#5 Warm the teapot first

My mother advises that tea leaves require boiling water, but if you pour water from the kettle into a cold teapot, the tea pot will quickly absorb the heat. And that is bad.

So, pour a little boiling water into the kettle (before you put the teabag in, obviously...), swish it around and pour out. Then, make your tea as usual. Doing this has the added advantage of a) rinsing the pot after its previous use, assuming you are not an obsessive teapot cleaner, and b) keeping the tea just that bit warmer for that bit longer (and you can always add a tea cosy!). Chin chin.