Charles' steps to the perfect cup of Earl Grey¹.

1. The water must have only just boiled the second before you pour it. The hotter the water, the better taste you get from the tea. If the kettle's sat even a moment since boiling, boil it again.
2. Don't put any milk in until after the tea has finished brewing². Adding milk changes the consistency of the water, and cools it down, so the tea can't brew properly, and tastes wrong.
3. Tea wants to be strong. Don't rush it while it steeps. Let it wait long enough.
4. Don't add more than a small splash of milk, or you'll drown the tea. The tea should be a white-ish brown, not a brown-ish white.
5. Start drinking the tea while it's still too hot to take a full gulp. You can take bigger mouthfulls later into the cup, but the feeling of the really hot tea sliding down your throat is what this whole experience is all about.

¹ Purists would say it can't be the "perfect" cup because I use teabags. You'll have to excuse my heathen ways
² Many tea purists have argued bitterly over whether the milk should go in the cup before, or after the tea, but this debate comes from those days when tea was brewed in a pot, and then poured into the cup. You shouldn't put the milk in first when you're brewing the tea in the cup.