For most of my life I drank my tea plain, without milk, sugar or lemon. In the past year, I've begun adding milk -- primarily because it made the Twinings decaf I was drinking in the evenings taste better. Since then, it kind of became a habit, and I began drinking my tea (regular & decaf) with milk most of the time. On occasions when I've tried to drink it without milk, I've ended up with a stomach ache. I thought it was because I was drinking very strong British blends (PG Tips, Typhoo, etc). But this morning I had a cup of Red Rose, which I thought was mild enough to drink plain, and I still ended up with an upset stomach.
I guess this means that I'll be drinking my tea with milk from now on, as it does seem to neutralize the tannins. I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced this, and perhaps this is the real reason people began adding milk to tea (not to prevent the china from cracking as the urban legends go).