Ms Wood emphasised the number of teas currently available with "astonishing" diversity, range and depth of flavour and added: "They are all brewed at different temperatures and for a different amount of time.
"Everything around tea is elevated to an art in Asia - as far from this debate as it is possible to get!"
Tests showed some bags degraded easily, but others included non-biodegradable plastic
While tea bags offer speed and convenience, recent years have seen an increasing push to prove their sustainability too.
Like many brands on sale in the UK, PG Tips says its range is fully biodegradable.
But Andrew Mayes, an emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of East Anglia, told the BBC the best advice for those concerned by the issue would be to opt for loose leaf tea.
Perhaps, he says, "we need to alter our behaviour to match the product (tea leaves), rather than re-engineering the product to match our habits".