A casual UK sub, I was amused by discussions about our cultural obsession with tea and posted the following. I have a lingering hope that someone here, at the very least, will appreciate the humour. It was quickly deleted after one angry comment and a slurry of downvotes.
Here it is:Proper tea should only ever take up space in a fine bone china teacup. Preferably with a matching saucer, or if you are feeling controversial, a mismatching saucer.The proper teacup is small, slightly wider at the top than the bottom and is essentially crafted of a fine, delicate material. It has an even finer, whimsical curve to the handle, through which you might only be able to slot your little finger, depending upon the size of your hands. If you have very large hands, you should stick to coffee, or else allow someone with tiny hands to assist you in drinking your tea.If it isn't dainty, it isn't tea!A small biscuit of the shortbread variety sits on the edge of your saucer, preferably dainty and in a whimsical shape such as a love heart or half moon. Chocolate would melt agains the cup so isn't acceptable, nor are those vulgar, contemporary biscuits that are generally oversized and will offset the balance of your tea time architecture.Tea in a straight shaped mug or larger cup is an unmitigated abomination. I don't even want to discuss those oversized takeaway cups made of paper with plastic sippy tops. To take your tea in these receptacles will degrade the experience - too much water-to-bag/leaves is the issue here, so the taste is severely watered down. The only way to fix this is to add more sugar, which again degrades the tea.I can recommend a variety of acceptable tea receptacles, available at various UK retailers...a touch pricey compared to B&M's, perhaps, but purchasing one teacup and saucer of good standing per year should soon amount to a nice collection of tea ware over time.