Can anyone help me make cup of tea that's drinkable?

Assuming you are not adding milk:
For breakfast tea you really only need 1-2 minutes if using teabags (2-3 loose). The bitterness comes from the tannin in tea, you are letting the tea stew.

It should be a light brown and you should be able to see the bottom of the cup.

You could also squeeze some lemon (or lime) juice in to drop the bitterness and lighten the taste. Lemon slice is normal but a good squeeze is fun and you see the change of colour in the tea.

Boiling water is good but slightly cooled won't make much difference if not adding milk. Note, if green tea then you don't want it boiling, let it cool for a minute at least (80c).

Milk:
If you are adding milk, ignore etiquette and put the milk in first, then tea with boiling water. You want to 'cook' the milk making the protein all gooey and so sweet.

If you have a teapot, you could try 1 bag earl grey, 1 breakfast - works with milk. Remember to warm your pot first.

EDIT filling kettle:
Run your cold tap for a few seconds, then when filling kettle turn tap on full, this produces bubbles and gets a bit more air in the water.

Tea tastes like hot water. It makes me want to stab.

I read that if you pour boiling water onto the tea it can actually burn it, remove the boiling water from heat and let it sit for a minute or two and then pour it into the cup, THEN add the tea bag, only step it for about 3 minutes otherwise it will get stronger and bitter. Use agave or honey to sweeten it or stevia if you are trying to save calories. A splash of skim/soy/coconut/almond milk also is delicious. I like green tea, peach tea, darjeeling, english breakfast, peppermint, and the special holiday flavored teas.

I cannot make a cup of (black) tea to save my life. Well, I can make herbal tea just fine but any time I make black tea--whether it's Darjeeling or English Breakfast or anything else--it turns out completely unpalatable no matter what I do: it's murky and sometimes kind of bitter, even with sweetening (sometimes I use white sugar and sometimes honey, but just a little of either, not a lot.)

1. I make sure the water is boiling and not just hot.
2. I steep for about 4 minutes, depending on the tea.
3. I use filtered water from a Brita filter (not distilled or artesian). I have used bottled spring water and it's still yucky. :noway:

I have had decent and delicious tea before so I know it can be done.

Any ideas? I really don't get what I'm doing wrong.

The only black tea of my own brewing that I can drink is the kind when I say "screw it" and just top it off with some good whisky. Unfortunately, there are times when being whisky-free is necessary.

Thanks!

You're missing the milk. Got to add milk.

If these suggestions (perfectly good ones) don't work you might not like tea. I'd skip drinking it at that point.

No one mentioned tea tastes entirely different depending on the cup or mug you drink from...

and you sure can ruin a good tea in a crap cup or make a crap tea taste good in a good cup.