Talk:Tea in the United Kingdom/Archive 1

Tea leaves OR dust from a ripped open bag?
This seems very odd. How could mere dust from a ripped open bag be an alternative to tea leaves? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.166.31.159 (talk) 05:05, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Dust from teabags *is* tea leaves. Tabby (talk) 16:58, 31 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Dust is often used by unscruplulous tea growers or manufacturers rather than using the actual leaf. According to a former neighbour whose family once had a tea plantation in Ceyon/Sri Lanka, sometimes dust can be used to flavour inferior types of tea.Foofbun (talk) 00:43, 29 September 2011 (UTC)

Why with milk?
Does anybody know why did British started to drink their tea with milk? It tastes awful (to me at least), so i'm wondering what was the initial reason to serve tea like that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.134.160.232 (talk) 20:07, 28 April 2009 (UTC)


 * It's just a matter of opinion. You may think it tastes awful, but I'm almost certain that the grand majority of British tea drinkers prefer their tea with milk. In my case, milk is added for taste, plus to make the tea a little less bitter then it is straight from the pot. I'm not sure if that's the main reason milk is added to tea, but it makes sense. It also matters how much milk you put in of course. Kiyoshi Yamokani (talk) 22:23, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

How it tastes depends very much on the type of tea. I wonder if the use of milk followed from the availability of cheap blended black teas with a high tannin content. Adding milk helps to reduce the astringency of this type of tea, producing a flavour that many people prefer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.176.171.107 (talk) 15:36, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Milk in First
As far as I can determine, the idea of milk going in first so as not to risk damaging the cup with the hot tea is an urban myth. I've added a note; if no-one can come up with one then I'm going to remove that claim. MarkSG (talk) 20:06, 25 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Deleted section on poor peoples' cups cracking if hot water was added before milk. For one thing, a rich person's thin china is more liable to thermal shock than a thicker cup. Also, every reference I actually encountered said that that adding milk first was the upper class thing contradicting the claims that milk first was lower class. George Orwell apparently opined  that milk should go in second on purely pragmatic grounds of getting the right amount of milk in the cup. Merry Christmas. Waerloeg (talk) 03:29, 24 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Thin vessels withstand heat shock better than thick material. This is due to the fact that it takes longer for a thick wall to heat up evenly, causing more thermal stress for a longer time. This is why light bulbs (remember those?) used to be made from very thin glass.--46.223.21.230 (talk) 19:25, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

Before and after are both considered fine. A fair few people are fussy about which they want. Tabby (talk) 16:58, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

Per Capita Consumption
This page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tea_consumption_per_capita#cite_ref-euromonitor_0-0 appears to state the UK as the largest per capita consumer of tea in the world, rather than second largest. Obviously, one of the pages is wrong, I do not know which... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.241.20.194 (talk) 16:12, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Also, the article referenced by this one, footnote 1 as I type this, dates to 2003, and it would be good to get a more up-to-date one - especially since said article suggests that India may take second place from Britain "by 2004". Has it? If so, our article is wrong. If not, we need a better reference piece. 86.154.8.126 (talk) 17:27, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

Citation Needed In Intro
I know that here on Wikipedia we like to get things done professionally and with full references, but as a Brit, I can confirm that tea breaks ARE considered an essential part of the day for the vast majority of the public. I'm not going to bother looking for a website that confirms that, but I suggest the suggestion of a citation is removed, because any British person can confirm what is said on the page, and what I'm saying here. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by BlueVane (talk • contribs) 15:06, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

One more question conserning milk: Why is milk added AFTER tea is poured into the cup and not before? Or is both accepted? It tastes much more better. Has anybody ever tried? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.192.136.175 (talk) 17:46, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

FWLIW I can confirm that a workforce denied a teabreak is a workforce on the verge of a walkout.

Stewed tea
Removed the "allow to brew for several minutes". Do not believe people do this, as it results in bitter "stewed tea". Usually the tea is drunk almost immediately after the water is poured on the leaves. 92.29.125.34 (talk) 21:05, 19 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Absolute rot. Tea MUST be allowed to brew for 3-4 minutes or else the full flavours will not diffuse into the water. "Stewed" tea only develops if the brew has been allowed to sit for 10 or more minutes. I say the passage should be re-instated.93.107.197.45 (talk) 14:07, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

There are 2 quite distinct types of tea available. The nicer stuff needs 4 or 5 minutes to brew. The nastier stuff needs 20 or 30 seconds, much more and its unpalatable. The latter is found in vending machine teas, low quality brands, and some low quality brands that are marketed as being of moderate quality. Tabby (talk) 16:53, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

Tea ritual?
The current article presents a formal British tea ritual. There is really no such thing. Yes, tea is very popular, and yes there are traditions about how its done, but its nothing more than that. Also the details of this so-called ritual aren't really correct. Some people might use tea cosies, but few do these days. I get the feeling the author is not really familiar with British practices.

PS tearooms are still very popular and widespread. They don't normally exist to serve cream tea (something that, altough nice, is normally avoided on health grounds), they serve black tea with snacks such as a sandwich, a slice of cake or whatever. Some call themselves tearooms, most are just called cafes. Tabby (talk) 16:50, 31 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure not really possible to draw a line between "traditions about how its(sic) done" and ritual. A culture doesn't have to be actively aware of its rituals for them to exist. --86.147.182.188 (talk) 01:10, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

This has been brought up before, possible ideas, the section is about the brewing and drinking, usually social, in that sense the word ritual, could be called: time, party, brewing, gathering, custom, style.... any brits out there?
 * Tea Styles:
 * Chinese Tea Arts (中國茶藝)
 * Japanese Tea Ceremony (日本の茶道)
 * Korean Tea Ritual (한국어 다도)
 * British Tea Culture (tea party)

icetea8 (talk) 10:51, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Tea Cuisine
Influence on British tea culture: Tea cuisine quickly expanded in range to quickly include wafer thin crustless sandwiches, shrimp or fish pates, toasted breads with jams, and regional British pastries such as scones (Scottish) and crumpets (English). icetea8 (talk) 05:02, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Tea times
Popular times for tea of the day:
 * morning tea
 * tea break
 * afternoon tea (low tea)
 * high tea
 * evening tea

icetea8 (talk) 05:04, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Question on morning tea
Is "morning tea" what a lot of British and Commonwealth hotels used to do long ago, bring you a cup (tea only, no coffee) prior to breakfast? If so what was the 10 a.m. thing called then?Foofbun (talk) 00:43, 29 September 2011 (UTC)

World's largest consumers of tea
I thought that that was the Irish.

Source? Don't recall. Varlaam (talk) 04:35, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Pinkie - in or out?
The article states that the little finger should not point out, citing the blog Infographic: All About British Tea (an image with text). However, a more detailed article with discussion and explanation claims that it is equally acceptable to have the little finger pointing out, or else curled under the cup. At least these citations appear to be more credible: Tea Etiquette Faux Pas - Other Misconceptions About Afternoon Tea … also see Tea Etiquette Faux Pas (which cites the first one). However I am still pondering the dynamic advantage of holding one's finger out, so I tried an experiment. If you have a tea cup with tea (water will do), and tip it towards you lips, then (amazingly) the tea/water flows towards the near side of the cup. In some small way, perhaps, having a finger pointing away helps to counter-balance the tea/water that is flowing (hopefully not slopping) towards the near-edge of the cup. How much of a counter-balance the little finger provides is possibly small, but maybe helpful to maintaining stability. Enquire (talk) 05:37, 20 July 2013 (UTC)