Fancy a cuppa?

A nice cup of tea

If you are ever in the UK you will undoubtedly hear this informal invitation for a cup of tea at some point. The Irish and British both count among the top 3 tea drinking nations in the world. It's no surprise then that we have put a lot of thought and energy into creating the perfect 'brew' and the science behind it. It's not uncommon to hear people arguing over minutiae of tea preparation. For example, whether a drop of cold water should be added to herbal teas or not. Or whether tea drunk out of fine bone china tastes better than tea drunk out of ordinary ceramic cups (it does). You get the picture.

Most tea drunk in the UK is black tea and this is almost always with milk. One popular debate is whether the milk should be put into the cup before or after the tea and many inches of newspaper columns have been dedicated to answering that question. Search the words 'perfect cup of tea' or 'milk or tea first' in Google UK and you will find literally dozens of web pages discussing tea etiquette. In 2003 the Royal Society of Chemists sought to put the debate to rest by releasing a news release, declaring that in fact the milk should go first.

As mentioned black tea is the preferred variety in England, although green tea has become more popular in recent years. Tea is traditionally sourced from the Indian subcontinent, specifically Sri Lanka and India. This can be explained by the colonial history of the two countries, as it was the British East India Company who first began commercial tea cultivation in the region, which now counts among the highest producers of tea in the world. Almost all of the favourite varieties of black tea are named after the regions from which they originate, such as Darjeeling, Assam and Ceylon (the colonial name for Sri Lanka). Some teas are also sourced from Africa; however, these tend to be the cheaper blended teas rather than the single leaf varieties. In the past, tea was normally loose tea and made in a pot. Today, however, almost everyone uses tea bags for convenience and a pot is only used if tea is being made for a group of people.

Sri Lanka - tea plantations surrounding Nuwara Eliya
Photo by Muhunthan Sivam licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

For us Brits, tea means a great deal more than a mere thirst quencher. Perhaps some of benefits of a cup of tea are best summed up in the words of William Gladstone:

If you are cold, tea will warm you.  If you are too heated, it will cool you.  If you are depressed, it will cheer you.  If you are excited, it will calm you.  
 
The passion with which people love tea is reflected in the number of phrases used in the English language referring to tea. For example, when people say that something is not their cup of tea, they mean that it is not their kind of thing or to their liking and vice-versa. In the typical understated British manner, tea is held up as a solution for every problem. In times of crisis people can stoically put the kettle on and make a good old-fashioned cuppa. In my family if we are watching an argument or fight on TV, someone usually asks the question, 'Why don't they just go home and have a cup of tea?', implying that this would be far better use of their time.

 Tea-drinking culture in Britain has a very colourful history that is intertwined with the social life of the country. Researching this post I stumbled upon this fascinating article by the UK Tea Council, which I would recommend to anyone wanting more in-depth background on the topic.
 Finally, for a nice selection of tea-inspired quotes, take a look at this page.