How to pour the perfect cuppa
Updated on 29 October 2009
It has taken some of the most cutting-edge "hydro-capillary" science in the world to solve one of the oldest problems in British life - the dribbling teapot.
Experts from the University of Lyon have discovered why it is so difficult to pour a cup of tea from a pot without making a mess over the tablecloth - and they even have a solution.
It is called the hydrocapillary effect, which basically water sticking to the spout of the pot, but if you coat the spout with a hydrophobic substance - something which repels water like butter - then the tea pours straight into your cup.
Apparently some savvy housewives have known this trick for years. But at last the cream of French science has caught up with them.
