When many businesses think about ISO, they are typically looking for an accredited body to provide them with ISO 9001 certification. 

They want to be certified either as a condition for a particular client, as part of a reorganisation or simply to add value to the business by celebrating a system that they have either already implemented or are in the process of implementing.

There are a lot of motivations to receive certification, but it can sometimes be easy to miss what that standardisation represents and ultimately why it matters within a business and to other businesses.

An answer to both of these questions comes, somewhat unusually, from another critical part of many businesses: a cup of tea.

How Can You Standardise Tea?

There is perhaps no singular beverage that has so many variations and preferences as tea, as whilst the basic process of steeping tea leaves in water is universal, every other element from the blend to the use of teabags and the addition of milk and sugar is a matter of fierce and intense debate.

However, ISO 3103:2019 (formerly BS 6008:1980) describes a standard method of brewing and serving tea that will produce consistent results every time.

It describes two testing pots (310 ml or 150 ml) with loosely fitting lids as well as two testing bowls (380 ml and 200 ml). Both the pots and bowls are made of white porcelain (or white glazed earthenware), with a partly serrated edge.

For every 100 ml of water that will be added to the pot, 2g of tea is also placed within the pot, before that measured amount of freshly boiled water (described as similar to nearby drinking water) is added.

The tea is then brewed for six minutes before being poured into the bowl, with 5ml (or 2.5ml for a smaller bowl) milk added beforehand (although alternative suggestions are made for adding milk after).

Why Standardise Tea?

The resulting standard won an Ig Nobel Prize and serves as a perfect example of how standards can often be misinterpreted as a prescriptive method towards a platonic ideal for the object, method or system being standardised.

However, this somewhat misses the point, as ISO 3103:2019 is not intended to make the best cup of tea or a “perfect” cup of tea by the standards of a tea drinker, but is instead intended to create a standard cup of tea that is relatively easily reproducible.

The reason for this is the same reason why no specific type or blend of tea is described in the standard. It is designed for tea tasting and for making sensory comparisons.

Many criticisms of the process, such as no prewarming of the pot, a brewing time that is relatively lengthy compared to the typical three-minute brewing times used when brewing a tea bag, and pouring milk in before tea largely misses the point.

These are not cups that are made to be enjoyed, but ones that create a benchmark for meaningful analysis and studies, such as taste testing or quality control.

On that same token, ISO certification means adopting a universal set of standards and protocols so that other businesses and customers understand how an order is managed by your company.