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Original poster

To ask what is the deal with tea

212 replies

tingalayo · 25/07/2022 11:06

I'm a British person who has never had a cup of tea in my life or even tasted it. Not sure why, it's just never occurred to me.
It's something I've been wondering about before but I really want to ask now because I'm moving house and I've just read advice to pack the kettle and mugs LAST because that's the most urgent thing you'll need when you get to your new house and the most urgent thing the removals people will need.
Why do most British people need to drink tea so often? It's seems to be an actual need rather than just something nice. I do love peppermint tea and I've worked in offices before where people knew this and offered me a cup every time they made a round of tea and I was like...no? I like mint tea but I don't want several cups a day. My husband and his family drink tea every couple of hours if they can and seem to get grumpy if they don't have it.
It seems like an addiction to me. Is it caffeine? Or something else I don't understand that someone can explain to me?

OP posts:
OneTC · 25/07/2022 12:20

siucra · 25/07/2022 12:15

Also, to add to the ritual, the comfort etc, it's the exciting possibility you may get a 'golden cup'. This is the one cup in, say, around six, that is utterly perfect. It's naturally sweet, flavoursome and totally delicious. Most cups of tea never reach this bar, but every now and then you strike gold. And there is no reason why it's so good, it's just the moment when the universe is working for you.

You need to work on technique Grin

Every cup is golden

Mamamia7962 · 25/07/2022 12:22

It's the answer to all of life's problems!

banivani · 25/07/2022 12:22

It’s a very good question OP. I live in Sweden and here it’s coffee that has the same function. Ritual breaks twice a day at the workplace and so on. If you visit someone - coffee. Come home from a trip - nice cup of coffee at your own table. In 1800 every Swedish male consumed 100 litres of brännvin (vodka) every year which probably included a lot of ritualistic drinking, am sure coffee just replaced some of those…

Amecia · 25/07/2022 12:23

To me it's nothing to do with caffeine (I get that from coffee). Tea I find comforting in a weird way. I'm currently suffering with pregnancy nausea and tea has been the only thing that makes me feel better! Weirdly I also find it really hydrating, if I'm really thirsty I will have a cup of tea over coffee or water!

HastaLaBisto · 25/07/2022 12:26

siucra · 25/07/2022 12:15

Also, to add to the ritual, the comfort etc, it's the exciting possibility you may get a 'golden cup'. This is the one cup in, say, around six, that is utterly perfect. It's naturally sweet, flavoursome and totally delicious. Most cups of tea never reach this bar, but every now and then you strike gold. And there is no reason why it's so good, it's just the moment when the universe is working for you.

Yes! This! There is one cup in a few that is the perfect temperature and strength, and it's utterly magical.

CharlieAndTooManyCharacters · 25/07/2022 12:28

I don’t actually much like tea. I’ll drink it if I’m given a cup. But I’d never choose to make myself a cup of tea or order it anywhere. I don’t find it at all refreshing.

In fact, I ran out of tea bags months ago in the house and I haven’t replaced them. I haven’t missed them. It’s only in typing this that I’ve even remembered that I don’t have any tea in the house.

I drink coffee. And water.

TeapotTitties · 25/07/2022 12:29

@TeapotTitties no I have never tasted it. I never tasted it as a child because I was scared I'd burn my tongue. In fact even as a teenager I was scared I'd burn my tongue. Then I became old enough to be a person who doesn't drink tea and says no when people offer tea. I've never been curious enough to make a cup of it for myself and I've never been curious enough to say to somebody hey can I try your tea. So that's why I've never tried it.

But curious enough to ask people on the internet about it?

Btw, you can let it cool down you know. You don't have to drink it straight from the teapot unless you're Paddington Bear...

lugeforlife · 25/07/2022 12:30

My mother drinks it to hydrate. I drink it to do that plus it starts me off for the day. I have a few cups a day plus coffee, herbal
Tea and water. It's a prop when I work and punctuates conversation.

We went camping recently and forgot the camping stove. It was miles from anywhere with no shop. I was hideously grumpy without my tea and I only have 3/4 cups a day! A mere lightweight.

Icannoteven · 25/07/2022 12:31

Tea is super comforting and, unlike other food/beverages that are comforting, not highly calorific. It's just what you need before or after going out in the cold, wet British weather. It's such an important cultural touchstone. It's offered everywhere. I can't think of many social occasions or life events where you wouldn't be offered a cup of tea.

I can believe that you don't like or drink tea as I've met on or two people who don't. But in light of what I've said above about how embedded it is in UK culture, I just can't for the life of me imagine that you have never tasted tea. That seems almost impossible.

LadyLothbrook · 25/07/2022 12:31

siucra · 25/07/2022 12:15

Also, to add to the ritual, the comfort etc, it's the exciting possibility you may get a 'golden cup'. This is the one cup in, say, around six, that is utterly perfect. It's naturally sweet, flavoursome and totally delicious. Most cups of tea never reach this bar, but every now and then you strike gold. And there is no reason why it's so good, it's just the moment when the universe is working for you.

Yes to all of this. The 'golden cup' is the ideal way to describe that belting brew that surprises you with its perfection.

ODFOx · 25/07/2022 12:33

Tea is moreish. I find that if I drink tea in the summer instead of coffee I just drink more overall.
So I think that the reason it becomes a ritual is that be cup
Begets another, whereas coffee is a single entity.

SirenSays · 25/07/2022 12:38

Haha people get weird over tea. I remember getting my first job and my coworkers getting so annoyed when I told them I don't really drink tea and wouldn't be the new tea skivvy making brews, since I brought my own cold drinks.

chocolateoranges33 · 25/07/2022 12:39

I agree. I dont drink any hot drinks at all and seems to manage quite happily on a few glasses of water or squash as day whereas as DH and my parents average at least 8 cups of tea a day. Madness!!

twoandcooplease · 25/07/2022 12:39

I'm sat here taking mouthfuls of my cup, holding it in my mouth then swallowing just to see if I can describe it did you
I don't know what to say ... it's like ... tea

I suppose it is similar to a creamy herbal green tea? The green tea being the flavour

I think you have to try it and describe it for us?

LittleBirdWeeps · 25/07/2022 12:41

I'm with you OP, my husband drinks tea like it's about to be rationed but I've tried it and just don't like it/understand the fuss.

Plus I have a weird phobia of the hot, used teabags 😱 they freak me out.

OgdensGoneNutFlake · 25/07/2022 12:41

I think for me it's the ritual and also the social aspect.
I also think it solves pretty much every problem in the world 😄

twoandcooplease · 25/07/2022 12:45

Pyewhacket · 25/07/2022 11:30

It's how we beat Hitler !.

@Pyewhacket can you tell me more!

pistachi0nuts · 25/07/2022 12:45

I find tea obsessed people so annoying. It doesn't taste nice and leaves a horrible milky taste in your mouth. It's an addiction to the caffeine I would suspect particularly in those cases where people have to take tea bags on holiday etc. Some very dull people like to use their love of tea as a personality point also.

ShirleyPhallus · 25/07/2022 12:51

Also people who drink 8-10 cups of tea a day often have horribly stained teeth from drinking it continually and not brushing between them

Singleandproud · 25/07/2022 12:52

@twoandcooplease
Perhaps not how we used tea to beat hitler but we did have to redesign our tanks as British forces kept getting killed at tea time tanks and tea

TipsyandChips · 25/07/2022 12:55

tingalayo · 25/07/2022 11:47

@TipsyandChips I put a cup of hot ribena to my lips and it was so hot I dropped the cup and I didn't try a hot drink again until my 20s. Incredibly wimpy I know.
I'm not curious about the taste of tea because I don't think it smells good and anyway I know the answer isn't about taste. If most people drank mint tea every couple of hours and got antsy without it I would wonder why as well, even though I love the taste of that. I don't think I'm going to taste tea and be like "OH! I UNDERSTAND! IT'S ENTIRELY ABOUT TASTE!"
Some people have said it's a drink they like and they drink that in preference to other drinks when they want a drink, I get that, thank you.
And people talking about warmth, ritual etc that makes sense too.

That's an extreme reaction!

I forced myself to drink tea because I knew I shouldn't drink Coke all day. I hated the taste at first and put about 4 sugars in.
Now I have no sugars and love the taste. It's definitely a ritual, I have a lovely teapot that's nice to use and mugs that make me happy. Funnily enough I don't really enjoy tea anywhere except home. If I'm out and about I'll choose coffee.

WhereTheLightningBugsBlaze · 25/07/2022 12:56

TeapotTitties · 25/07/2022 11:17

It's just something people enjoy because it's refreshing 🤷

I don't believe for one second you've never even tasted it, especially if you're living with someone who drinks it every couple of hours.

I'm not sure why you'd say that?

I’ve never tasted tea, as I don’t like the smell

RampantIvy · 25/07/2022 12:56

I drink tea for all the reasons listed, plus it keeps me hydrated. I don't drink sweet soft drinks, and I only fancy water if I am hot and thirsty.

The last thing I fancy when I am cold is a cold drink, and as it is rarely hot where I live I would just become dehydrated.

I don't understand why you are baffled why millions of people enjoy something that you haven't even bothered to try.

Antarcticant · 25/07/2022 12:57

It doesn't taste nice and leaves a horrible milky taste in your mouth.

You don't have to add milk.

HappyMediocreTime · 25/07/2022 13:01

I never had tea until I had a flatmate at uni who made it his mission to get people onto it. He started me off with sugary cups left at my side every time I sat down.

In time I rejected the sugar and now to me sugary tea vs regular tea are completely different. Now I'm dairy free and have it with almond milk which has changed the flavour again.

I do like the flavour - I also like the comfort and the ritual. It makes me feel better when I feel a bit rough. I love drinking a cup of tea and reading a book. And those magical perfect cuppas - ahhhhhhh.

I have a proper cuppa every morning without fail. But I also drink coffee/green tea/red bush/oolong/loads of water.

This thread should be used as advertising research!