Offering a teen’s perspective, fourteen-year-old Luke DeVille brings his unique insight to interesting tea topics. We’re glad to know teens enjoy tea and are happy to share his writings with you.
“British Tea Culture, we all know it exists, we all know it’s important, but what exactly does it mean?” asks Chicago tea enthusiast Tony Gebely. To answer his question, I discovered lots of new facts about British Tea on my recent vacation.
Here are a few of the things I found out:
- Nowadays, some people in the United Kingdom view tea as just a beverage. However, there are still a vast majority of citizens who believe tea is a little more important than a drink; it’s the British culture and way of life. (Back in the old days, tea actually was a meal during the afternoon, but through influences from other countries, tea eventually turned into a modern everyday drink.)
- Although most Brits think tea is just a drink, 5 out of 10 people still drink tea with biscuits (cookies).
- The most common type of tea in the U.K. is black tea. According to a recent survey from worldoftea.org the top brands are Twinings and Yorkshire. However, some people prefer teas from India such as Darjeeling or Assam.
- The majority of people in Britain use tea bags to brew, but there’s still a decent amount, 13% to be exact, who use loose leaf instead.
- Many people in Great Britain remember their first tea when they were only 9 years old.
Throughout the years, various people have had different opinions on tea and Britain. However, they can all agree on one thing, that tea has been and will always be a part of the U.K. It seems that a cup of tea or a “cuppa” as they call it, solves everything from sickness to crisis. From the cups to the connoisseurs, Great Britain truly is one of the tea capitals of the world.