Several things:
Don't
boil the kettle twice. if you are going to be really
fussy in your search for a decent cup of tea, empty the kettle completely, before filling it up for your pot of tea. Thus you avoid getting lots of
sediment and
limescale kicking around. You can
warm the pot by pouring in some almost boiling water. By the time the pot has got nice and warm, the kettle will be boiling happily, and the water ready to use for tea.
Tea bags are
evil and wrong. Use
leaf tea that you have kept out of bright light, and away from strongly
stinky other stuff. (You'd be amazed by the stuff in people's
cupboards)
Putting the
milk in first is one way of preventing the
tannin in the tea staining your
china, and making it harder to wash. The practice is therefore associated with those people who can't afford
servants to wash their cups and saucers. Also, by the time the tea has brewed, it will be cool enough to pour into a cup without cracking it. Anyway putting the milk in first is
icky, and it tastes bad. Put the milk in second. Always.
Never never never put
cream in tea. Cream goes in coffee.
Milk, or
lemon, depending on what sort of tea. Milk in
Earl Grey is plain weird.